Last week’s AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch outside of Dallas was feeling like another empty tournament for the world No. 10 and gold medalist from the Tokyo Summer Games. His year to date already had been below his lofty standards aside from teaming with Patrick Cantlay to win the Zurich Classic and after going bogey-double bogey on the second and third holes of the second round, he was 3 over in the tournament that was a birdie fest.
“Some terrible things. Not going to lie,” Schauffele said this week about what he was thinking heading to the fourth tee that day. “It’s so weird when you’re playing so poorly, or scoring so poorly, I should say. Scoring really poorly, kind of frees you up. I had nothing to lose.
“So I pretty much had that nothing-to-lose mindset for quite some time throughout that tournament. And I was just chasing.”
That’s when Schauffele lit a fire under himself. One could make a case for quite a few players as being the hottest coming into Southern Hills Country Club for the 104th PGA Championship. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who has won four tournaments since February, including the Masters. Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth, who has gone W-2 his last two starts. Last week’s winner, K.H. Lee, who shot 26 under.
But is anyone scalding hot like Schauffele? In his final 51 holes of the Byron Nelson, he was 26 under – he made 24 birdies and an eagle without a bogey to finish in a tie for third. Repeat. Twenty-six under over 51 holes.
“Big for me. The Zurich tournament with Patrick was really nice, sort of half the stress. I was playing well at the time, and getting that win was important but if you look before Zurich, how my year was going, very kind of stale, for me, in my feelings and how my team sort of view how I’m supposed to play,” Schauffele said. “So it was nice to kind of put that aside, and Friday, I had that stale feeling for a little bit and then kind of woke up and made a lot of birdies.”
Was it his best stretch of golf as a pro?
“You tell me,” he said.
OK, we will. In terms of three consecutive rounds, Schauffele’s 193 total in rounds 2-4 (he shot 67-65-61) was one better than his previous best.
“It was kind of a cherry on top to finish with a 61 last week,” he said. “But whenever you’re playing bad and can kind of get back in position and shoot a good score, it’s always a really good thing for the player in terms of confidence.”
Schauffele’s last of four PGA Tour titles came in the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions. While he’s finished in the top 10 in nine of 19 majors, he has yet to capture his first.
“I haven’t had the best of years up to this point, for the most part, I’d say, in terms of consistency,” he said. “So I think me just getting back to sort of my process and being patient and not really trying to do too much. Just sort of when I do really well in majors and I’m not worried throughout the week. I kind of have that feeling now. I think mentally I’m in a good spot.”
Which will play well at Southern Hills, which will not allow a birdie fest.
“It’s tough. It’s going to be really hard. I think PGA Championships for the most part, people feel like you can kind of shoot lower in them than most majors. But I think this year is going to be a different story,” he said. “Southern Hills is no joke. You know, it’s going to take a lot of patience and a lot of good quality shots just to kind of shoot around par.
“You just have to play smart. They are going to be long rounds, not just because they are hitting over other greens and waiting, stuff like that. It’s going to be long just because you have to really think. You have to be smart. It’s going to be a mental battle and you really have to stay patient.”
Instead of sadness at how far the most beloved golfer since Arnold Palmer has fallen, however, there should be a sense of relief. Bad as it’s been to see his image and reputation go up in flames from a distance, it would be far worse to see the blaze up close.
And that’s exactly what would have happened had Mickelson showed up at Southern Hills.
Neither will show Mickelson in a positive light, and he will not be able to dodge the pointed questions whenever he does resurface. The more space he can put between himself and the revelations that undermine the Man of the People image he’s crafted so carefully all these years, the better.
That’s a distance that cannot be measured in days or even weeks, mind you, but rather in months and major championships. He’s already missed the Masters and now the PGA. If Mickelson is smart, he won’t play the U.S. and British Opens, either.
That’s how corrosive the vile and selfish things Mickelson said, and were said about him in Shipnuck’s book, are.
“Mickelson’s future was unlimited,” Shipnuck wrote, “as long as he could avoid saying something stupid.”
Mickelson is hardly the first athlete who has turned out to be not what he seemed, his true self a disappointment to those who conflated athletic ability with moral character. What makes Mickelson’s fall so stunning was that he was so committed to the con.
