Tag: 2020 PGA Championship

Justin Thomas dropped an angry F-bomb after a missed putt and golf fans loved it

Pro golfers are just like us.

Even when fans are in attendance, golf broadcasts have been able to pick up golfer commentary on hot mics. But when you take fans out of the equation completely for a major tournament, you’re going to hear a lot of the frustration play out on TV.

This year’s PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park was the perfect example of that.

After already picking up an F-bomb from Tiger Woods’ MLB conversation with Rory McIlroy, Sunday’s final round had an extremely relatable F-bomb courtesy of Justin Thomas.

Thomas thought he had a certain birdie putt on the par-4 5th, but he watched in disbelief as the putt trailed off the lip. This was how he reacted (NSFW language):

Anyone who has ever played golf certainly knows that feeling, and golf fans actually appreciated being able to hear it play out on the broadcast.

See! Pro golfers are just like us — except, you know, way better at golf.

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Tiger Woods closes PGA Championship with 67, finishes week in the red

Tiger Woods fired a closing 3-under 67 at the PGA Championship that included five final-round birdies at TPC Harding Park.

So far off the lead starting the final round of the PGA Championship, Tiger Woods had a big-picture goal for Sunday at TPC Harding Park. His year is just starting, what with two more majors coming down the pipe in September and October, plus the FedEx Cup playoffs. Sunday was about building momentum for the future.

Woods effectively did that on a foggy morning in San Francisco, logging five birdies and just two bogeys for a final-round 3-under 67 that pushed him to 1 under for the tournament.

On the eve of the final round, when Woods was coming off a second round in which he struggled mightily with green speeds – using the new Scotty Cameron prototype putter he had put into play this week – he set a goal of finishing the week in the red. He managed to accomplish that.

Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times | Photos

Woods had birdies on Nos. 4, 5, 7, 14 and 17. His two bogeys came at the notoriously difficult par-3 eighth and the closing par-4 18th.

Sunday marked just the eighth round Woods has played since the PGA Tour returned in June. He played last month’s Memorial Tournament and finished T-40 there. He is not in the field for next week’s Wyndham Championship.

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PGA golfer finds out he hit a hole-in-one after someone started screaming from the green

Sound on.

Like every professional sporting event around the country, Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park was played without fans in attendance.

But that didn’t stop a course volunteer from providing Byeong Hun An with some much-needed sound effects.

After Hun An hit a brilliant tee shot on the par-3 11th, he tried to watch as the ball took a couple bounces on the green and then trickled right into the hole. But from his vantage point, he couldn’t exactly see if the ball had gone in.

That was when some course volunteer around the green provided a helping hand and just started … uh … screaming. And loudly.

That loud reaction was what Hun An needed to know he had just hit a hole-in-one. The delayed celebration after the screaming was just fantastic.

The hole-in-one was good enough to move Hun An to 3-under on the tournament.

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Tiger Tracker: Tiger Woods’ final round at the PGA Championship

Follow Tiger Woods’ final round at the PGA Championship with shot-by-shot updates from TPC Harding Park.

When Tiger Woods came out of the gates on Thursday with an opening 2-under 68 at TPC Harding Park, it sparked some excitement. After subsequent rounds of 72 over the next two rounds at the PGA Championship, Woods fell to a tie for 59th, 11 off the pace and well down the leaderboard.

Woods spent the past two rounds struggling to find the right speed on the greens. On Saturday, he flared a handful of shots right off the tee, leaving himself with a bit of trouble to contend with (though Saturday’s first birdie at the par-4 16th came after a punch-out from behind a giant cypress tree trunk).

Will Woods be able to find something in Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship? While it might not mean much for this week, it could help set him on the right trajectory for the year’s two remaining majors, a September U.S. Open and a November Masters.

We’re tracking Woods’ final round as he plays alongside Tom Hoge. Keep up with our shot-by-shot coverage below.

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Brooks Koepka trolls DJ after shooting third-round 69, trails by two at PGA Championship

Koepka, who is bidding for a three-peat, trails by two strokes heading into the final round but still thinks he’s the man to beat at the PGA.

