Jason Dufner wins the US PGA Championship
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Jason Dufner won the 95th US PGA Championship with a fantastic closing round of 68 at Oak Hill CC, Rochester, New York.
The American atoned for his play-off loss to Keegan Bradley in the same tournament two years ago by playing some sublime golf on the final day.
Three birdies and six pars in a flawless outward 32 took Dufner ahead of overnight leader Jim Furyk. More solid play into the back nine meant he could afford a bogey-bogey finish on the toughest two holes on the course and still clinch a relatively comfortable victory.
A scintillating 63 in the second round that tied the Major Championship scoring record was the catalyst for Dufner’s victory.
His -10 total was two shots clear of his final round playing partner Jim Furyk, who shot a 71.
“It’s been a tough day,” Dufner said immediately after the final round. “It was a long day. Tough golf course. It probably hasn’t hit me yet.
“I can’t believe this is happening to me. I just decided that I was going to be confident and really put my best foot forward and play aggressive and try to win this thing. I wasn’t going to just kind of play scared or soft.
“I’m happy to get the job done. It’s a big step in my career.”
His maiden Major victory lifts Dufner to eighth in the world rankings and 14th in the FedEx Cup standings on the PGA Tour.
Sweden had been hoping for their first male Major champion but the on-fire Henrik Stenson and Jonas Blixt could only manage a pair of 70s from the penultimate group and finished third and fourth respectively.
World number three Rory McIlroy will be encouraged by a T8 finish, which could have been a lot better if it weren’t for an unfortunate triple-bogey on the 5th hole.
The other leading Brits were Graeme McDowell and Marc Warren in T12, David Lynn in T22 and Scott Jamieson in T29. But Lee Westwood struggled to a final round of 76 and Justin Rose fell out of contention with a 77 on Saturday – both finished T33.