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Brooks Koepka won his second major of the season after successfully defending his US Open title, he made a stride to win the 100th PGA Championship at the Bellerive Country Club, two better than Tiger Woods and three better than Adam Scott, who lost his chances of being solo second after a wayward left tee-shot on the 18th.
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Koepka posted a four-under-66 to finish at 16 under for the tournament and as the best aggregate finisher at 264, a record previously held by David Toms in 2001 when he defeated Phil Mickelson by a shot and an aggregate of 265.
This is Koepka’s third major win in last six major championships.
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Koepka became only the fifth to win PGA Championship and the US Open in the same year. Other four names include Tiger Woods -2000, Jack Nicklaus-1980, Ben Hogan-1948, Gene Sarazen-1922.
He made $1.98 million (PGA Championship) in the process, making his total of the US Open and the PGA Championship even better than what Arnold Palmer and Gary Player won in their careers – combined. Mind you Palmer has 95 (7 majors) professional wins and Player (9 majors) has 165 wins to his name.
Koepka’s total earnings from the PGA Championship and US Open stand at $4.14 million.
Koepka earned 100 Rank Points to climb to World No. 2, his best ever on the Official World Golf Ranking, to replace Justin Thomas, who recently became second after his last week’s win at the WGC-Bridgestone.
He became the first man since Woods in 2000 to win the US Open and the US PGA in the same season.
The World No.2 had earlier missed the Masters due to a wrist injury.
Koepka has joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Tom Watson as the only Americans with 3 majors by the age of 28 since World War II.
“For some reason, the majors get my attention more,” said Koepka. “Every shot is so important. You have to be patient and I always do that very well in the majors.”
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Tiger Trivia
Tiger Woods shot a final round 64, his best ever final round in any of the majors in his career. This could have been his first major since 2008.
Woods aim is to break Nicklaus record of 18 major wins, as he stands at 14.
This is best-placed finish at a major since the 2009 PGA at Hazeltine.
Adam Scott finished third after a bogey on the par-4 18th, his best finish at the PGA Championship, he stood T-3 in 2006. He has won only one major at the 2013 Masters.
He quite made a bold statement walking on the course with two putters in his bag – his broomstick-style putter for short putts and a shorter putter for long putts.
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