Brooks Koepka (barely) hangs on to win PGA Championship

Brooks Koepka nearly lets seven-shot lead slip away at PGA Championship but manages to defend title with two-shot win over Dustin Johnson.

Just when it seemed Brooks Koepka was going to run away with his second straight PGA Championship on Sunday, Bethpage Black started to fight back.

Koepka nearly lost a seven-shot final round lead, hanging on to shoot four-over 74 and beat runner-up and close friend Dustin Johnson by two shots.

It was already a week full of history-making moments for the 29-year-old Florida native. He set the course record with 63 on Thursday. After Friday’s round, he had the lowest 36-hole score in major championship history. His seven-shot advantage after Saturday’s third round was the biggest in PGA Championship history.

He made some more history with the victory. He’s the first to go back-to-back at the PGA Championship since Tiger Woods in 2006-7. He’s the first to lead wire-to-wire since Hal Sutton in 1983. No one in history had ever won his first four majors in less than a two-year span. No one had also ever held consecutive titles at two majors at the same time. Only Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and Woods had won a major back-to-back twice in their career.

Koepka did all that this week at Bethpage Black, but it wasn’t as easy as it appeared it would be when he teed off on Sunday afternoon. A bogey at the opening hole raised some doubts, however small, that maybe he wasn’t up to the task. He came back with a birdie at the par-five fourth, then at the 10th muscled a gap wedge 157 yards to tap-in range. Suddenly the only question was how big his winning margin would be.

Winning majors is never that easy, however, and Koepka found that out the next four holes. At the 11th he drove into a fairway bunker and had to pitch out back into the fairway, needing a six-foot putt just to save bogey. He had to pitch out of the rough again on the 12th and missed a 16-footer for par. At the par-five 13th, he snap-hooked his drive to the left and only found the green on his fourth shot, his putt for par lipping out. Then, at the par-three 14th, his tee shot sailed well over the green. His chip shot ran 18-feet past the hole, and Koepka settled for his fourth-straight bogey.

Just ahead of him, Johnson holed an 11-footer for birdie at the 15th. The seven-shot lead at the start of the round was down to just one. Johnson, though, never got any closer. He missed the green with approach shots on both 16 and 17 and failed to get up-and-in for par either time. Even with a good par at the closing hole, Johnson finished at six-under, his attempt to add a second major championship to his resume eluding him again.

Koepka three-putted for bogey on the par-three 17th, but with Johnson’s struggles, he came to the 18th needing only a bogey to earn the honor of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy again. His drive found an awkward lie, nestled in deep rough bordering a fairway bunker. He wisely decided to just chip out back to the fairway and hit his third shot to five feet, holing the putt for par to finish at eight-under for the tournament.

It wasn’t a spectacular round of golf, but it proved to be enough. The Koepka who made Bethpage look like a walk in the park the first three days started to look human on Sunday. Throughout it all, however, he kept the same calm demeanor, his facial expression not giving away any stress and nerves he might have been feeling inside.

That proved to be Koepka’s greatest strength. For all the massive drives he hit throughout the week, it was his ability to stay cool under pressure that helped him when he needed it most. Playing 15 and 16 after his four straight bogeys, the latter playing as the most difficult hole on the course, he found the fairway each time and played a smart shot to the center of the green.

It’s a characteristic of a four-time major champion. Koepka has now won four of his last eight majors. He still has three more to play before he turns 30. Earlier this week, when asked how many he thinks he can win in his career, Koepka replied that double-digits wasn’t out of the question.

Only the greats of the game can even think about winning that many majors. After this week at Bethpage Black, Koepka is now one of those greats.