Brooks Koepka’s bid to become the first player in nearly a century to win the PGA Championship in three consecutive years looked to be dead and buried after three straight back-nine bogeys, but with birdies on two of the last three holes, Koepka’s quest to make history is alive and well. He signed for a 1-under 69 and trails his former workout partner Dustin Johnson by two strokes.

Koepka is never lacking in confidence and he trolled Johnson and his fellow competitors, many of whom lack major-championship pedigree, as only he can. First, he told CBS’s Amanda Balionis, “A lot of the guys on the leaderboard, I don’t think have won, I guess DJ has only won one. I don’t know a lot of the other guys up there.”

And he doubled down when a similar theme emerged in his post-round press conference, throwing more shade on Johnson, who posted a 54-hole aggregate of 9-under 201.

“There’s a few guys around you with one major; you’ve obviously got more,” a reporter asked. “Was the second one harder to win?”

“Well, if you look at the top of the leaderboard, I’d say yes,” Koepka said with a smirk.

Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times | Photos

When pushed to elaborate, Koepka, the winner of four of the last 10 majors, claimed overcoming expectations would be the biggest mental hurdle for those trying to secure their second major.

“I guess it does become difficult if you think you’ve played good enough to win multiple ones. But you’ve just got to keep putting yourself there. I’m doing a good job of that,” he said. “But the second one definitely is a little bit tougher, I think, as you can see from the top of the leaderboard.”

Indeed, Koepka does have a point. While he’s amassed two U.S. Open titles to go along with two Wanamaker trophies, the rest of the top 20 have a combined to win three major championships (Johnson, Jason Day and Justin Rose all have one major to their credit.)

“This is a guy that has no scar tissue,” Golf Channel’s Justin Leonard said. “Everybody in this field has scar tissue. The only scar tissue is what is in his knee and that is not bothering him.”

For Koepka, Saturday was an up-and-down round of four birdies and three bogeys, but it still added up to his 10th round in the 60s in his last 11 major rounds. He made birdies at Nos. 4 and 12 and shared the lead at 8 under, before making three bogeys in a row to slip off the first page of the leaderboard as his vaunted iron game let him down. At 15, he short-sided himself right of the green and fluffed his pitch and made bogey.

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“Maybe took a little bit too aggressive of lines on those out of the semi (rough), but I just missed them in the worst spot possible, but they were good shots,” Koepka said. “Hit them too good.”

Just when he looked to be fading from the picture, Koepka responded with birdies at 16 and 18, and he’s lurking with a legitimate chance to win the same major three consecutive years for the first time since Australian Peter Thomson achieved the feat at the British Open (1954-56).

Last year, the roles were reversed as Koepka slept on the 54-hole lead at the PGA at Bethpage Black and Johnson roared back and nearly caught him on the back nine Sunday, finishing second. Johnson, who could easily have three more majors to go with his lone triumph at the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 2016, can turn the tables on Koepka if he putts like he did during his third-round 65.

“I think it gets to him that Brooks Koepka has won four and he hasn’t,” Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee said. “Personally, I think he does remember; he may not show it, he may not reveal it.”

So, why does Koepka have more four majors to Johnson’s one? Chamblee chalked it up to a matter of self-belief.

“Brooks plays like he’s got the Jim Valvano speech going on in a loop in his head and Dustin sometimes looks like he has the AM radio going on in his head, and that’s the difference,” he said.

Koepka has won majors from ahead and he’s won them from behind. He chased Gary Woodland around Pebble Beach last June in his quest for a three-peat of the U.S. Open, and simply got beat by the better man on that day. But Koepka likes his chances heading into Sunday’s final round at TPC Harding Park.

“When I’ve been in this position before, I’ve capitalized,” he said. “I don’t know, he’s only won one. I’m playing good.”

Added Koepka: “Just do what I’ve been doing, I feel like I’m right there.”

He could be right on the threshold of making history.

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PGA Championship: Final round tee times, TV/streaming info

The PGA Championship concludes Sunday at TPC Harding Park.

Barring a playoff, we are 18 holes away from crowning golf’s first major champion of 2020.

The PGA Championship concludes Sunday at TPC Harding Park. Dustin Johnson and Scottie Scheffler stand atop a jam-packed leaderboard, as 17 players are within four strokes and eight of those among the top 20 in the world.

