The machine of old clicked back into gear. Just like his old self, Brooks Koepka – his knee subjected to a number of invasive surgical procedures in recent years which saved and then resurrected his career – outgunned all-comers to do what he does best, win majors, in the 105th US PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club.
The 33-year-old American claimed a fifth career major, and first since the 2019 US PGA Championship, when he shot a closing round 67 for a total of nine-under-par 271 to earn a two-stroke winning margin over world number two Scottie Scheffler and Norway’s Viktor Hovland.
On a sunny day, a final round played in quite the contrast to Saturday’s third round where players endured torrential rain, Koepka became the first LIV Golf player to lay hands on a major title.
[ US PGA Championship as it happened: Koepka wins by twoOpens in new window ]
In this latest dominant performance, a third Wanamaker Trophy was claimed in superb fashion where he took control of his own destiny with some stunning approach play but was also aided late-on by the travails of his main challenger Hovland, who ran up a double-bogey six on the 16th after his attempted recovery from a fairway bunker embedded in the trap’s bank.
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To rub salt into Norwegian wounds, Koepka made a birdie on 16 for a three-stroke differential in one hole which would prove crucial in the bigger scheme of things.
To his credit, Hovland showed brilliant resilience to birdie the final hole for a 68 that enabled him to join Scheffler in tied-second.
“It’s just incredible,” Koepka said during the 18th green presentation as he claimed his third Major in the state of New York. “This is wild.
“I look back at where we were two years ago. Everything that’s going on. I’m just so happy right now, I’m kind of at a loss for words, but this is this is just the coolest thing.
“Yeah, it’s incredible. I don’t know the list of guys How many guys have won five times but to to be with those groups of names is absolutely incredible.
“Something I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure if I dreamed of it as a kid that I was gonna win this many but this is the coolest thing and I’m just happy to do it in front of these New York fans. I love you guys.
“I mean I think we’ve got we got three majors in New York. So New York’s been I guess the second home for me so it’s pretty special.”
For Rory McIlroy, a closing 69 for two-under-par 278 gave the Northern Irishman a tied-seventh finish. His bid to make a final day charge were undone by three bogeys on his front nine and it was his playing partner Michael Block, a club professional from California, who had a career first hole-in-one (on the 15th) who became the crowd favourite.
“I’ll look back on this week as proud of how I hung in there, and I guess my attitude and sticking to it, [when] not having my best stuff. Probably not a ton of memorable golf shots hit; my playing partner [Block] today hit a couple memorable golf shots, though. Yeah, the atmosphere out there, playing with Michael, was unbelievable.
“We both got an amazing support, but you know, he got unbelievable support, understandably so, being in this position as a club pro and playing so well and, you know, competing into the latter stages of a major championship. It was really impressive. It was nice to go out there and share the course with him for 18 holes.”
McIlroy added of his own expectations, or rather the lack of them heading into the tournament: “I guess I just came in here trying to play a golf tournament, honestly, not thinking about getting myself in contention. Not thinking about winning. I honestly didn’t feel like I had a chance of winning this week. So it was just about going out there and playing the best I could and trying to make the most of it.”
Shane Lowry – who highlighted his round with an eagle two on the par 4 14th after driving the green – finished with a 69 for 280 in tied-12th.
“It’s been okay, I played pretty good today. I gave myself a lot of chances, gave myself a chance to do something. It was one of those weeks where I’m going away going probably should have been better again. But it’s another week at a major where feel like that brought a lot of my best in me,” said Lowry, adding:
“I’m very close to doing something. I would say that I’m out there every day, and I’m probably not getting the best score possible every day and I’m still out there playing, you know, competing at the top of the leaderboard. So that’s, that’s quite nice. I’ve a week off now and then a good stretch in the summer and another couple of majors coming up.”
