PGA Championship report: Collin Morikawa wins first major to deny Paul Casey

Leaderboard

-13 Morikawa

-11 Casey, D Johnson Champ, Scheffler

-10 Wolff, DeChambeau, Finau, Day

-9 Rose, Scheffler

Round four report

American Collin Morikawa has won the US PGA Championship in sensational fashion after a thrilling final round in San Francisco.

Morikawa emerged from a seven-way tie for the lead in the closing stages at Harding Park by chipping in for a birdie on the 14th hole and then producing a stunning eagle on the 16th by driving the green on the 294-yard par four and holing from seven feet.

The 23-year-old carded a closing 64 – equalling the lowest round of the week – to finish 13 under par and two shots ahead of overnight leader Dustin Johnson and England’s Paul Casey, who barely put a foot wrong in pursuit of his first major title at the 64th attempt.

Morikawa, whose only mistake of the day came when the lid of the Wanamaker Trophy flew off as he hoisted it aloft, described the win as “amazing”.

“It’s been a life goal as a little kid, watching all these professionals and this is always what I’ve wanted to do,” said Morikawa, who was born in Los Angeles and won five times during his college career at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I felt very comfortable from the start, as an amateur, junior golfer, turning professional last year, but to finally close it off and come out here in San Francisco – pretty much my second home where I spent the last four years – it’s pretty special.

“I’m on cloud nine right now. It’s hard to think about what this championship means, and obviously it’s a major, and this is what guys go for, especially at the end of the their career, and we’re just starting.

“So I think this is just a lot of confidence, a lot of momentum, and it just gives me a little taste of what’s to come.”

Casey carded five birdies and a solitary bogey in a final round of 66 to record his best finish in a major at the age of 43, with Matthew Wolff, Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau and Scottie Scheffler all sharing fourth place on 10 under.

Olympic champion Justin Rose finished alone in ninth on nine under following a final round of 67.

“I played wonderful golf. Collin thoroughly deserves it,” Casey said.

“I mean, what a shot he hit on 16, just awesome golf. There’s nothing you can do except tip your cap to that. I’m very, very happy. It’s been a great week, (albeit) a strange week obviously missing the fans.”

Morikawa, who beat Justin Thomas in a play-off in the Workday Charity Open last month for his second PGA Tour title, began the day two shots off the lead and had to hole lengthy par putts on the first two holes.

Birdies on the third, fourth and 10th took Morikawa into a tie for the lead which became a six and then seven-way tie until his moments of brilliance on the 14th and 16th proved decisive.

Overnight leader Johnson made the ideal start with a birdie at the first and recovered from a bogey on the third to birdie the next, but played the next 11 holes in one over par before a late flourish thanks to birdies on the 16th and 18th.

The 36-year-old has now failed to convert any of his four 54-hole leads in major championships, although he did break par for the first time with a closing 68.

Defending champion Brooks Koepka, who was chasing an historic hat-trick of victories in the event, began the day on the same score as Morikawa but slumped to a closing 74.

Four-time major winner Koepka, who had taken a verbal dig at Johnson’s tally of just one major after the third round, finished in a tie for 29th with England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who could only post a final round of 73.

Jon Rahm’s share of 13th place was enough to take the Spaniard back to the top of the world rankings ahead of Justin Thomas, who finished in a tie for 37th.

Rory McIlroy (68) and Tiger Woods (67) both shot their best rounds of the week on Sunday to finish two and one under par respectively.

Round three report

A decade after controversially being denied a play-off place in the US PGA Championship, Dustin Johnson has his sights on a redemptive victory and second major title in San Francisco.

Johnson fired eight birdies in a third round of five-under 65 at Harding Park to finish the day at nine under par, holding a one-shot lead over fellow Americans Cameron Champ and Scottie Scheffler.

Defending champion Brooks Koepka, who is seeking an historic third straight victory in the event, is two shots off the pace alongside Collin Morikawa and England’s Paul Casey, with Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood part of a six-strong group on six under.

The top 17 names on the leaderboard are separated by just four shots in what promises to be a thrilling conclusion to the first major championship in 13 months.

“I’ve been in contention a lot and I’ve got it done a lot of times,” said Johnson, who finished second behind Koepka last year. “Tomorrow, it’s no different. I’m going to have to play good golf if I want to win.

“It’s simple. I’ve got to hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. If I can do that I’m going to have a good chance coming down the stretch on the back nine.

