The Tiger Phil battle never materialized, but the Jim Furyk Jason Dufner battle was pretty darn good, with Dufner prevailing. Jason Dufner has went from relative unknown, to one of the the 20 best golfers in the world over the last 3 years. All of this coming when he was well into his 30s. He fired lasers at the flags all day. Many golfers don’t get another chance after collapsing in a major. Dufner let the 2011 PGA Championship get away from him, but not this time. This isn’t a fluke. Dufner has 5 top 5 top finishes in majors since 2010. He’s a force on tour, and he has the calm demeanor to contend in more majors. I’m thinking a U.S Open is a possibility as straight as he drives it.
- Jim Furyk didn’t really lose the PGA Championship as much as Jason Dufner simply outplayed him. He was steady in the 4th round, when he needed to be very good. The putts just didn’t drop for him today. The story on Furyk was he needed this second major to ensure that he would get into the Golf Hall of Fame. I think he deserves to get in. Wouldn’t you put him among the top 10 golfers of the Tiger Woods era? Fred Couples is in the Hall of Fame and with 1 major and 15 PGA wins. Furyk was a major too, and 1 more win.
- Phil Mickelson did not play well this week. He shot a disastrous 78 in the 3rd round, and after double bogeying the 18th in round wasn’t heard from again. I’m surprised he didn’t have a better PGA Championship, but winning the British Open last month far overshadows anything that happened this week. Mickelson got his major in 2013. The season is an absolute success for him with 2 other Worldwide wins, even if he stopped playing for the rest of the year.
- What happened to Tiger Woods? Woods was coming off a 7 shot victory the week before. He looked primed to make a run this week at his 15th major. In all honesty this is a far more concerning result for Woods than Mickelson’s rough finish. Woods has now gone more than 5 full years since his last major win. Nicklaus never had a dry spell like this until after he won his last major at age 46. I think it’s a fair question now. Why can’t Woods win majors anymore? It’s clearly in his head. He can win the Fed Ex Cup, player of the year, etc. It won’t matter, 2013 will go down as a disappointment. When you are Tiger Woods your season is measured differently than everyone else.
- Good to see Rory Mcilory start to find his game. He had 18 birdies, and was on the fringe of contention all week in finishing T-8. All anyone would ask is what’s wrong with Mcilory, and he just throws up a top 10 in a major. I think Mcilory seriously contends next year in the majors. He just too talented, and it took awhile but he’s starting to play really well again.
- Adam Scott is a player to keep an eye on on next year. He finished in the top 5 in 3 of the 4 majors including a 5th today. From tee to green he’s among the best in the world, maybe the best. If he ever gets that putter to be consistent he can still win 2 or 3 more majors in his career.
- Hey Jason Day had another top 10 in a major…. He’s going to win one in the two 2 years. Book it…
- For me this is the end of the golf season… Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson, and Jason Dufner are your major winners. All golfers ranked in the top 25 in the world. Tiger Woods? 5 years and counting…
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