4:02 pm | August 12, 2018 | Go to Source | Author:
ST. LOUIS — Just as he did three weeks ago, Tiger Woods made another Sunday charge at a major championship, overcoming some wild driving with remarkable iron play to send chills through steamy Bellerive Country Club.
With spectators chanting his name, Woods made a spirited run at a 15th major championship but couldn’t make up a 4-stroke deficit on Brooks Koepka, who shot a 4-under 66 to win the PGA Championship for his second major this year and third overall.
Koepka joins an elite group of Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen in having won the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same year.
Woods, meanwhile, shot a 6-under-par 64 to finish in second, posting his second consecutive top-10 in a major after tying for sixth last month at The Open. Woods’ 64 was his lowest score in the final round of a major ever.
His play drew raucous praise from the gallery, which Woods complimented in his postround comments.
Woods also made another public pitch to play in the Ryder Cup. A vice captain for the U.S. squad, Woods would have to be selected by team captain Jim Furyk.
After failing to find a fairway over his first nine holes — going 0-for-7 — Woods changed his shirt following another miss on No. 9, then hit an amazing shot around a tree from near a cart path to 10 feet to set up a birdie for a front-nine 32. He made birdie at the 12th to pull within 2 shots of Koepka, who overcame a couple of early bogeys to birdie his final three holes on the front and re-establish his lead.
Woods made birdies at the 12th and 13th holes, saw a 14-footer for par lip out at the 14th that knocked him 2 strokes back and then fired an approach to just a foot for a birdie at the 15th. He parred No. 16, couldn’t birdie the par-5 17th because of a wayward tee shot and rolled in a 19-footer for birdie on No. 18 to put some pressure on Koepka.
“I played hard,” Woods said. “I was hanging in there, grinding it out.”
But Koepka posted back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th holes to take the lead for good. Holding a 2-shot edge entering the final hole, he was able to bring home the victory with a par on No. 18.
Koepka also had to hold off Adam Scott, who shot a 67 on Sunday and was tied with Koepka for stretches of the back nine before finishing third. Scott, an Australian, said Saturday night that he wanted to win this major title for countrymate Jarrod Lyle, who died Wednesday at age 36 after a long battle with cancer.
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