Rochester, NY – Jim Furyk has had a tough time holding leads over the last year or so, but you can't say that he lost this title as much as you can say Jason Dufner won it.
Furyk lost all four 54-hole leads he had in 2012, and he lost a late lead in his Ryder Cup match with Sergio Garcia as well. None of that mattered on this Sunday, when Dufner went out and took the title away from Furyk.
"Wish I could have put a little heat on him and made him work those last two holes a little bit harder, let him go bogey, bogey for a two shot win. Wish I had made a couple pars, at least, and put some heat on him, but wasn't able to do it," Furyk said.
The real turning point was on No. 9, where Furyk made bogey from the middle of the fairway to fall two back.
"I think when I look back now, obviously nine was a tough bogey. I was dead center of the fairway after probably what was my best drive of the day and kind of got a little indecisive in between clubs and didn't really commit to that 6-iron and left it short right," explained Furyk. "Jason was in trouble and made a great up and down, so where it looked like I could possibly pick up a stroke, I lost one."
That swing was the difference on this day.
Here's what other players said after the final round of The PGA Championship:
- GRAEME MCDOWELL, was one of several players that complimented Oak Hill and how the PGA set up the golf course: "That's the way this golf course is. I think that's been reflected in the scoring this week. If you do hit it in the fairway, if you do hit good shots, you can really make a lot of good birdies here. If you do hit it offline, this golf course is very penal."
- KEEGAN BRADLEY, 2011 champion commenting on how he's backed up his first major championship title: "I feel like I've validated that win. Not that I feel like I needed to, but I feel like my career has steadily been rising. And you know, I hope to continue to contend in Majors for forever hopefully."
- Brooks Koepka, who played with Tiger Woods in his PGA Championship start and his third major appearance: "It was fun. I had a good time. Tiger is a good dude. Obviously, I didn't play the way I wanted to, got off to a little bit of a shaky start. A little bit of adrenaline going. The ball wasn't finding the distance as I thought it was, and I don't know what to say. I hung in there on the back and that was kind of the main goal on making the turn just to have a good back nine."
- RORY MCILROY, last year's winner finally played some solid golf on Sunday: "I played the best golf of the week today. I hit some really good drives and really good iron shots. Didn't quite putt as well as I did the first three days, but really, really happy with my game going into the next few weeks."
- HENRIK STENSON, posted his best finish at the PGA Championship after taking second at the British Open: "Happy with my performance, I think I kept it together nicely. Made a bit of a charge, made a good birdie on 13, bit unlucky, ended up in a divot just short of the green on 14, ended up making bogey there, and that kind of killed the outside chances I had on the back nine to make a charge. I didn't play my best today but I was still hanging in there."