Justin Thomas comes from seven down, beats Will Zalatoris in playoff to win PGA

By May 22, 2022, 7:42 PM EDT
Andrew Redington/Getty Images
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After enduring the bad side of the draw for two days and a frustrating Saturday 74, Justin Thomas improbably won the 104th PGA Championship on Sunday.

Thomas defeated Will Zalatoris in a three-hole aggregate playoff at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Thomas played the additional stanza in 2 under par, compared to Zalatoris in 1 under.

This is Thomas’ second major victory and his second PGA triumph, having also prevailed at Kiawah Island in 2017.

Five years ago, Thomas had to overcome a two-stroke deficit through 54 holes. This time, it was seven.

Thomas closed in 4-under 67, while Zalatoris finished with a 1-under 71. Mito Pereira and Cameron Young tied for third place at 4 under.

Extra holes appeared unnecessary, as overnight leader Pereira held a one-stroke lead at the 308-yard, par-4 17th. However, he left a 12-foot birdie putt on the lip and then hit his tee shot into a water hazard at the par-4 18th.

Pereira began the day at 9 under par, leading by three shots. He held at least a share of the top spot throughout the final round, despite five bogeys over his first 14 holes.

With a one-stroke advantage on the 72nd hole, Pereira tried to hit a sawed-off drive but pushed the ball right … right into a water hazard. The 27-year-old Chilean took a penalty stroke, missed the green with his third shot and pitched through the putting surface with his fourth. Pereira, putting from off the green, came up well short from 22 feet and made double bogey. He posted 5-over 75 and missed the playoff by a stroke.

Also disappointed – but not as painfully so – were Young and Matthew Fitzpatrick. Young held a share of the lead on the back nine, but made bogey on No. 14 and double bogey on No. 16. He tied for third, following a 1-over 71. The Englishman, meanwhile, bogeyed the first hole on his way to a 3-over 73 and a tie for fifth, two back.

Thomas was the lone challenger outside of the final two groups. He made his presence felt with birdies on Nos. 9, 11 and 12. Following another birdie at the 17th, he was only one down. And though he missed a 13-foot birdie putt at the final hole, his 5-under total was good enough to keep him alive.

Zalatoris gave everything he had to get to that number. With four bogeys and no birdies from holes 6-16, Zalatoris made a pair of 8-footers to finish birdie-par to match Thomas.

After Pereira did his part to make it a two-man show, this is how the three-hole aggregate playoff played out:

Par-5 13th (541 yards)

Thomas hits tee shot 316 yards into right rough (1)
Zalatoris hits tee shot 319 yards into the fairway (1)
Thomas, from 240 yards, lays up into the fairway, 80 yards from the hole (2)
Zalatoris, from 221 yards, hits the green, 25 feet from the hole (2)
Thomas hits wedge to 6 feet (3)
Zalatoris misses eagle putt, but taps in for birdie (3 and 4; birdie to reach 1 under)
Thomas converts birdie putt (4; also gets to 1 under)

Par-4 17th (308 yards)

Thomas’ tee shot hits just shy of the green and rolls out to 35 feet, on the putting surface (1)
Zalatoris’ tee shot sails right of the green, 26 yards from the hole (2)
Zalatoris chips to 7 feet (2)
Thomas leaves his eagle effort 3 feet short (2)
Zalatoris runs birdie putt 18 inches past the hole, taps in for par (3 and 4; remains at 1 under)
Thomas makes birdie putt to take lead (3; goes to 2 under)

Par-4 18th (490 yards)

Thomas hits tee shot 321 yards into the fairway (1)
Zalatoris hits tee shot 302 yards into the fairway (1)
Zalatoris’ approach shot from 167 yards spins back, 40 feet from the hole (2)
Thomas’ approach shot from 165 yards finishes 26 feet left of the hole (2)
Zalatoris’ birdie putt misses by 3 feet (3)
Thomas two-putts for par and the win (3 and 4)

Brooks Koepka wins third Wanamaker Trophy, fifth major title at PGA Championship

By May 21, 2023, 6:39 PM EDT
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Brooks Koepka promised Sunday at Oak Hill would not be a reprise of Sunday at Augusta National.

Koepka held true to his word, shooting 3-under 67 to win the PGA Championship, finishing at 9 under, two in front of Scottie Scheffler (65) and Viktor Hovland (68).

Koepka and Hovland, playing together in the final pairing, were separated by one stroke at the par-4 16th, when Hovland hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker on the right. The previous day, leader Corey Conners was in the same spot and drilled his approach into the face of the bunker. He had to take an unplayable lie and made double bogey, losing the lead for good.

Incredibly, Hovland did the same thing on Sunday, losing any chance he had at his first major title.

Koepka, for his part, birdied the 16th and led by four shots with two to play. He closed with an innocuous bogey at the 17th and a par at the 18th.

This was Kopeka’s fifth major championship win and his third Wanamaker Trophy (2018, ’19). He joined James Braid, John Henry Taylor, Byron Nelson, Peter Thomson and Seve Ballesteros at 15th on the all-time major-victory list.

It marked his ninth career PGA Tour title and first since February 2021.

It was in that same month, a year later, that Koepka made clear his intention to remain on the PGA Tour, saying of the fledgling Saudi-led rival league, “They’ll get their guys. Somebody will sell out and go to it.”

Four months later, Koepka was one of those guys.

Koepka claimed his first of two LIV titles in October and the second in April, the week before the Masters Tournament. It was in the season’s first major where Koepka led by two shots entering the final round (after completing a delayed Round 3 early that Sunday) but closed in 75 to finish T-2 behind Jon Rahm.