For 30-some years now, he has presented himself as Every Man. With his goofy grin, a penchant for audacity that bordered on reckless and an endless patience for seemingly everyone who wanted an autograph, a ball or just a high five, he made fans feel special. Seen.
He was an entertainer as much as an athlete, and he gave everyone a front-row seat to his circus.
But like every show under the big top, it was as much illusion as it was reality.
According to Shipnuck’s book, Mickelson can be gracious and kind. He is generous with his tips for clubhouse attendants and waiters. He paid to retrofit the house of a casual acquaintance after he was paralyzed in a motorcycle crash. Upon hearing that fellow pro Ryan Palmer’s wife had been diagnosed with breast cancer, Mickelson immediately put Palmer in touch with the doctors who had treated his wife, Amy.
But Mickelson also can be immature and cruel, delighting in other’s failings and dredging up embarrassments years later. He is also ruthlessly calculating.
In Shipnuck’s book, Brandel Chamblee shares a story from early in Mickelson’s career of Mickelson blowing off a child who wanted an autograph, telling the boy he’d come back after his round.
“This little boy was crestfallen,” Chamblee recalled. “He wasn’t gonna wait around for six hours to ask again and they both knew it.”
“I’m not saying this to denigrate Phil, just to illustrate that it was strategic when he decided to start signing all those autographs,” Chamblee continued. “Because early in his career he didn’t sign a lot. I’m 99 percent sure it was strategic because Tiger (Woods) hated signing and pretty much refused to do it. Phil saw there was a void and decided he would be the superstar who signs for everyone.
“And that elevated the narrative surrounding Phil.”
That kind of cool self-interest helps explain what is Mickelson’s greatest sin: his involvement with LIV Golf Investments.
Worse, though, is Mickelson’s cavalier attitude about throwing in with the Saudi royal family. He is well aware that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi killed and dismembered because Khashoggi was a vocal and unrelenting critic. He knows the Saudi government is repressive, particularly to women and members of the LGBTQ community.
But he considers it a small price to pay to bring the PGA Tour to heel. And further line his pockets, of course.
“They’re scary (expletives) motherf—–s to get involved with,” Mickelson told Shipnuck in a November phone call that didn’t become public until February. “Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.
“They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse,” Mickelson added. “As nice a guy as (PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan) comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right. And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage.”
Ah yes. What’s a little murder and torture among friends when there’s golf to be played and money to be made!
There will come a day when Mickelson makes a sheepish return, apologizing and asking fans for forgiveness, and no doubt some will. He’s brought too much joy and entertainment for too many years for them to hold a grudge.
Others, however, will never be able to see Mickelson the same way. Their fun and folksy hero is anything but, and he does not have enough years left in his career to write a redemption story.
It’s sad that Mickelson is missing the ultimate victory lap for his career this week. What’s even sadder is why, and who Mickelson has shown himself to be.
Woods said he’s had to alter his swing and practice sessions, but he knows he will “continue to improve.”
TULSA, Okla. – Can Tiger Woods win this week?
“I feel like I can, definitely,” Woods said Tuesday ahead of Thursday’s start of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club. “I just have to go out there and do it. I have to do my work. Starts on Thursday and I’ll be ready.”
The 15-time major champion and four-time Wanamaker Trophy winner didn’t hesitate when he took the question. This despite playing once in 18 months; twice if you count the two times he teamed with son, Charlie, in the PNC Championship (Woods called them ½ tournaments). This despite playing 15 months after a horrific single-car accident north of Los Angeles nearly took his life and brought amputation of his right leg into question.
And this despite running out of gas and limping home in the Masters six weeks ago, where he tied for 47th.
“I feel like I’m doing better. I’m having more days (that) are better, more positive,” Woods said. “Able to practice a little bit longer. So I’m able to do activities and things that I was hoping to do, and I’m finally able to do them.”
Woods’ private jet touched down in the Sooner State on Sunday and three hours later he was playing the front nine of Southern Hills. On Monday, he played the back nine with Rory McIlroy. On Tuesday, he had a long range session and putted.
“He’s stubborn, he’s determined,” said McIlroy, who isn’t surprised Woods is back. “This is what he lives for. He lives for these major championships, and if he believes he can get around 18 holes, he believes he can win.”