“Just take what the golf course gives me and just keep on going because it doesn’t really matter what other guys are doing. All I can control is myself.”

Controlling himself in the final round of majors has been a problem for Johnson before, most notably when he took a three-shot lead into the final round of the US Open at Pebble Beach in 2010 but collapsed to a closing 82.

Two months later, Johnson held a one-shot lead with one to play in the 2010 US PGA at Whistling Straits, but bogeyed the final hole and was then assessed a two-shot penalty for grounding his club in a bunker on the 72nd hole.

Johnson admitted grounding his club, but said he did not know that the sandy waste area from which he played his second shot was deemed to be a bunker.

In 2015, the US Open slipped out of Johnson’s grasp once more when he three-putted from 12 feet on the 72nd hole to finish a shot behind Jordan Spieth, but he finally broke his major duck in the same tournament the following year at Oakmont, despite a penalty for causing his ball to move on the fifth green in the final round.

Koepka’s hopes of victory were fading fast when he followed a brilliant birdie on the 12th with three straight bogeys, but the four-time major winner rallied to birdie two of his last three holes.

Casey, who holed out from a bunker on the eighth on his way to a controlled 68, is seeking to break his major duck at the age of 43.

“I’ve been on Tour for a long time and I obviously would desperately love to add a major to the CV and I’ve had my chances, but I feel incredibly relaxed,” Casey said.

“I have nothing to prove, there’s a great leaderboard that I’m part of with major champions and almost rookies so to speak with the young guys, and we’ve still got an awful lot of golf to play.”

Halfway leader Li Haotong was unlucky to lose a ball in a tree on the 13th hole on his way to a 73 that left him four off the lead, while Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm are six behind Johnson following rounds of 66 and 68 respectively.

Open champion Shane Lowry shot 69 to lie eight shots off the lead, with Rory McIlroy a shot further back following a 71.

Tiger Woods finished his round with a flourish but was unable to rescue his chances of claiming a fifth US PGA title as he slipped to two over par.

Woods had characteristically not given up hope of adding to his tally of 15 majors at Harding Park, where he won the WGC-American Express Championship in 2005 and compiled a perfect 5-0 record in the 2009 Presidents Cup.

However, the 44-year-old could only card a third round of 72 – made more respectable by birdies on the 16th and 18th – after he had threatened to compile his first round without a birdie in a major since an opening 74 in the 2010 US Open.

Round two report

Tommy Fleetwood fired a brilliant second round of 64 to lead a three-pronged bid for an extremely rare English success in the US PGA Championship in San Francisco.

China’s Li Haotong held the halfway lead at Harding Park on eight under par, with Fleetwood sharing second place with compatriot Justin Rose, defending champion Brooks Koepka, Jason Day, Daniel Berger and France’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera.

Fleetwood’s fellow Englishman and Ryder Cup team-mate Paul Casey was a shot further back on five under, while Rory McIlroy lies seven shots off the pace after a frustrating 69, a stroke ahead of playing partner Tiger Woods.

Jim Barnes (1916 and 1919) is the only Englishman to have lifted the Wanamaker Trophy, but Fleetwood, Rose and Casey will have high hopes of ending the 101-year wait for an English winner on Sunday.

“Yesterday I had a decent score going and had a bad couple of holes on 12 and 13 which halted progress,” Fleetwood said. “Level par wasn’t a bad score and today I feel like my game is improving day by day since I’ve come back.

“Today I hit a lot of fairways and that clearly makes it easier from there round this golf course.”

Fleetwood is seeking his first major title after finishing runner-up to Koepka in the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock Hills and second in last year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

“I’m the same person. I’ve got a little bit more experience,” Fleetwood added.

“If you look at it, was I playing better at Shinnecock? Maybe. But that might only be because I’ve only played two weeks since coming back.

“I feel the same, I guess, with a few more majors under my belt of experience. Hopefully they stand me in good stead over the weekend. Any time you’re in contention for a major, it’s an experience, and I feel like I’ve done it a few times, so every time you learn.

“Every time these weeks come about you just hope – you prepare for it to be your week, and today was a great day. Got a weekend of golf left. We’ll see.”

Casey has a best finish of 32nd from four starts since the PGA Tour returned to action and admitted he had struggled to adapt to playing without fans.

“I’ve really missed it, plain and simple,” Casey said. “I’ve felt I’ve not been able to sort of just get the excitement going. I felt very flat.

