ST. LOUIS (AP) — Brooks Koepka is impossible to overlook now, winning the PGA Championship on Sunday with machine-like precision to go with his back-to-back U.S. Open titles.
And it still felt — and sounded — like he was playing second billing to Tiger Woods.
With roars for Woods unheard anywhere this side of Augusta National, Koepka kept his cool and ran off two birdies on the back nine at Bellerive with Adam Scott tied for the lead and Woods one shot behind.
Koepka closed with a 4-under 66 for a two-shot victory, making him only the fifth player to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same year.
“The crowds here, they let you know what’s going on,” Koepka said with a big grin. “The beginning of the back nine, I could hear all the roars. When Tiger started making his little run, and Scotty made his run, it got loud.”
Even with two bogeys, Woods shot 64 for his lowest final round in a major.
“I played hard,” Woods said. “I made a bit of a run. It looks like I’m going to come up a little short.”
Koepka was responsible for that.
After wasting one chance to put it away, Koepka ran kept attacking flags and ran in birdie putts of 10 feet on No. 15 and 7 feet on No. 16 to end the drama. He tapped in for par on the final hole to set the PGA Championship scoring record at 264.
It also tied the major championship record that Henrik Stenson set at Royal Troon two years ago in the British Open.
Koepka has won three of the last six majors he played, and two of three this year alone. He joined Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to win the two U.S. majors that rotate to different courses in the same year.
The 28-year-old Floridian also joined Jordan Spieth, Woods, Nicklaus and Tom Watson as the only players with three majors before turning 30 since World War II.
Scott hung around by making big putts, just like he hoped, and was tied for the lead until Koepka’s birdies. Scott missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 17th that would have pulled him to within one shot — right after Koepka missed from the same range — and then made bogey on the 18th for a 67 to finish alone in third.
The St. Louis fans waited 17 years to see Woods — he last was at Bellerive when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks canceled a World Golf Championship — and he delivered a performance that took golf back in time.
Thomas Bjorn might have seen it coming. Earlier in the week, as he was cleaning out his locker after withdrawing with an injury, he thought back to Woods getting into contention at Carnoustie last month at the British Open. “He recognized who that guy was that day,” Bjorn said.
Woods was relentless, pumping fists, raising the putter in his left hand, making birdies and charging toward a finish that caused pure pandemonium among one of the largest and noisiest crowds at a major.
Without hitting a fairway on the front nine, Woods cut the four-shot deficit to two.
Dialed in on the back nine, he dropped an approach into 4 feet on No. 12, got within one shot with a 10-foot birdie on the par-3 13th and, after a bad drive led to bogey, he answered with another approach that hit a foot from the hole.
That was as good as it got.
Facing the most important drive of the day on the par-5 17th, Woods sent it sailing to the right and it embedded in a hazard along the banks of a creek. He did well to advance it, but had to save par from a bunker. Behind him, Koepka holed his two birdie putts.
Woods and Koepka played nine holes of a practice round on Wednesday, and the 14-time major champion knew what he was up against.
“It’s tough to beat when the guy hits it 340 down the middle,” Woods said. “What he did at Shinnecock, just bombing it, and then he’s doing the same thing here. … And when a guy’s doing that and hitting it straight, and as good a putter as he is, it’s tough to beat.”
Koepka never imagined a year like this. He missed four months at the start of the year when a partially torn tendon in his left wrist, causing him to sit out the Masters. He outlasted good friend Dustin Johnson at Shinnecock Hills to become the first back-to-back U.S. Open champion in 29 years.
And now this.
Koepka joked about working out in a public gym this week with Dustin Johnson and not being recognized. He has been motivated by more serious moments, from being left off the “notable scores” section of TV coverage at tournaments and even last week, when he was not summoned for a TV interview to preview the PGA Championship.
He now is No. 2 in the world, with a shot at overtaking Johnson in two weeks when the FedEx Cup playoffs start.
Justin Thomas also had a chance to join Woods as the only back-to-back PGA champions in stroke play, and he was tied for the lead briefly on the front nine when Koepka missed fairways and made two straight bogeys. Thomas turned birdie into bogey at the turn with a three-putt from 5 feet, and he missed a short par putt on the 14th to fall back. He shot 68 and tied for sixth.
Even with 17 players separated by three shots at one point on the front nine, everyone had to catch Koepka, Woods included.