Woods is confident he will get around Southern Hills much better than Augusta National, which he called Mount Everest.
“That’s the steepest golf course you’re going to play and that was the first one you climbed,” Woods said. “It’s going to get flatter and better. I got more and more tired (in the Masters) and more fatigued. I didn’t have the endurance that I wanted. I mean, I shouldn’t expect it because I didn’t earn it. I didn’t go out there and I hadn’t done the work but we were able to put in a little bit more work and it’s going to get better as time goes on. As the months pass and it’s going to get better.”
Woods, who won the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills (his 13th of 15 and first as a father), has certainly gotten stronger since the Masters. He wasn’t lacking in the power department on Sunday and Monday. He was hitting it both ways more accurately. And he had no trouble handling the runoffs of the greens.
“I’ve had to alter my golf swing here and there and practice sessions and work on things, and I’ve had to do a lot of shadow swinging in front of mirrors because I’m just not able to handle impact, but I’ve gotten better and stronger since then,” Woods said. “And will continue to improve.”
The 15-time major champ made a subtle change to his bag.
Equipment lovers are fascinated by Tiger Woods’ gear.
A traditionalist, Tiger has embraced technological advancements in drivers and fairway woods, but he has been very slow to change irons, shafts or grips. In fact, after growing up with a Ping putter, he has used a Ping grip on his Scotty Cameron putter for decades.
Having played a few practice rounds at Southern Hills in preparation for the PGA Championship, Woods has opted to change that setup, removing two clubs and adding two others.
Tiger Woods’ TaylorMade P-770 2-iron at the 2022 PGA Championship. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The first club that Woods removed from his bag this week is the M3 5-wood, and one of the clubs that he added is a TaylorMade P-770 2-iron. In years past, Woods removed his 5-wood and added a 2-iron on fast, firm courses where the wind is a factor, like links venues that host the British Open.
The other change that Woods made is taking out his P-7TW 3-iron and adding a P-770 3-iron in its place. That move, unlike swapping a 2-iron for a 5-wood, is unusual for Tiger.
Tiger Woods’ TaylorMade irons at the 2022 PGA Championship. (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The P-770 is a compact, hollow-bodied club that is designed to be a better-player’s distance iron. It has a forged 4140 stainless steel face attached to a forged 8620 carbon steel body. The inner chamber is filled with a foam material that TaylorMade refers to as Speed Foam. It absorbs excessive vibrations, to improve sound and feel, but does not inhibit the face from flexing or reduce ball speed. There is also an internal tungsten weight inside the head that lowers the center of gravity location to encourage a higher ball flight. Finally, there is a Speed Pocket slot in the sole that allows the lower portion of the hitting area to bend more efficiently on thin shots.
Time will tell whether the addition of the two P-770 irons is going to be permanent or whether they are course-specific clubs that woods is planning to use only at Southern Hills, but given Tiger’s injuries and reduced ability to practice, it makes sense that he might be looking for more ball speed and distance from his long irons.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of different strategies this week … It’s a really good track.”
TULSA, Okla. – Rory McIlroy first set foot on the grounds of Southern Hills Country Club on Monday.
He already feels right at home.
“I really liked it,” McIlroy said Tuesday about his first impressions of the course that hosts the 104th PGA Championship. On Monday he played a practice round with Tiger Woods. “I didn’t know what this place was like before Gil (Hanse) got his hands on it (for a restoration in 2019), but I think he’s done a wonderful job with it. Love the green complexes. I love that he gives you options off the tee.
“I think you’re going to see a lot of different strategies this week, guys hitting driver where maybe other guys aren’t and vice versa. It’s a really good track. I really enjoyed playing it (Monday) and I think it’s going to be a wonderful test.”
The four-time major champion and two-time PGA champion said he did a little digging on the Internet ahead of his arrival to Oklahoma to glean as much information of the course as he could. He also studied flyovers of the holes, which reveal Hanse and his crew took out hundreds of trees and widened some fairways. And McIlroy mined for nuggets from Tim Gillis, who played in the Senior PGA Championship at Southern Hills last year.
“Iron play and chipping is going to be really important this week,” McIlroy said. “And I think getting out there yesterday, one of the things I loved is the way they’ve cut the runoffs, it’s very hard to putt from off the greens. They’re trying to get wedges in guys’ hands, which I really like.”