This Saturday, once again with a lead through 54 holes of a major, Koepka was confident – though, coy with his reasons why – that this championship would end differently.

Or, similarly, to that of Bellerive and Bethpage Black.

It appeared that the 105th edition of the PGA was over 45 minutes after the final group teed off in the final round.

Koepka birdied three of his first four holes and led by three shots.

He was perfection personified, expertly positioning his tee shots and precisely hitting his irons. But a sliced drive off the sixth tee led to bogey and he made another at the seventh. By the turn, he was at 7 under par, one clear of Hovland with Scheffler at 4 under through 11 holes.

Scheffler managed to reach 7 under par for the championship, but never got closer than within two strokes.

It was ultimately a battle between the final two men on the course, with Koepka consistently managed to stay out front. He went birdie-bogey-birdie to start the inward half as Hovland strung together a trio of pars. The Norwegian birdied the par-5 13th and could have drawn even, but Koepka converted a slick, downhill, 10-footer for par to remain one up.

Both men made birdie at the drivable, 320-yard, par-4 14th and both men parred 15.

Then came the 16th, where Hovland thinned his second shot from the fairway sand into the bottom portion of the bunker lip. His ball embedded, Hovland took a penalty stroke and a drop. His double bogey, combined with Koepka’s birdie, ended all of the drama.

But Oak Hill was not devoid of cheers Sunday evening. Club pro Michael Block, playing alongside Rory McIlroy, had a slam-dunk hole-in-one at the par-3 15th and then made an incredible par save from well left of the 18th green. His closing 1-over 71 placed him in a tie for 15th and earned him a spot in next year’s field at Valhalla.

The last time the Louisville, Kentucky course hosted a PGA, McIlroy claimed his second Wanamaker Trophy and his fourth – and most recent – major. The Northern Irishman energized the western New York crowd this Sunday by sticking his approach shot at the first hole to a foot. The birdie got him within four of the lead, but he short-sided himself – from the fairway – at No. 2 and immediately gave the shot back. McIlroy shot 1-under 69 and tied for seventh.

While his major wait will extend to Los Angeles Country Club in June, Koepka will arrive looking for a third U.S. Open title.

And after his performances in the first two majors of the season, he will likely be the favorite.

Rahm wins his first Masters, second major

By Apr 9, 2023, 7:45 PM EDT
Michael Madrid / USA TODAY NETWORK
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By Golf Channel’s Mercer Baggs

In the end, there was sun. The storms and the suspensions, the muck and the mud, the wind and the chill, it all gave way to a glorious Easter afternoon in Augusta, Georgia.

Basking in that fading daylight was Jon Rahm.

Rahm won the 87th Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, completing 30 holes on Sunday for his second major title.

The 28-year-old Spaniard, who won the 2021 U.S. Open, added a green jacket to his collection, closing in 3-under 69. He finished four shots clear of three-time champ Phil Mickelson, who, at 52, became the oldest player in Masters history to record a top-5.

Also in second place was Brooks Koepka, the man who started an elongated Sunday with a four-shot lead. The four-time major champion played his final 30 holes in 5 over par, closing with a 75.

This is Rahm’s fourth win of the year and the 11th of his PGA Tour career. Once again, he’s world No. 1.

Golf is analogous to boxing – in ways both trite and appropriate – when individuals go head-to-head, and for the better part of two weekend days, this Masters felt like a heavyweight tilt with two of its heaviest hitters.

Only, no big punches landed for nearly a round and a half.

Rahm and Koepka began their Sunday wrapping up the seventh hole of the third round. Koepka missed an 11-foot par putt and Rahm made a 9-foot birdie putt. Koepka’s overnight advantage was cut in half, to two.

They both birdied the par-5 eighth, but neither man made a birdie over the second nine, both playing it in 2-over 38. The margin was still two entering the final round, in which one continued to fail in pulling away from the other.

That inability offered opportunity.

Some, like defending champion Scottie Scheffler and ’18 winner Patrick Reed, made cameo appearances. Others offered a more serious threat. Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champ, was within two before a pulled tee shot on 18 led to bogey.

His playing competitor, Mickelson, birdied the last – one of five birdies over his final seven holes – to shoot a 65 that was more brilliant than it was surprising. Even without a seventh major title, Mickelson triumphantly walked off the 18th green just as the final twosome was entering the second nine.

Ultimately, this was Koepka vs. Rahm. Not LIV vs. PGA Tour. Not Evil vs. Good. Just two men, playing for themselves and their legacies.

For Rahm, a chance to join Seve, Ollie and Sergio to put the red and yellow into green. For Koepka, a chance to be a claret jug away from immortality.

But after 13 birdies and an eagle in his first 44 holes, Koepka couldn’t buy one over an agonizing stretch of the next 22.

His dropped shot at the par-3 sixth cost him a share of the lead and he fell two back when Rahm birdied the par-5 eighth. Koepka never got closer. A sloppy bogey at the par-3 12th dropped him three back and, despite finally getting a red number at the par-5 13th, Rahm did the same.

The knockout blow – to revive the pugilist parallel – came one hole later, where Rahm hit a stinging cut from the pine straw to 4 feet. He made birdie while Koepka made bogey.

From there it was just a matter of not messing up and, despite a wayward tee shot on the 72nd hole, Rahm obliged. He parred his final four holes and, with a four-shot lead and safely on the green at 18, was able to enjoy the walk up the last. His family, his friends and his countryman, two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, embraced the champion of the 87th Masters before he headed to Butler Cabin to receive his green jacket.