When Tiger Woods looks back at the 102nd PGA Championship, he’ll see he wasn’t good and he wasn’t bad.
He was Mr. Inbetween.
Tiger had two good rounds, two bad rounds. The good rounds served as bookends for the bad ones — 68-72-72-67. Woods finished at one-under par, good for a tie for 29th, about middle of the pack.
His 67 on Sunday featured 25 putts — finally. It was the short game, especially the putter, that kept Woods out of contention in the season’s first major. He never did figure out the bunkers at Harding Park, which had hard sand in them.
But when you consider the most important factor — his body — Woods came out just fine after four days at Harding Park in the chilly San Francisco air.
“Body, it held up pretty good this week, all things considered,” Tiger acknowledged after he finished the final round at three-under, getting him into red numbers for the tournament — one-under par 279.
The “all things considered” were the chilly morning temperatures, low 50s, and the damp, heavy air — things that aren’t conducive for keeping his back warm and limber.
As for the final 18, “I felt like I putted the ball a little better today, the course was a little slower,” Woods pointed out.
Woods then hinted we’ll see him in two weeks when the FedEx Cup playoffs begin in Boston.
“Looking forward to a week off — then we’ll get back at it.”
Ben An, Ryan Palmer Shoot 64s:
Ryan Palmer put up the day’s first low round. He finished eagle-par-birdie — 3-3-3 — for his 64 while An took advantage of his hole-in-one at the par three 11th to shoot 64. An had a good look at birdie on the 18th green but narrowly missed for 63.
Karma Takes A Big Bite Out Of Brooks Koepka:
Pure Karma took a big bite out of Brooks Koepka on Sunday afternoon at the 102nd PGA Championship.
Koepka went into the final round at Harding Park trailing overnight leader Dustin Johnson by just two shots and Koepka was confident he was the man to beat on Sunday.
Koepka made a bold statement after his round on Saturday:
“A lot of the guys on the leaderboard, I don’t think have one (major),” he said. “I guess DJ has only won one, but I don’t know the other guys that are up there. I like my chances. When I’ve been in this position before, I’ve capitalized. I don’t know, (Johnson)’s only won one. I’m playing good. I don’t know, we’ll see.”
Koepka bogeyed the second hole and made three more by the turn. He didn’t make a birdie until the 12th hole. He finished with an ego-bashing four-over-par 74. It was the second-worst score of the day and it dropped him into a tie for 29th.
“To make the turn at four-over was disappointing, to say the least,” Koepka said. “You knew you had to be under par, at least one, to have a good chance on the back side. I mean, it’s my first bad round in a while in a major.
“Hey, wasn’t meant to be,” Koepka said. “Three in a row, you’re not really supposed to do two in a row looking at history. But that’s all right. Got two more (majors) the rest of the season and we’ll figure it out from there.”
Koepka was forced to swallow a major chunk of humble pie this time.
Karma.
9 Comments
baxter cepeda
Rory literally put Brooks in his place.
What this brings me back to is that alleged fight between the bash bro’s at that failed American Ryder cup (I know which one?).
Lerner said last night he thought brooks and DJ were friends but it
seems the two haven’t been as friendly as they once were.
Brooks seems to not want friends on tour in general, which might help at select moments, but seems overall counterproductive.
Brooks really won big when he was letting his clubs do the talking. So much so no one cared what he had to say. Now This whole big talk phase has come with a lot more attention for Brooks but less big wins.
Rory has been talkative himself lately, which is great. But his W Column has been relatively quiet itself.
Both these guys are awesome to hear talk; but the fact is both are way better when their sticks do the talking.
Tom Edrington
A really nice lady in my neighborhood adores Rory, but as my sister told me: “Rory will let you down every time.” Even Lucy (our neighbor), told me today: “I think your sister is right, Rory really let me down…”
Love that butter fade Collin hits off the tee….it works, literally, everywhere….I know a guy with 18 majors who did pretty good with a nice tee ball fade.
baxter cepeda
Tiger was mr. choke in between on this one.
We always talk about how guys whom choke on Sunday get an unfair wrap considering how many guys choke it away in the first 9 holes of 72 hole events.
Tiger choked the more rare 36 middle holes this week. The worst part is he did this making basically one mistake; not releasing the darn putter. It’s what I saw and what the more credible guys on tv kept saying. But why?
Tiger practiced his tail off on the putting green, which is where i believe was his mistake. You can hate drill and one hand practice all day. But the problem is That day tiger spent practicing on the putting green he should have been doing the same thing on the course.
Tiger was the most fooled player on the greens by a mile. This was a lost opportunity. Tiger could have won this thing if he just studied those darn actual competition greens more (not the practice area).
The release issue would not have been as big an issue imo if tiger knew the reads on the course better. Bad reads led to really bad all around putting for the 2 in between days.
Tom Edrington
Baxter: The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old……….
baxter cepeda
Some truth to that.
But how quickly people forget tigers recent accomplishments; mainly the masters. He was the man at the presidents cup.
He just had a bad week at Harding Park, specifically on the greens but looked good overall. Why tiger has always stunk on slower greens is beyond me. It just means you can hit it harder.
# tiger Far from done
Tom Edrington
Put him on greens he hasn’t seen in a while and he has trouble reading them, had Joe LaCava helping read every putt during practice rounds.
baxter cepeda
It happens to tiger on some courses. Riviera comes to mind.
Tom Edrington
Don’t see Tiger doing much the rest of the season; Not sure what Augusta National will look like in November but it could be chilly…..not good for Eldrick’s body…
baxter cepeda
*gate drill (not hate drill. -sorry).