McIlroy also knows that if he doesn’t know about a problem he shouldn’t worry about it.
“I’ve won a couple of major championships where I’ve played nine holes on Tuesday, nine holes on Wednesday and sort of teed it up and played really well. Sometimes not knowing where the trouble is, ignorance is bliss in some ways,” he said. “For me I’ll take execution over preparation any day. If you’re executing the shots and you’re hitting the ball well and the ball is looking where you’re going, that’s more than half the battle.
“I feel like I’m executing well. But it doesn’t mean you’re not preparing or looking at things. I think these greens require a little more time spent on them than some others. But I think strategy off the tee and into the greens is pretty simple, and then it gets a little more nuanced whenever you get on and around the greens.”
McIlroy hasn’t won a major since capturing the 2014 PGA Championship. He’s been asked about his drought going on eight full years now often and responds by saying he’s not putting any extra pressure on himself to get No. 5.
He’s one of the favorites – the world No. 7 shot a final-round 64 to finish second in the Masters and finished fifth in his last start in the Wells Fargo Championship.
“I think the most consistent way to get yourself to be able to have chances to win these major championships is to sort of adopt a conservative strategy. Tiger did it most of his career, and OK, he had a couple of huge wins in there, but a lot of times being conservative with his strategy, letting other guys make the mistakes,” McIlroy said. “Pars are pretty good in major championships, and that’s sort of the philosophy that I believe in going forward.
“I feel good about my game. I’ve done some good work. I’ve led greens in regulation the last two tournaments I’ve played. That’s something that hasn’t quite been there, and that’s something you need to do, especially around here. You hit greens here, you’re going to give yourself birdie chances. The targets are pretty small, pretty limited with where the hole locations will be, so you hit it into the middle of the greens here, you’re going to have decent chances.
“I feel good about it all. I’m certainly in a better place with my game than where I was this time last year going into Kiawah. Happy about that.”
“Everybody’s going to say I’m coming back too early, but I’m being very careful.”
TULSA, Okla. – Bryson DeChambeau hasn’t played since he missed the cut in the Masters, posting 76-80, with the 80 being his highest score in a major championship in his career.
The 2020 U.S. Open champion has dealt with numerous injuries for nearly a year, among them a torn left hip labrum. And on April 14, he posted on Instagram a picture of himself in a hospital bed following left wrist surgery on the fractured hook of the hamate. He wrote he hoped to return within in two months.
Well, it could be a whole lot sooner.
DeChambeau, who registered to play this week, showed up at Southern Hills Country Club late Monday and, on what he called a recovery day, had a long practice session consisting of just chipping and putting.
What happens the three days leading into Thursday’s first round will determine if he plays.
“All is going well,” DeChambeau told Golfweek as he opened his left hand that revealed just a hint of a scar from the surgery. “Everybody’s going to say I’m coming back too early, but I’m being very careful.”
On May 14, DeChambeau posted a six-second video on social media ripping a driver into a net. A snapshot of the launch monitor showed 192 mph ball speed. DeChambeau, the winner of eight PGA Tour titles who has fallen to No. 22 in the world, said he hit balls all day in Dallas on Sunday.
“It’s a day-to-day thing,” DeChambeau said. “If I can’t go this week, I’ll play next week. If I can’t play next week, it will be a week-to-week thing.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I get off to a nice start and play well this week.”
TULSA, Okla. – Viktor Hovland is relying on an interesting prep schedule ahead of this week’s 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club.
He didn’t play a PGA Tour event the past three weeks.
The World No. 6 has played just once since tying for 27th in the Masters, as he teamed with Collin Morikawa to finish in a tie for 29th in the Zurich Classic. Hovland decided he needed time away from the PGA Tour to get his game right.
“I spent the last three weeks really well,” Hovland said Monday at Southern Hills. “I was not very happy with my game the last few weeks. Not that it was that far off, but I was just doing a few more dumb mistakes than I normally do.
“So I was pretty motivated to get to work, and the last three weeks have been really good. I feel like my game is in a way better place. But at the same time, there’s always stuff to work on, but I feel like my game is good enough to really contend. I wouldn’t be surprised if I get off to a nice start and play well this week.”
