Red,
White
& Phew!
Spander: Tounament
Torment ( 9)
PGA Championship Notes
( 18-20)
By the time the uncompromising Atlanta
Athletic Club had extracted its ton of flesh from
golf’s deepest field after 72 holes of the 93rd
PGA Championship, two little-known players
were still standing.
Keegan Bradley was the energetic one with
the coat-hanger shoulders, the belly putter
and the famous aunt. Jason Dufner was the
moon-faced guy with the metronomic waggle,
the slow gait and the pulse of a potato.
And here they were pitted in a three-hole
playoff to determine a winner in the wildest
finish to a major since ... oh … since Dustin
Johnson forgot to read the rules sheet one
year ago at the 92nd PGA Championship.
This one had had a different kind of bunker
mentality, thanks mainly to a manicured but
menacing closing four-hole stretch that played
more like nine miles of detour.
And it was Bradley, the nephew of LPGA
Hall of Famer Pat Bradley, who prevailed by
one in the aggregate extra session.
On Thursday, U.S. Open champion Rory
McIlroy had sent a collective shiver through the
golf world when he took on a tree root in his
downswing. The result was a mangled 7-iron
and a barely avoided serious injury. Glory’s
Last Shot for McIlroy almost became Rory’s
Last Shot.
Speaking of injuries, Tiger Woods appeared
mostly recovered from his knee and Achilles
problems. But that didn’t stop the former
No. 1’s free fall. An opening 77, followed by
a Friday 73 added up to an embarrassingly
missed cut.