Should make for an entertaining finish.

ESPN+ has the exclusive streaming, while ESPN and CBS will tag-team the TV coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET. (Details below tee times)

Tee times

1st tee

Tee time Players
10 a.m. Sung Kang
10:10 a.m. Ryan Palmer, Jordan Spieth
10:20 a.m. Chez Reavie, J.T. Poston
10:30 a.m. Erik Van Rooyen
10:40 a.m. Danny Lee, Robert MacIntyre
10:50 a.m. Adam Long, Bubba Watson
11 a.m. Joost Luiten, Rory Sabbatini
11:10 a.m. Kevin Streelman, Viktor Hovland
11:20 a.m. Jim Herman, Gary Woodland
11:30 a.m. Tiger Woods, Tom Hoge
11:40 a.m. Sepp Straka, Byeong Hun An
11:50 a.m. Billy Horschel, Abraham Ancer
Noon Phil Mickelson, Russell Henley
12:10 p.m. Luke List, Mark Hubbard
12:20 p.m. Bud Cauley, Louis Oosthuizen
12:30 p.m. Brian Harman, Brandt Snedeker
12:50 p.m. Kurt Kitayama, Rory McIlroy
1 p.m. Doc Redman, Emiliano Grillo
1:10 p.m. Mackenzie Hughes, Cameron Smith
1:20 p.m. Brendan Steele, Alex Noren
1:30 p.m. Denny McCarthy, Adam Hadwin
1:40 p.m. Shane Lowry, Nate Lashley
1:50 p.m. Justin Thomas, Harris English
2 p.m. Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel
2:10 p.m. Kevin Kisner, Victor Perez
2:20 p.m. Brendon Todd, Keith Mitchell
2:30 p.m. Dylan Frittelli, Lanto Griffin
2:40 p.m. Patrick Reed, Harold Varner III
2:50 p.m. Webb Simpson, Jon Rahm
3 p.m. Patrick Cantlay, Ian Poulter
3:10 p.m. Bern Weisberger, Mike Lorenzo-Vera
3:20 p.m. Haotong Li, Hideki Matsuyama
3:40 p.m. Matthew Wolff, Xander Schauffele
3:50 p.m. Joel Dahmen, Si Woo Kim
4 p.m. Daniel Berger, Tommy Fleetwood
4:10 p.m. Justin Rose, Jason Day
4:20 p.m. Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finay
4:30 p.m. Paul Casey, Brooks Koepka
4:40 p.m. Cameron Champ, Collin Morikawa
4:50 p.m. Dustin Johnson, Scottie Scheffler

TV, streaming information

Sunday, Aug. 9

Final round coverage: 10 a.m. – Noon, ESPN+.

Final round Featured Group 1 (one morning, one afternoon): ESPN+.

Final round Featured Group 2 (one morning, one afternoon): ESPN+.

Final round TV coverage: Noon – 3 p.m., ESPN.

Final round TV coverage: 3 – 9 p.m., CBS.

Final round coverage: 3 – 10 p.m., SiriusXM (Channel 208 or 92).

Final round Featured Hole (No. 18): 3 p.m. – 9 p.m., ESPN+.

PGA Championship Clubhouse Report: 9 p.m., CBS Sports Network

We recommend interesting sports viewing and streaming opportunities. If you sign up to a service by clicking one of the links, we may earn a referral fee.

Dustin Johnson loses yardage book, emerges from loaded leaderboard to find PGA Championship lead

Johnson posted a 5-under-par 65 on a crisp Saturday at TPC Harding Park to grab the lead in the 102nd PGA Championship through 54 holes.

SAN FRANCISCO – Mellow Dustin Johnson doesn’t sweat much in life.

Not even losing his yardage book during a major championship.

“It’s got to be in the bottom of my bag but I didn’t want to take all my clubs out on the golf course,” Johnson said after posting a 5-under-par 65 on a cool and crisp Saturday at TPC Harding Park to grab the lead in the 102nd PGA Championship through 54 holes.

Many players would have freaked out without a yardage book in their back pocket. Then again, Johnson isn’t most players. The guy whose heart rarely races loves to kick back and float on a boat and just plain relax from time to time. So when he couldn’t find the book full of notes and the X’s and O’s of the golf course, he turned to his brother, A.J., who is his caddie.

