After losing in a playoff during the 2011 PGA Championship to his good friend, Keegan Bradley, Jason Dufner seems to have come full circle, returning to the 2013 PGA Championship and capturing his first ever Major Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. As one of the most laid-back players on Tour, Dufner put on a ball-striking clinic over the span of the tournament, and shot a 2-under-par 68 on Sunday to seal the deal and securing his third victory on Tour.
Perhaps it was fitting for Dufner to win this week – he broke the Oak Hill course record with a second-round 63 and is the 16th first-time major winner since the start of 2009 (a span of 20 majors). Many of the world’s best either put themselves out of contention or just couldn’t put it all together. This major was suppose to be all about Tiger Woods (who came off a 7-shot victory at Firestone during the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the week before), Phil Mickelson, who has played marvelously and won 2 weeks straight at the Scottish Open and the Open Championship, but neither really threatened at all during the entire tournament. Other players who were in striking distance on Sunday were Jim Furyk, who ended up 2nd place after shooting 1-over par on Sunday, Adam Scott, Jonas Blixt, and Henrik Stenson. Defending Championship Rory McIlroy seemed to show some form this weekend as well, finish in 8th place for the tournament.
As one of the most popular players on tour, we hope to see #TheDuf continue his success on the course and create more number 1 trends on Twitter (#Dufnering)!
Source: Golf.com, PGA Championship