
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI – AUGUST 12: Tiger Woods of the United States plays a shot on the ninth hole during the final round of the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club on August 12, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri.(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
With all due apologies to Brooks Koepka, it seemed like Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship yesterday.
Sure, the leaderboard showed Koepka beat Woods by two strokes, but in many ways Tiger won. His comeback from back surgery is complete. He knows he can compete on the big stage again. And he knows he can do it on Sunday. Tiger is putting as well as he ever has. In addition to his great makes on the greens Sunday, he had three long putts that barely missed or lipped out.
None was more gut wrenching than the 11th hole, when his ball on a lengthy putt stopped rolling one dimple short. It held on the edge of the cup. We all held our breath for a moment, waiting to see if history from the 16th hole at Augusta in 2005 would repeat itself. It would not. Tiger was so dialed-in, that he even came within inches of a hole in one.
If any of these scenarios had broken Tiger’s way, he would have hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy at Bellerive. Tiger had the best score for the final 70 holes. Remember, the bogey, double-bogey start on Thursday? His 130 score for the final 36 holes was a PGA Championship record. His final round 64 was his best Sunday score in a Major…ever.
Koepka remained cool and did not fold during Tiger’s charge and he must be given a lot of credit for that. But Tiger’s exclamation point was his 19 foot birdie putt on 18. That seemed like a warning shot to the field. 2019 is going to be amazing.
Written by Craig Shemon