Incredibly, 23-year-old Collin Morikawa was the guy who pulled out of a seven-way tie for the lead on the back nine in the final round to win the 102nd PGA Championship.
Morikawa, from La Canada Flintridge and a 2019 graduate of Cal, made an eagle and birdie down the stretch to post a 6-under-par 64 and won by two strokes over Paul Casey of England and Dustin Johnson at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
The only thing missing was a Bay Area gallery that would have been rooting for local favorite Morikawa, but fans again were not allowed on the course because of Coronavirus pandemic.
“I still can’t believe it, you know,” Morikawa said while talking on the phone with family member when it was over and he had joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Rory McIroy in winning his first major championship at the age of 23.
Morikawa said before the tournament that he had played TPC Harding Park about a dozen times when he was at Cal.
After receiving the Wannamaker Trophy, Morikawa said: “It’s amazing for me to win the PGA here in what is basically my second home. The course obviously fits me eye and I know how to read the greens, but you still have to hit the shots under pressure.
“There were close to a dozen guys who had a chance to win at the start of the day and I knew I had to go out and play my best, but I believed I had a chance. When I made the chip-in at No. 14 and hit the tee shot at No. 16, I knew I had a chance to win.
“This has been a life-long goal of mine.”
Morikawa, who won the 2019 Barracuda Championship not long after graduating from Cal and captured the Workday Charity Open last month, chipped in for birdie from 54 feet on the 14th hole and basically wrapped up the PGA title when he drove the green and sank a seven-foot eagle putt on the 16th, finishing with a score of 13-under 267.
Casey, among the best players never to win a major in 43 starts in the Grand Slam events, finished at 66, while 2016 U.S. Open champion and fifth-ranked Johnson had a 68 for his sixth runner-up finish in the majors after leading heading into Sunday’s final round.
“I played wonderful golf all week, but it wasn’t good enough,” said Casey, whose 10th top-10 finish in the majors was his best. “It’s amazing what Colin did, and there is nothing to do except tip your cap to him.
“Colin took the challenge and that’s what champions do.”
Matthew Wolff of Agoura Hills sank a 13-foot eagle putt on the 10th hole en route to a 65 and was three shots back in a tie for fourth with 2015 PGA champion Jason Day of Australia, seventh-ranked Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis and Tony Finau, who all shot 66, and Scottie Scheffler, who wound up at 68.
Justin Rose of England was four down in ninth after a 67, while Xander Schuaffele of La Jolla and San Diego State also shot 67 to wind up five behind in a tie for 10th with Cameron Champ of Sacramento, who totaled 70, and Joel Dahmen, who came in at 67.
Second-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain and eighth-ranked Patrick Reed closed with 66s to finish in a tie for 13th, while ninth-ranked Adam Scott of Australia was in a tie for 22nd after a 68, and two-time defending PGA champion and sixth-ranked Brooks Koepka shot 74 to tie for 29th.
Two-time PGA champion and third-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland tied for 33rd after a 68, four-time PGA champion Tiger Woods shot 67 to finish in a tie for 37th that included 2017 PGA champion and top-ranked Justin Thomas, who had a 70, and fourth-ranked Webb Simpson, who totaled 72, while 10th-ranked Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA tied for 43rd following a 73.
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