The winner of six worldwide tournaments also isn’t concerned about his record in the majors. In seven starts as a professional, the 24-year-old has a career-best tie for 12th in last year’s British Open.
“It’s all about just trying to get better, and I feel like I’m on a very good trajectory,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot better since I first turned pro, and if I just keep doing the things that I need to do and get better, I’m going to hopefully win some events. Sometimes you can play great and not win a tournament. So there’s a little bit of luck involved as well and I just try to control the things that I can control.”
He should feel in control at Southern Hills, having first played here as a sophomore for Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship. Since, he’s played the course a little more than a handful of times.
“I think it’s good. I remember there being a lot more trees the first time I came here. They have added a bunch of length and they have made it a little bit more open, but at the same time you still have to drive it really well out here. So from that aspect, I feel like it fits me really well. There’s no real faking it,” he said. “But you have to have a lot of good short game shots around greens because it’s all fairway around the green. It’s not just like rough if you miss the greens. So I think that kind of allows you to use some creativity around the greens.”
Hovland has played the course a few times in the past three weeks.
“One thing that’s kind of been the biggest difference is the last few weeks when I have been here, they have kind of top-dressed the greens and they have been very soft just to protect the greens headed into this week,” he said. “I think that’s the thing that I have to get used to the most, just seeing the ball bounce a little bit firmer, roll off some of the greens that it didn’t the last couple times I was here. I think that’s kind of the biggest difference.”
Take a scroll through photos of Tiger’s week at Southern Hills.
A “stronger” Tiger Woods was one of a few players to begin his preparation for the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sunday, and the 15-time major champion was back on Monday.
Woods, who won his first major as a father at the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills, is making his second official start since his single-car accident last year in California this week. The 46-year-old made the cut in his return to competition at the Masters last month and ultimately finished 47th after consecutive rounds of 78 on Saturday and Sunday.
Take a scroll through some of the best images of the week as Woods competes at Southern Hills.
Take a closer look at this week’s major championship host thanks to StrackaLine’s hole-by-hole maps.
TULSA, Okla. – Southern Hills Country Club, site of this week’s PGA Championship for a fifth time, was designed by Perry Maxwell and opened in 1936.
The course has been renovated multiple times by the likes of Robert Trent Jones and Keith Foster, and in 2019 Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner wrapped up work on a restoration that put much of Maxwell’s original intent back into the layout.
Southern Hills has been host to a slew of championships ranging from the U.S. Women’s Open to the Senior PGA Championship and counts among its men’s majors four past PGA Championships (1970, ’82, ’94 and ’07) and three U.S. Opens (’58, ’77 and ’01).
Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week. Check out the maps of each hole below.
“I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I’m certainly not against that,” said Woods of his 13th major title in 2007.
It’s a topic worthy of debate on the 19th hole.
So order a beverage or two and dive into the storied career in major championships of one Tiger Woods. Tee up the question and have at it: rank in order of significance the victories Tiger Woods has collected in the majors?
What would top your list?
His transformative, earth-shattering, record-smashing win in the 1997 Masters, when he became the first player of color to win a green jacket?
His tour de force at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open, a performance Phil Mickelson said was the greatest golf ever played?
His masterful waltz on the ancient ground of St. Andrews to win the 2000 Open Championship at the Home of Golf to become the youngest at age 24 to complete the career Grand Slam?
His down-to-the-wire victory in the 2001 Masters to become the first to win four consecutive professional majors, aka, the Tiger Slam?
His playoff win in the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg and trashed knee ligaments?
His win in the 2019 Masters following spinal fusion surgery?
That’s just six of his 15 major championships, and one wouldn’t be shunned from the 19th hole argument adding another to the list.
In fact, Woods himself would like to add one – the 2007 PGA Championship at sweltering Southern Hills Country Club in the Sooner State city of Tulsa.
In winning his fourth Wanamaker Trophy by two shots for his 13th victory in a major – at the time his winning clip in the game’s four most sacred championships was 27 percent – Woods achieved a personal milestone.
Coming a year after he won his first major at the 2006 Open Championship without his father by his side (Earl Woods had passed in May of that year), Woods won his first major as a father, as his daughter, Sam, was born in June of 2007.
