Jason Dufner wins the PGA Championship
Jason Dufner (Photo credit: Keith Allison)
Jason Dufner was able to go around Oak Hill in 68 shots on Sunday, getting to 10-under par and winning the 2013 PGA Championship.
What Happened
Jason Dufner entered the final round Sunday at Oak Hill one shot behind the lead of Jim Furyk, seeking his first major championship and redemption for his collapse at the 2011 PGA Championship, dropping a five-shot lead over the final four holes to Keegan Bradley. While Henrik Stenson, Jonas Blixt and Adam Scott had moments, it was really down to the final group of Dufner and Furyk all day.
Dufner took the lead from Furyk after back-to-back birdies on the 4th and 5th, but Furyk would tie him at the top with a birdie on the par-3 6th, before making a bogey on the last hole of the front nine. Dufner was pinpoint with his ball striking all day, and despite looking a little nervous with the putter, he was able to mask that by sticking it close whenever he had a short iron in his hands. Both men would birdie the par-4 16th, giving Dufner a two-shot lead with two holes to play. A pair of bogeys came on 17, with Furyk flubbing a chip in the rough and Dufner three-putting, so Dufner walked to the 72nd hole with his two-shot lead intact.
Approaches from both men came up short on the 18th, and when Furyk’s pitch went long, the pressure on Dufner was all but gone. Furyk would go on to two-putt for bogey, and after Dufner kept his ball below the hole, he two-putted as well for the two-shot victory.
Final Leaderboard
- 1. Jason Dufner -10
- 2. Jim Furyk -8
- 3. Henrik Stenson -7
- 4. Jonas Blixt -6
- T5. Scott Piercy -5
- T5. Adam Scott -5
What The Win Means For Dufner
Dufner is a late bloomer, as I’m pretty sure that most of the golfing public has no idea that he’s actually 36 years old. He’s really burst onto the scene in the last couple of years, and based on his play, he didn’t need this win for any kind of exemption or anything, but the first major championship win for anyone is obviously a huge deal. Guys like Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem have made a career out of one major win, but Dufner is a much better player than both of those guys. He’s going to be around for the next few years, and should be a force in major championships going forward.
Obnoxious Fans
If you watched any of the coverage this week, you heard an even more than usual amount of yelling from fans right after shots were struck. The usual stuff was said, “mashed potatoes”, “baba booey” and the like, so it’s nothing new really, but there were more than ever it seemed at Oak Hill. It caught the wind of my entire Twitter timeline, and a bunch of the players, including Ian Poulter.
We should be allowed to take 10’000 volt tazers onto the course and tazer ever muppet who shouts out something stupid. I would laugh then.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 11, 2013
This baba boo shit & mash potato crap shouting wouldn’t happen at Augusta, The Open, nor would it happen at Wimbledon. Tazer the thrushes.
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 11, 2013
I’m all for figuring out a way to silence these clowns, but you’d have to imagine that it’d be difficult to police. I suppose you could tell people that if they’re caught yelling like that, they’d be kicked out of the event, but I’m not sure that it’s that easy. Poulter’s right that it wouldn’t happen at those other venues, so I guess it’s possible, but people are probably going to say whatever they want anyway.
Jeff Overton’s Upset
Jeff Overton was the first alternate this week, but didn’t end up getting into the tournament, and apparently he was none too happy about it. His anger wasn’t directed at a player who didn’t pull out, but he decided to take a shot at the PGA of America for their selections in the invitation process. The PGA of America had two invitations, and decided to use them on Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa and Ireland’s Paul McGinley, who will be captaining Europe’s entry at the Ryder Cup next year. Overton didn’t like these decisions and took to Twitter to vent his frustrations. The tweets have since been deleted from his account, but Golf Channel managed to grab them:
“So, in other words you help make a corporation ($)50 to ($)100 million, three years later they put you on a chair and treat you like a piece of …,”
“I’ll play (your) political picks whenever for whatever. #supportusa.”
“@PGAChampionship had two sponsor’s invitations. Who did you give your invites to? Not the guy that helped make you ($)50 million in Wales. #boombabysucks”
Overton is referring to the 2010 Ryder Cup when he was apart of the American team that gave the PGA of America some extra funds. Overton either realized that what he tweeted made him look like an idiot, or someone on his team did, which explains the deleted tweets. It’s not the first time that he’s done something like this, complaining about the rules when he was DQ’d at the Crowne Plaza earlier this year. He’s definitely got the reputation of being a petulant player, and this isn’t going to help that reputation at all. Realistically, he’s had just ten top-10 finishes, and no wins, since he played in that Ryder Cup. If he played better at any point in the last three years, he wouldn’t have to worry about getting invited to the tournament. Despite what he claims to have done in the past, you should never leave these things in the hands of other people.
Other Notes
- Notables to miss the cut: Charles Howell III, Nicolas Colsaerts, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Luke Donald, Billy Horschel, Geoff Ogilvy, Jordan Spieth, Nick Watney and Freddie Jacobson.
- Three WD’s this week: Angel Cabrera (wrist), Jamie Donaldson (back) and Bo Van Pelt (hip).
- Tiger and Phil: Bad rounds and bad tournaments happen to everyone, even those who look untouchable for most of the year. Unfortunately for them, it came this time in a major.
- I said last week that as great as Tiger played at Firestone, his driver was a little wonky and that he wouldn’t be able to do that here at Oak Hill, and that’s exactly what happened here.
- On Furyk’s final round: Not surprised that he couldn’t hang on, and when Dufner started getting dialed in with his ball striking, Furyk couldn’t keep up. Furyk’s not the type of player that can usually go out and chase because he’s not a go low type player. He’s a safe player, and when he has to go out of his comfort zone and attack, it just doesn’t work out. It’s his fifth consecutive 54-hole lead that he hasn’t come out on top.
- Really solid tournament for Rory McIlroy, which is something we haven’t said since he was the runner-up to Martin Laird in Texas. As I’ve been saying, he’s going to be just fine.
That’s it for the 2013 major championships, and now we wait for the 2014 Masters. 241 days never seemed so long.
AdamSarson.com 
So the big boys all bagged at the end and the big boy Jason prevailed! Good to see what goes around comes around. Way to go Jason!!