“We were fine,” Johnson said. “I just used a regular yardage book. I use it more so I can get the yardages out of the fairway and where the flag is. But my brother had an extra one, so it was perfect.”

He could have said the same of his putting stroke. The world No. 5, who won The Travelers Championship in June and is one of the longest hitters in the game, used the shortest club in his bag to make hay. In assuming residence at the top of a loaded and packed leaderboard, Johnson needed just 24 putts to make 140 feet of putts in his round that featured eight birdies. And he leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. With rounds of 69-67-65, he’s at 9 under and leads Scottie Scheffler (65) and Cameron Champ (67) by one shot.

Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times | Photos

“I putted really well. That was key,” said Johnson, a winner of 21 PGA Tour titles. “But I hit a lot of good shots to give myself some good looks because the flags are tucked. The greens are firm and fast. So I did hit a lot of quality iron shots.

“Tomorrow, I definitely need to hit some more fairways, because it’s really tough playing this golf course from the rough. The bunkers, too, are very tough.”

Emerging victorious from this leaderboard will be tough, too.

Seventeen players are within four strokes heading into the final 18, with eight of them ranked in the top 20 in the world – including world No. 6 Brooks Koepka, the major master who is trying to become the first to three-peat in this championship since it went to stroke play in 1958.

Koepka, the winner of the 2017 and 2018 U.S. Open and the 2018 and 2019 PGA Championship, birdied two of his final three holes to roar back from a trio of consecutive bogeys earlier in the back nine.

Koepka’s 69 placed him at 7 under along with Collin Morikawa (65) and Paul Casey (68), two shots behind Johnson and one behind Scheffler and Champ.

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“I feel very comfortable around the lead in the big events,” Koepka said. “Obviously we don’t have fans here, which makes it a little different when they’re hooting and hollering, which can be fun if they’re cheering for you, but if they’re against you it’s not so much fun. It’s going to feel completely different than any one we’ve ever played.

“I’m looking forward to it tomorrow. It should be a fun shootout. I like my chances. When I’ve been in this position before, I’ve capitalized.”

Three back of Johnson is some serious cream rising to the top – Bryson DeChambeau (66), Tony Finau (67), 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose (70), 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day (70), Daniel Berger (70) and Tommy Fleetwood (70).

Four back are Joel Dahmen (68), Si Woo Kim (68), Matthew Wolff (68), Xander Schauffele (69) and 36-hole leader Haotong Lee (73).

“Worked hard to stay in it and obviously a legitimate chance tomorrow,” said Rose, who had three bogeys in his first five holes but weathered that early storm. “Going to have that freedom to go out there and play a few groups ahead and just see if I can find my round where I can kind of get it all together.

“I’ve sort of had good patches, but I haven’t really had a lot confidence in the game yet this week, so I’ve done a great job of giving myself a look. I’m looking for that one round. I’m looking for my round of the week.”

So, too, are many others.

Johnson has experience on his side heading into the final round. He had 11 top-10s in majors before breaking through to win the 2016 U.S. Open. In his last 13 majors, he’s had five top-10s, including runner-up finishes in the Masters and PGA Championship last year.

“I’ve been in the hunt a bunch of times in a major,” he said. “I’ve got one major, so having that experience is definitely going to be beneficial. All I can do is go out and play my game and shoot the best number I can. I’m going to just try and go out and shoot as low as I can tomorrow just like I did today.

“You know, just take what the golf course gives me and just keep on going because, you know, it doesn’t really matter what other guys are doing. I’ve got to hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. If I can do that tomorrow, I’m going to have a good chance coming down the stretch on the back nine.”

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Cal Bear Collin Morikawa charges into contention at PGA Championship

Morikawa, 23, tied for the low round of the day at TPC Harding Park to give himself a chance to win his first major.

Fourteen months ago, Collin Morikawa was finishing up his college career at the University of California-Berkeley, just a short trip across the Bay Bridge from TPC Harding Park, site of the 102nd PGA Championship. Morikawa figures he played the jewel of the Bay Area’s municipal courses at least a dozen times during his college career. So, how much has that familiarity helped him this week?