The tiny Sam was with her mother and Woods’ former wife, Elin, in the scoring tent when daddy polished off his victory at Southern Hills.
“It’s a feeling I’ve never had before, having Sam there and having Elin there. It feels a lot more special when you have your family there,” Woods said afterward. “And it used to be my mom and dad. And now Elin and now we have our own daughter. It’s evolved.
“This one feels so much more special than the other majors. The British Open last year was different, but this one was certainly so special and so right to have Elin and Sam there.”
Survival of the fittest
Woods and his battered 46-year-old body have made a remarkable return to the game following a horrifying, high-speed, single-car crash north of Los Angeles in February 2021 that nearly cost him his life and almost led to amputation of his severely injured right leg, ankle and foot.
The winner of a record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles played the 2022 Masters in April, his first start in an official event in more than 500 days. After a stunning 71 in the first round that placed him on the first page of the leaderboard, Woods and his stamina gave way to the mountainous nature of Augusta National Golf Club as he wound up in a tie for 47th.
Following his final round, Woods said he would play in the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship in July at St. Andrews, where he has won the Claret Jug on two occasions. As for an appearance at Southern Hills on the 15th anniversary of his last win in the PGA Championship, Woods said he would try his hardest to make it to Tulsa.
The first time he played Southern Hills as a pro came in the 1996 Tour Championship; he finished in a tie for 21st, 20 shots behind winner Tom Lehman.
The second time came in 2001 when the U.S. Open descended on Tulsa. Woods was the overwhelming favorite, having won the previous four major championships. But an opening 74 knocked him eight shots out of the lead and he eventually tied for 12th, seven shots back.
The third time proved charming. He was the undisputed world No. 1 when he headed to Tulsa in 2007. He had four victories under his golf belt that year, including an 8-stroke romp the previous week at Firestone Country Club in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, and had finished runner-up in two of the first three majors.
Tiger Woods celebrates after winning the 89th PGA Championship at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Woods would be making his 50th start in a major championship, counting his amateur appearances. And Sam, his infant daughter, was in the world.
Woods had another slice of mojo to call on– August in Oklahoma is not for the timid. Upon arrival, the participants knew it was going to be a long, hot week at the 89th playing of the PGA Championship, and the forecast did not wane as temperatures hovered above triple digits the entire week.
It would be a survival of the fittest – and no golfer was in better physical condition than Woods, who was 31 at the time.
So, all was good – until the first round started. In an uncharacteristic, sloppy round, Woods made five bogeys and four birdies and signed for a 1-over-par 71. While that placed him six shots out of the lead set by Graeme Storm, and four shots behind John Daly, who spent most of his week at a nearby Cherokee casino, Woods knew there were 54 holes to play. In other words, time was on his side. And as it turned out, Woods tightened up his game and only made five more bogeys the rest of the tournament.
One of those came in the second round, but it didn’t much matter. Woods bounced back with a sizzling 63, which tied the course record set by Raymond Floyd in the 1982 PGA Championship. The 63 tied the lowest single-round score – at the time – in major championship history. He would have put his signature to a record-setting 62 if not for a cruel lip out on the 18th green on his 15-footer for birdie.
“It got me back in the tournament,” Woods said of the second round. “It wasn’t like I was out of the tournament, but I just felt that winning score this year was going to probably be around 4-, 5-under par and to go ahead and get it in one lump sum felt pretty good.”
The round took him from a 5-shot deficit to a 2-shot lead through 36 holes.
Arron Oberholser, who would finish fourth that year, said Woods just plodded along with “such horrifying precision.”
“The rest of us are made to fire at flag sticks in cases where normally we wouldn’t and therefore we make mistakes,” Oberholser said. “He’s the greatest in the world for a reason. He definitely is the greatest I’ve ever seen play without a doubt.”
Woods tacked on a 69 in the third round to increase his advantage to three shots.
“I accomplished my goal today,” Woods said. “My goal was to shoot under par and increase my lead. And I was able to do that today. So positive day all around.
“Only made one bogey today, which was good. And really kept myself out of trouble most of the day. Just try to keep hitting fairways and put the ball in the center of the greens and lag putt well. Try not to leave myself a second putt. The greens aren’t very smooth out there.”
Woods would be paired with Stephen Ames in the final round.