 

PGA Championship Tee Times
At Bellerive Country Club
St. Louis
Purse: TBA ($10.5 million in 2017)
Yardage: 7,316; Par: 70
Sunday
Final Round
Brooks Koepka $1,980,000 69-63-66-66 — 264
Tiger Woods $1,188,000 70-66-66-64 — 266
Adam Scott $748,000 70-65-65-67 — 267
Stewart Cink $489,250 67-69-66-67 — 269
Jon Rahm $489,250 68-67-66-68 — 269
Francesco Molinari $334,713 68-67-68-67 — 270
Thomas Pieters $334,713 67-66-71-66 — 270
Justin Thomas $334,713 69-65-68-68 — 270
Gary Woodland $334,713 64-66-71-69 — 270
Rafa Cabrera Bello $261,985 70-68-69-64 — 271
Tyrrell Hatton $261,985 71-67-69-64 — 271
Daniel Berger $187,747 73-65-66-68 — 272
Rickie Fowler $187,747 65-67-69-71 — 272
Kevin Kisner $187,747 67-64-72-69 — 272
Shane Lowry $187,747 69-64-69-70 — 272
Chez Reavie $187,747 71-68-67-66 — 272
Jordan Spieth $187,747 71-66-69-66 — 272
Brandon Stone $187,747 66-68-70-68 — 272
Jason Day $113,125 67-68-67-71 — 273
Zach Johnson $113,125 66-70-71-66 — 273
Jason Kokrak $113,125 68-67-71-67 — 273
Kevin Na $113,125 70-69-68-66 — 273
Justin Rose $113,125 67-69-69-68 — 273
Webb Simpson $113,125 68-68-68-69 — 273
Julian Suri $113,125 69-66-68-70 — 273
Matt Wallace $113,125 71-66-68-68 — 273
Patrick Cantlay $76,000 68-67-70-69 — 274
Ryan Fox $76,000 68-70-68-68 — 274
Branden Grace $76,000 68-70-68-68 — 274
Dustin Johnson $76,000 67-66-72-69 — 274
Dylan Frittelli $63,500 73-67-67-68 — 275
Emiliano Grillo $63,500 69-67-69-70 — 275
Chris Kirk $63,500 68-70-68-69 — 275
Ian Poulter $63,500 67-70-68-70 — 275
Tommy Fleetwood $48,429 69-70-69-68 — 276
Billy Horschel $48,429 68-69-69-70 — 276
Russell Knox $48,429 71-68-69-68 — 276
Hideki Matsuyama $48,429 68-69-73-66 — 276
Pat Perez $48,429 67-67-70-72 — 276
Xander Schauffele $48,429 70-67-67-72 — 276
J.J. Spaun $48,429 69-68-72-67 — 276
Keegan Bradley $33,281 69-68-71-69 — 277
Tony Finau $33,281 74-66-69-68 — 277
Sungjae Im $33,281 71-67-71-68 — 277
Martin Kaymer $33,281 71-69-67-70 — 277
Ben Kern, $33,281 71-69-67-70 — 277
Charl Schwartzel $33,281 70-63-69-75 — 277
Brandt Snedeker $33,281 72-67-69-69 — 277
Jimmy Walker $33,281 69-70-69-69 — 277
Austin Cook $24,833 67-72-69-70 — 278
Brice Garnett $24,833 71-68-69-70 — 278
Seungsu Ha, $24,833 74-66-66-72 — 278
Russell Henley $24,833 74-65-71-68 — 278
Andrew Landry $24,833 73-65-69-71 — 278
Rory McIlroy $24,833 70-67-71-70 — 278
Byeong Hun An $22,567 70-70-69-70 — 279
Thorbjxrn Olesen $22,567 70-68-73-68 — 279
Cameron Smith $22,567 74-66-73-66 — 279
Satoshi Kodaira $21,317 71-68-69-72 — 280
Ryan Moore $21,317 69-70-68-73 — 280
Eddie Pepperell $21,317 72-66-67-75 — 280
Andrew Putnam $21,317 68-69-72-71 — 280
Ollie Schniederjans $21,317 67-71-72-70 — 280
Jhonattan Vegas $21,317 70-70-70-70 — 280
Kevin Chappell $20,100 69-71-70-71 — 281
Ross Fisher $20,100 68-69-73-71 — 281
Yuta Ikeda $20,100 68-69-71-73 — 281
Michael Lorenzo-Vera $20,100 73-65-70-73 — 281
Adrian Otaegui $20,100 73-67-69-72 — 281
Chris Stroud $20,100 69-70-76-66 — 281
Jim Furyk $19,200 69-71-71-71 — 282
Brian Harman $19,200 72-68-71-71 — 282
Charles Howell III $19,200 74-66-72-70 — 282
Marc Leishman $19,200 68-71-72-71 — 282
Joaquin Niemann $19,200 68-71-71-72 — 282
Ted Potter, Jr. $19,200 74-66-68-74 — 282
Nick Watney $19,200 75-65-70-72 — 282
Vijay Singh $18,800 71-69-71-72 — 283
Brian Gay $18,700 67-73-75-72 — 287
Scott Brown $18,600 72-68-74-75 — 289