Bradley USPGAWhile golf’s stars caused barely a stir at the 93rd PGA Championship, a pair of unknowns provided plenty of drama during Sunday’s final round. After a wild finish and three-hole playoff, Tour rookie Keegan Bradley had claimed the year’s fourth major title.

Bradley, nephew of LPGA Hall-of-Famer Pat Bradley, outlasted Jason Dufner by a single shot in the playoff, becoming just the second player since 1913 to win the first major championship in which he competed. Bradley reached the playoff despite making triple-bogey on the Atlanta Athletic Club’s 15th hole in the final round.

Dufner, a 34-year-old without a victory on his resumé, appeared to have it wrapped up with holes running out. Despite making bogey on the 15th, he retained a four-shot advantage. But Dufner added bogeys on 16 and 17 – holes that Bradley had birdied in the group ahead – to slip into an improbable tie.

Both men parred the treacherous 18th to finish 8-under par, then headed back to 16 to begin the playoff. Dufner nearly holed his approach on the par 4, but settled for par when his putt slid past. Bradley went one-up with a birdie, then grabbed a two-shot edge when Dufner three-putted 17 for bogey.

Dufner’s gritty birdie on the third and final playoff hole forced Bradley to two-putt for the winning par; he did so with ease, becoming the first American to win a major title since Phil Mickelson claimed the 2010 Masters.

“It feels unbelievable,” Bradley said afterward. “It seems like a dream and I’m afraid I’m going to wake up here in the next five minutes and it’s not going to be real.”

The event was a bit of a nightmare for golf’s top players.

England’s Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the world, skirted contention before settling for an eighth-place tie on -3. Pre-tournament favorite Adam Scott was a shot better in seventh. Steve Stricker, the top-ranked American, burst out of the gates with a first-round 63, but faded to T12 by week’s end.

At least they outperformed Tiger Woods. The four-time PGA champ carded five double-bogeys en route to rounds of 77 and 73, missing the halfway cut by six shots.

With the big names MIA, the stage was left to Bradley and Dufner.

Bradley, who won the HP Byron Nelson Championship in May, appeared sunk when his chip on 15 scurried across the green into the water. The triple-bogey 6 left him five off Dufner’s pace. After a birdie on 16, however, Bradley rolled in a twisting 35-footer for another birdie on 17.

Meanwhile, Dufner rinsed his tee shot and bogeyed 15, failed to get up-and-in from a bunker on 16, and three-putted 17 to slip into a tie.

Bradley, a lanky 25-year-old from Vermont, capitalized in the playoff. Is he a new American star, or was this unlikely victory a mere one-off? Time will tell, but Bradley has his sights on long-term success.

“I hope I don’t disappear,” he said. “I don’t plan to.”

 

(Note: The PGA Championship was also the official European Tour event this weekend.)

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