Standing on the 15th tee Sunday evening at Atlanta Athletic Club, Jason Dufner could see the PGA Championship all but being handed to him. Down below, in the group ahead on the mammoth 259-yard par 3, Keegan Bradley was making a mess. His tee shot had sailed left, he had skulled his chip directly across the green and into the adjacent pond, and he was in disarray. When Dufner watched Bradley walk away after a triple bogey, he held a five-shot lead over Bradley. He had four holes to play.
To that point, Dufner had not so much indicated that he had a pulse, even in the unfamiliar position of major championship leader. He pulled a hybrid from his bag, waggled it at his ball — eight times, as is his custom — and swung. What happened over the next 100 minutes not only shook a sleepy major championship right out of its slumber, but produced the summers most scintillating golf — whether the contenders
The short version is this: Bradley, a 25-year-old PGA Tour rookie and former all-state skier from Vermont playing the first major of his career, won the PGA Championship in a three-hole playoff over Dufner, a playoff that seemed unimaginable an hour before it started. The long version? Well, enough folks probably clicked off their televisions that its worth retelling, though it might take a while.
“I cant believe it,” Bradley said.
Nor can anyone else. Start with the abridged version: Bradley followed his disastrous triple with two steely birdies, and he reached the clubhouse at 8-under 272. And Dufner — who had owned the punishing final four holes of the Highlands Course all week — gave the tournament away. He bogeyed 15 when he hit that hybrid into the water. He bogeyed 16 when his approach found a greenside bunker. He bogeyed 17 when he three-putted. And though he forced a playoff with a par at the last, he fell victim to Bradleys opening birdie in the playoff, and his own missed six-footer, and lost by one.
So here is Bradley, rail-thin, the nephew of LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley, once a winner on the PGA Tour, now a major champion.
And here is golf, right now, after the 108th-ranked player in the world topped the 80th in a riveting playoff: The past 13 majors have produced 13 different champions. Of those 13 winners, 10 took a major for the first time. None of them are named Tiger Woods. The game, thus, has been introduced to everyone from the up-and-coming stars (Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell) to the professional grinders (Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, Y.E. Yang) to the odd old-timer (Darren Clarke).
Where Bradley fits in, its hard to say. The one thing he can claim: He ended the unprecedented run of six straight majors with champions from outside the U.S., the one that dated to Phil Mickelsons victory at the 2010 Masters. Never mind that the players considered the future of American golf — Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney and Bubba Watson among them — havent yet taken a major.
golfandlife.com.vn