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KIAWAH ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA | This isn’t the Olympics. Nobody smiles on the podium getting the silver medal at a major championship. Louis Oosthuizen and Brooks Koepka have lifted major trophies, and each failed head-to-head to stop a 50-year-old train at the Ocean Course.
First Oosthuizen on Saturday and then Koepka on Sunday let Phil Mickelson get a full handful of shots ahead of them – too much leash for a player of Mickelson’s caliber. They settled for second place on a historic weekend at the 103rd PGA Championship.
“Right now, no, I’m super disappointed, pretty bummed. I’m not happy,” said Koepka, a four-time major winner. “I don’t know if there’s a right word I can say on here without getting fined, but it hurts a little bit. It’s one of those things where I just never felt comfortable over the putts. I don’t know why, what happened.”
Oosthuizen, who owns a Claret Jug, got the first leg of a second “Silver Slam” with his fifth major runner-up finish.
“Another second place, you know, I’ve got to take it,” Oosthuizen said. “But I feel like I could have probably got two or three more shots out of my game.”
On a Sunday when players early were posting rounds as low as 65, you would not have expected Mickelson to pick up a trophy with a 73. But after trading haymakers and two- or three-shot swings with Koepka through the first five holes, it was Mickelson who handled the mood swings and built his cushion to five shots after the 12th hole. He could afford the three bogeys down the stretch with one more left over.
Koepka could only acknowledge it and tip his hat to the old man.
“The thing was, Phil played great,” Koepka said. “That whole stretch when we turned after (Nos.) 4 and 5 and played those holes, it’s into off the left for me and that’s quite difficult for a right-handed player. And it suited Phil right down to the ground, and I thought he played that entire stretch from about 6 to 13 so well. So you know, I’m happy for him, Amy (his wife) and Tim (his caddie/brother). It’s pretty cool to see … but a bit disappointed in myself.”
Now Koepka has played second fiddle in two of the most historic recent majors, having also finished second to Tiger Woods in the 2019 Masters. The energy in both wins for the aged was similar, though it’s not a supporting role he’d like to extend – especially when crowd control broke down and he had to protect his surgically repaired knees in the middle of the maelstrom on the 18th fairway.
“I never thought of it that way but I think so,” Koepka said of the comparison. “Yeah it would have been cool if I didn't have a knee injury and got dinged a few times in the knee in that crowd because no one really gave a s---, personally. … Yeah, it’s cool for Phil. But getting dinged a few times isn’t exactly my idea of fun.”
Neither is finishing second.
Scott Michaux