“Life away from the golf course here is also quite flat. You’d go out and have dinners and hang out with people and none of that exists now as we know it, so I’ve not really enjoyed being out playing golf.”

Li, who finished third in the 2017 Open Championship after a closing 63 at Royal Birkdale, admitted his performance had come as a surprise after missing the cut in the Memorial Tournament and finishing 75th in the 78-man field in WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational since returning to action.

“I’ve got no expectation actually because of staying at home doing nothing. I just want to go out there and have fun,” the 25-year-old said.

“I didn’t even think I could play like this this week, especially, like you said, got no confidence. Probably it helped me clear my mind a little bit this week.”

Koepka, who is seeking an historic hat-trick of victories in the event, is ominously poised on the leaderboard, although the four-time major winner needed treatment on the course for a hip problem during his 68.

Four birdies in a row from the seventh briefly got McIlroy within five of the lead before a deflating triple bogey on the 12th, while Woods failed to hole a putt of any significance in a 72 which left him on level par.

Open champion Shane Lowry is on the same score after also struggling to a 72 and was so frustrated that he snapped a club over his knee on the 13th.

Round one report

Brooks Koepka made an impressive start to his bid for an historic third straight victory in the US PGA Championship as Tiger Woods kept himself firmly in the hunt on a crowded leaderboard in San Francisco.

Former world number one Jason Day and American Brendon Todd shared the lead on five under par, with Koepka part of a nine-strong group on four under which included Olympic champion Justin Rose and two-time major winner Martin Kaymer.

England's Tom Lewis was two shots off the pace following a 67, with Open champion Shane Lowry alongside Woods on two under par.

Starting on the back nine, Koepka failed to take advantage of the par-five 10th and dropped a shot on the next, but then birdied the 13th, 14th, 16th and 18th thanks to some superb approach play.

A bogey on the first slowed Koepka's momentum, although he did well to limit the damage to a single shot after only moving his second shot 40 yards from the rough and then finding a bunker with his third.

Koepka, who had managed just one top-10 finish in nine starts either side of the Covid-19 shutdown before last week's tie for second in Memphis, bounced back with birdies on the second and fourth and declared himself satisfied with his opening effort.

"I feel good. I feel confident. I'm excited for the next three days," Koepka said. "I think I can definitely play a lot better, and just need to tidy a few things up, and we'll be there come Sunday on the back nine."

Koepka's first attempt to win the same major three years in a row came up just short in last year's US Open and he added: "I think that drove me nuts a little bit. I played good golf, but I just got beat by Gary (Woodland).

"To do it here would be special. I think there's, what, six guys that have ever won three in a row. Yeah, not a bad list to be on.

"The whole goal every time we tee it up in a major is to win them. The whole year is spent prepping for these four."

Woods was two under par after four holes, fell back to level par and then fired three birdies in four holes before making a bogey on his penultimate hole at a venue where he won a WGC event in 2005 and compiled a 5-0 record in the 2009 Presidents Cup.

The 15-time major winner, who is using a slightly longer putter this week to ease the strain on his troublesome back, said: "It's difficult for me to bend over at times, and so practising putting, I don't spend the hours I used to.

"It wasn't unusual for me to spend four, five, six hours putting per day. I certainly can't log that with my back being fused. Most of the guys on the Champions Tour have gone to longer putters as they have gotten older, because it's easier to bend over, or not bend over."

Playing alongside Woods, Rory McIlroy and world number one Justin Thomas shot 70 and 71 respectively, McIlroy battling back from a hat-trick of bogeys on his front nine with three birdies in four holes around the turn.

"It was there for the taking today," McIlroy said. "I feel like I definitely could have been a few shots lower, but I sort of grinded it out and, with how I hit it on the back nine, even par actually wasn't too bad.

"Need to hit a few more fairways tomorrow to try to attack some pins and get it closer, and not leave myself four and five-footers for par all day."

Day's career has been hampered by back problems in recent years but after a flawless opening 65 he joked: "You're always cautious of doing certain things, bending over, but I pretty much lather up in Deep Heat and I go ... I try and burn the skin off my back, to be honest."

Bryson DeChambeau accidentally snapped his driver on the seventh hole but - because he did not break it in anger - he was able to send for a replacement and went on to card a 68.

England's Paul Casey also returned the same score but was hugely disappointed to run up a double bogey on the 18th after finding sand off the tee and compounding the error by three-putting from long range.

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