St. Louis (Missouri), Aug 13 (IANS) American golfer Brooks Koepka on Sunday won his third major championship at the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Championship, overcoming legendary Tiger Woods by two strokes here on Sunday.
Finishing with a total of 16 under 264 (69-63-66-66), world No.4 Koepka managed to survive the attack from 42-year-old Woods, who finished at 14-under 266 total (70-66-66-64) to come second, reports Efe.
It was 28-year-old Kopeka’s second major title in the year after his triumph at the US Open. He becomes just the fifth player to win these two titles in the same year.
Kopeka had a two-shot lead after the third round and in the final round, he made six birdies against two bogeys for a four-under 66. “Every shot is so important. You have to be patient and I always do that very well in the majors,” Koepka was quoted as saying by the BBC.
In the third place was Australian Adam Scott at 13-under 267 total (70-65-65-67 at the par-70, 7,316-yard Bellerive Country Club.
After two years of absence from the PGA Championship as a result of injuries, Woods regained his stamina, coming very close to winning his 15th major golf title.
He was four shots behind Koepka after the the 54 holes of play. On Sunday, he made eight birdies but bogeys on the sixth and 14th holes gave Koepka an easy late win.
“I was in contention at the last two majors and would never have foreseen that a year ago. I’m just so thankful to be here,” said Woods, as reported by BBC.
“I played hard. It was a bit of a struggle with my game. I was just hanging in there, grinding it out and trying to make as many birdies as possible.”
Belgian Thomas Pieters, Italian Francesco Molinari and the US pair of Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland shared the sixth spot on 10-under 270 total.
Spaniards Jon Rahm and Rafa Cabrera finished in the top 10. Rahm finished with a score of 11-under 269, five strokes behind Koepka, while Cabrera Bello finished with nin-under 271, to take the 10th place in the standings.
–IANS
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