PGA Championship 2011-2019: A decade of dominance
By Bill Felber
3. Brooks Koepka, 2018, -2.75
The first of Koepka’s two PGA titles, at Bellerive, is today recalled as much for the return to major championship contention of Tiger Woods. His runner-up standing, two strokes behind Koepka, represented his best major showing to that point since a runner-up to Y.E. Yang at the 2009 PGA.
For his part, Koepka opened with a 69 that left him five strokes behind Gary Woodland. Bad weather delayed the conclusion of the second round until Saturday, but when play competed Koepka had moved within two strokes of Woodland.
He took the lead with a Saturday 66, two better than Adam Scott, and a front nine 33 Sunday left him three up on Scott and Woods, whose surprising 32 caught the crowd’s attention.
Woods birdied 12 and 13 to ratchet up the pressure, closing within one of Koepka. But a bogey at the par 4 14th stalled that momentum, and Koepka displayed his courage under pressure with birdies at 15 and 16 to regain a two-stroke lead.
His routine closing pars brought fans of Woods back to reality, although Tiger did manage to birdie the final hole to take second back from Adam Scott. But on the heels of his victories at the 2017 and 2018 U.S. Opens, the win stamped Koepka as the game’s next dominant major championship figure.