Former KU golf standout Gary Woodland’s bid for the 2021 PGA Championship crown ran out of steam on Sunday, when Woodland fired a 5-over par 77 in the final round.
Sitting in a tie for seventh entering Sunday’s round, Woodland needed a low round and a little help to have a shot at the title. Instead, he got a round that featured two double-bogeys and three bogeys to knock him down to a tie for 38th on the final leaderboard at +3 for the tournament.
Woodland’s fourth round opened with promise. After parring his first hole, he recorded birdies at hole No. 2 and hole No. 3 to move to 4-under for the tournament.
But a double-bogey at the par-5 7th hole, back-to-back bogeys and 9 and 10 and another double-bogey at No. 11 dropped him out of the race.
Woodland finished with a fourth-round 77 that left him nine strokes behind 2021 champion Phil Mickelson, who became the oldest major champion in PGA Tour history at age 50.
Woodland’s performance this weekend earned him $42,000
Next up on the PGA Tour is the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Woodland finished ninth in the event in 2020.
As for the 2021 champion, Mickelson has delivered so many thrills and spills over 30 years of pure theater that no one ever knows what he will do next.
His latest act was a real stunner: A major champion at age 50.
Mickelson captured his sixth major and by far the most surprising Sunday at the PGA Championship. He made two early birdies with that magical wedge game and let a cast of contenders fall too far behind to catch him in the shifting wind of Kiawah Island.
He closed with a 1-over 73, building a five-shot lead on the back nine and not making any critical mistakes that kept him from his place in history.
“This is just an incredible feeling because I believed it was possible, but everything was saying it wasn’t,” said Mickelson, who had gone more than two years since his last win and had not won a major in nearly eight years. He had not even contended in a major in five years.
Julius Boros for 53 years held the distinction of golf’s oldest major champion. He was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship in San Antonio.
Pure chaos broke out along the 18th hole after Mickelson hit 9-iron safely to just outside 15 feet that all but secured a most improbable victory. Thousands of fans engulfed him down the fairway — a scene typically seen only at the British Open — until Mickelson emerged into view with a thumbs-up.
That might have been the most pressure he faced on the back nine of the Ocean Course.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience like that, so thank you for that,” Mickelson said at the trophy ceremony. “Slightly unnerving, but exceptionally awesome.”
Just like he plays the game.
Chants of “Lefty! Lefty! Lefty!” chased him onto the green and into the scoring tent, his final duty of a week he won’t soon forget.
Three months after 43-year-old Tom Brady won a seventh Super Bowl, Mickelson added to this year of ageless wonders. Mickelson became the first player in PGA Tour history to win tournaments 30 years apart. The first of his 45 titles was in 1991 when he was still a junior at Arizona State.
Mickelson became the 10th player to win majors in three decades, an elite list that starts with Harry Vardon and was most recently achieved by Tiger Woods.
“He’s been on tour as long as I’ve been alive,” Jon Rahm said. “For him to keep that willingness to play and compete and practice, it’s truly admirable.”
Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen had their chances, but only briefly. Koepka was 4 over on the par 5s when the game was still on and closed with a 74. Oosthuizen hit into the water as he was trying to make a final run and shot 73.
“Phil played great,” Koepka said. “It’s pretty cool to see, but a bit disappointed in myself.”
Mickelson finished at 6-under 282.
*- The Associated Press contributed to this report.*