“It’s tough to play with Tiger, no doubt about it,” Ames said. “He’s relentless, constantly making great shots, making great putts.”
So how to do you beat him?
“I don’t know,” Ames added.
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‘I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I’m certainly not against that’
Woods took to the first tee that is perched high above the fairway and offers a nice view of Tulsa’s skyline in the distance for the final round knowing he had never relinquished at least a share of the 54-hole lead in any of his previous major wins.
He wouldn’t on this day, either. Woods kept up his “horrifying precision” to stay ahead of the pack heading into the inward nine.
Then things got interesting. Woody Austin, seeking his first major, and multiple major champion Ernie Els turned up the dial on the pressure. Woods, who led by five shots through eight holes, bogeyed the 14th and suddenly saw his lead fall to one shot over Austin, who had birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th, and Els, who had birdied the 13th and 14th.
But Mother Nature’s hot hand and the pressure cooker of a Sunday final round did not get to Woods, who bounced back from his bogey with a birdie on 15.
“I got off to a good start. And I was 2 under there through eight holes. Felt like I was in control of the tournament,” Woods said. “I knew that Woody was playing well, and Ernie was making a run. But 14 was a little mishap there. Three-putted that one and I felt like I gave all the momentum back to Ernie and to Woody.
“And just felt like, ‘you know what, I got myself in this mess, I need to go get myself out of it.’ And I just did serious yelling at myself going up to the 15th tee, just to get back into what I do. And I made that putt on there on 15, it felt great. Felt like I had the momentum again, and I was back in control of the tournament. And if I parred in I felt I would win the tournament. It turned out to be the case.”
Woods closed with three pars and put his signature to a 69 to finish at 8 under, two shots clear of Austin and three clear of Els.
“I think it’s great that Ernie and I didn’t let him just coast in,” Austin said. “I beat him today, but it doesn’t matter because he had four shots on me. He happens to be the best player in the world, but if you put any great player, any good player with a four-shot cushion, their odds are going to be pretty good. Especially when they happen to be the best.”
It was the second time Woods successfully defended a PGA Championship title – he did so previously when he won at Medinah Country Club in 1999 and Valhalla Golf Club in 2000. He won again at Medinah in 2006 to set up his defense at Southern Hills.
With his 13th major title, Woods tied the career total of Bobby Jones and took one more step toward catching Jack Nicklaus and his record-setting haul of 18.
“If you would ask me that 12 years into my career would I have had this many wins and this many majors, there’s no way,” Woods said. “I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I’m certainly not against that.”
Chasing Jack
The following year, Woods took another major step toward Nicklaus when he won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego in a playoff against Rocco Mediate to reach major No. 14.
Two days later he had surgery to repair his left leg and knee and he missed the final two majors of the 2008 season.
In 2009, he won seven times worldwide, but did not add to his major haul. He tied for sixth in the first two majors and missed the cut in the Open Championship. But he seemed back to his best form when he took a 4-stroke lead through 36 holes and a 2-stroke lead through 54 holes in the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.
But Y.E. Yang shattered Woods’ cloak of armor by becoming the first to overcome a deficit in the final round to topple the man who was 14-for-14 in a major heading into the last 18 with at least a share of the lead.
Woods wouldn’t win another major for nearly 10 years.
Personal scandal and an assortment of injuries, the majority to his ailing back, kept Woods off the course and from advancing toward Nicklaus. Woods didn’t disappear – he won 10 times from the end of 2009 through 2018, becoming No. 1 in the world again in 2013. But with his deteriorating back and thinking his career was over, Woods had a Hail Mary operation in 2017 – spinal fusion surgery.
He built his body and swing back and became a major again. He won The Tour Championship in 2018 and also made his presence known in majors with a tie for sixth in the Open Championship in 2018 and a runner-up finish to Brooks Koepka in the 2018 PGA Championship.
That set up his stunning victory in the 2019 Masters to get to major No. 15. He won his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour title six months later in the Zozo Championship in Japan.
Nagging injuries and COVID-19 threw Woods off-kilter in 2020 and then the car crash in 2021 sent him to recovery once again. For three months he was bed-ridden. Then he slowly started to build back his body, and then his golf game, and returned at the Masters. There is hope again for his future in the game.
