Posted May 20, 2019 10:04:09

Photo: Brooks Koepka won his fourth major title. (AP: Charles Krupa)

Brooks Koepka has taken his place in PGA Championship history with a victory, minus the style points.

In a raging wind that turned Bethpage Black into a beast, Koepka lost all but one shot of the record seven-shot lead he held going into the final round.

He lost the brutal Long Island crowd, which began chanting "DJ!" for Dustin Johnson as Koepka was on his way to a fourth straight bogey.

But he delivered key shots in the closing stretch as Johnson faded with two straight bogeys, and closed with a 4-over 74 for a two-shot victory to join Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA Championship since it went to stroke play in 1958.

Koepka said at the start of the week that majors are sometimes the easiest to win.

This one should have been, but it wasn't.

His 74 was the highest final round by a PGA champion in 15 years.

"I'm just glad I don't have to play any more holes," Koepka said.

"That was a stressful round of golf. I'm glad to have this thing back in my hands."

Koepka appeared to wrap it up with a gap wedge from 156 yards to within two feet on the 10th hole for a birdie, as Johnson made his first bogey of the round up ahead on the 11th.

That restored the lead to six shots, and the coronation looked on, but it all changed in a New York minute.

Dustin Johnson claims unwanted career Grand Slam

Photo: Dustin Johnson has now finished second at every major tournament. (AP: Charles Krupa)

Koepka missed three straight fairways and made three straight bogeys, having to make a six-foot putt on the 11th hole to keep it from getting worse.

The wind was so fickle that it died as he hit 7-iron to the par-3 14th that sailed over the green, leading to a fourth straight bogey.

The crowd sensed a collapse and began chanting "DJ! DJ! DJ!" as Koepka was playing the hole.

Ahead of him, Johnson made birdie on the 15th — the toughest hole at Bethpage Black all week — and the lead was down to one.

That was as close as Johnson got.

His 5-iron pierced through a wind that gusted close to 40 kilometres per hour, over the green and into a buried lie.

He missed the seven-foot par putt, went long of the green on the par-3 17th for another bogey and had to settle for 69.

He now has runner-up finishes in all four of the majors, the wrong kind of career Grand Slam.

Continual Koepka dominance

Photo: Brooks Koepka is the first back-to-back PGA champion since Tiger Woods. (AP: Julio Cortez)

Koepka returned to number one in the world with a performance that defines his dominance in golf's biggest events.

He becomes the first player to hold back-to-back titles in two majors at the same time, having won a second straight US Open last summer, 100 kilometres down the road at Shinnecock Hills.

He was the first wire-to-wire winner in the PGA Championship since Hal Sutton at Riviera in 1983.

And what stakes his claim as one of the best players of his generation was a third straight year winning a major.

He joins a most elite group — only Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer have done that since the Masters began in 1934.

He now has four majors in his last eight, a streak not seen since Woods won seven out of 11 in the 2002 US Open at Bethpage Black.

Meanwhile, Adam Scott's final-round 74 sank him to 1-over but he still earned a share of eighth.

Fellow Australian Jason Day, the 2015 PGA champion, closed with a 72 to drop to four over and tied for 23rd.

Cameron Smith's 74 gave him an 11-over total and Lucas Herbert (75) finished a stroke further behind.

AP/AAP

Topics: sport, golf, united-states