“Other than knowing how to get here off the freeway without my phone and not get a ticket by the police, no, it has not helped me at all,” Morikawa said.

On Saturday, the 23-year-old SoCal native didn’t need to rely on any local NorCal knowledge because he played with the calm of a steely-eyed veteran, making seven birdies, including three of his final four holes to shoot 5-under 65 at TPC Harding Park.

“He played the kind of round today that I woke up thinking I’d like to play,” said former Masters champion Adam Scott, who played alongside him. “It was really incredibly solid. He was in complete control, really, of all parts of his game.”

With two wins under his belt, most recently at the Workday Charity Open in July, Morikawa, ranked No. 12 in the world, already has lived up to his advancing billing coming out of Cal. His ball-striking is sublime – he ranks T-4 in driving accuracy and third in approach proximity – and has served him well as he climbed up the leaderboard. Morikawa, who tied for the low round of the day, improved to 7-under 203, tied for fourth and just two strokes behind leader Dustin Johnson.

The difference this week has been Morikawa’s molten putter. If there is an Achilles’ heel in his game, Morikawa has struggled on the greens, most notably when he missed a 3-foot putt on the first playoff hole to lose to Daniel Berger in the Charles Schwab Challenge in June.

Morikawa credited his caddie, J.J. Jackovic, for helping him with his putting mechanics and learned from watching superb putters Steve Stricker, with whom he played a practice round Tuesday, and Zach Johnson, his playing competitor in the first two rounds. Morikawa’s putter remained fiery on Saturday, as he gained more than four strokes on the field on the greens and h now ranks fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting this week.

Morikawa made a pair of 22-foot birdie putts early at the third and fifth holes and a 7-foot birdie at 7 to shoot 3-under 32 on his opening nine. He tacked on a short birdie at 10 before hitting a road bump with bogeys at Nos. 12 and 13. But Morikawa wasn’t done yet. He rattled off three birdies in a row beginning at 15, and capped by sinking an 18-foot birdie putt at 17.

Could Morikawa nab his first major title in just his second start in one of golf’s Grand Slam events? Scott, for one, wouldn’t be surprised at all.

“He played major championship kind of golf today, and you know, it’s easy to say he’s got all the credentials, but he’s kind of proving it,” he said.

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Another day, another slow start, another battle on the greens for Tiger Woods

Golfweek’s Julie Williams discusses Tiger’s third round of play at TPC Harding Park for the PGA Championship.

Golfweek’s Julie Williams discusses Tiger’s third round of play at TPC Harding Park for the PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods struggles to get anything going on moving day at PGA Championship

Tiger Woods ended the third round of the PGA Championship with another round of 2-over 72. It left him at 2 over for the championship.

Nothing says more about Tiger Woods’ Saturday at TPC Harding Park than that by No. 15, when he holed a par save from 7 feet, it produced a relieved grin.

A 7-footer for par is not usually cause for celebration for a 15-time major winner, but Woods didn’t have it on the greens in the third round of the PGA Championship. It was a round that included many of the same struggles he experienced in the second round.

The grin only grew on the next hole when Woods punched out from behind a tree, well right of the fairway, and holed his first birdie of the day. Until that hole, he had been in danger of ending an impressive streak. Woods had made at least one birdie (or eagle) in every major championship round since the opening round of the 2010 U.S. Open.

Leaderboard | TV info | Tee times | Photos

The streak remains intact, though, and Woods ended the day with another round of 2-over 72. It left him at 2 over for the championship.

The round ended any real chance Woods had of claiming his 16th major title this week at Harding Park. By the time Woods was off the course, leader Haotong Li, at 8 under, still had an hour to go until his tee time.

On Saturday, Woods contended with fewer bunkers but missed more tee shots – particularly to the right. It was a mostly clear, albeit cool, day in the San Francisco Bay Area as Woods teed off alongside Keith Mitchell just before lunch. The wind picked up as the round went along.

Woods’ best shot of the day came at the closing hole, when he stuffed a crisp approach to 5 feet for a second and final birdie.

Still, with bogeys at Nos. 8, 11, 12 and 13, Woods had fallen more than 20 spots on the leaderboard by the end of his day.

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