Johnson finishes frustrating Slam
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Shortly after he completed his final round at the PGA Championship on Sunday night, Dustin Johnson, who has won one major in his career, was asked how it felt to complete the Grand Slam of runner-up finishes.
“Yay,” said Johnson, who became the eighth player to finish in second at all four major championships. “I’m so excited.”
Johnson, who finished tied for second at the Masters last month, offered a brief smile. Having started the day seven shots behind the leader, Brooks Koepka, Johnson lost by two strokes after bogeying two of his final three holes.
“I definitely gave him a run, though,” Johnson said, “so I was happy with that.”
Johnson settled for second fiddle to Koepka, who successfully defended his PGA Championship. In the end, Koepka, who was tied with Johnson and Xander Schauffele at the Masters, was able to claim his second Wanamaker Trophy because he fended off his good friend and regular training partner.
“He’s one of the guys that I look for, that I have to beat,” Johnson said. “He’s always someone that I’ve got my eye on.”
Tie for third encourages Spieth
Jordan Spieth fell short at the PGA Championship in his bid to become the sixth player to compete the career Grand Slam, but he felt encouraged with his game over the four rounds at Bethpage Black.
“This is the best I've felt in quite a while,” Spieth said Sunday after a 71 led to a 278 total and a tie for third —- his best finish of the 2019 season.
“It's the same reason the last five or six years, my best finishes are in the majors. We pick a plan to peak for the majors. You do everything to try and peak for these tournaments and you put in extra time and hours, just stuff that would be almost impossible to do week-in and week-out. Fortunately, what we do is correct.
”My score in majors typically reflects the state
of my game at that time and I've been speaking to how it's been closer andbetter than maybe results would show, and I felt like it is about —- it feels about how I finish this week.“
He admitted that it was ”unlikely“for him to have a chance to win here, ”but I knew that if I played the course the right way, had the right mentality, kept putting the way I've been putting, that I would be in it . having a chance to make some noise.“
Varner wilts under spotlight
After getting supportive messages from Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan the night before, Harold Varner III could not have had a better start to the final round of the PGA Championship.
The 28-year-old birdied the first hole playing in the final pairing to draw within five strokes of eventual champion Brooks Koepka, who bogeyed the hole.
It was the best thing to happen to Varner on Sunday.
The 174th-ranked player in the world shot an 11-over 81 and went from sole possession of second place to finishing tied for 36th with a 6-over score.
It marked the first time a player in the last pairing on the final day of a major shot in the 80s.
“Man, it's just rough. It was hard. It was really hard,” said Varner, whose only win was in the 2017 Australian PGA championship. “I just didn't play well enough. It was a great experience. It's just a hard golf course.”