Day 4 at Bethpage Black

May 20, 2019 at 4:00AM
Harold Varner III lines up a putt on the third hole during the final round of the PGA Championship golf tournament, Sunday, May 19, 2019, at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Harold Varner III lined up a putt on the third hole Sunday. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

KEEP THAT CARD

Dustin Johnson: He was the world's top-ranked player when the tournament began, and he might have been the best on Sunday. In high wind, he didn't make a bogey until the 11th hole and shot a 69. Johnson now has runner-up finishes in all four of the majors, the wrong kind of career Grand Slam.

TOSS THAT CARD

Bruce Koepka: Yeah, dump the card, but don't throw out the Wanamaker Trophy, the heaviest reward in golf. Four over par on Sunday never looks good until it's still on the top of the leaderboard after everybody else is done.

ON THE COURSE WITH …

Harold Varner: He soared into second place with a 67 Saturday but collapsed to an 81 Sunday, when he birdied No. 1 but double-bogeyed Nos. 3 and 4. "Man, it's just rough. It was hard. It was really hard," said Varner, whose only win was in the 2017 Australian PGA Championship. "I just didn't play well enough. It was a great experience. I'm going to get a lot better. It's just a hard golf course."

PGA MOMENT

Rich Beem: In the tournament only because of his PGA victory at Hazeltine National and playing the only tournament he plays, Beem squeezed into the weekend with a 69 and exited the weekend with another 69 Sunday. That 82 in between? Call it a Bethpage Black burp. In case you wondered: Beem is ranked 2,057th in the world.

CHIP SHOTS

• Jordan Spieth registered his first top-10 finish since the British Open last summer with a 71 to finish six shots behind Koepka. He tied for third.

• Lucas Bjerregaard (just say "beer garden" without the "en") posted the only hole-in-one of the tournament, on the 206-yard 17th hole. It was a one-hopper. Bjerregaard had played No. 17 at 2 over in the first three rounds.

• Rob Labritz of GlenArbor Golf Club in the New York City suburb of Bedford Hills shot 2-over 72 in the final round at Bethpage Black and finished as the low club pro. He was 10 over par. Labritz estimates he has played more than 70 rounds at Bethpage Black.

KEY HOLE

Par-4, 490-yard No. 16: At a 4.61-stroke average, No. 16 was the most difficult hole of the day, and it was where Johnson's hope finally disappeared with a bogey (see the quote of the day below).

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I don't know how it flew 200 yards into the wind like that."

— Dustin Johnson, expressing frustration few could fathom because few could accidentally hit a 5-iron shot 200 yards into a 25-mph wind

UP NEXT

The U.S. Open at Pebble Beach awaits June 13-16, and Koepka is the back-to-back champion. No one has won the U.S. Open three consecutive years since Willie Anderson took three in a row in 1905.

NEWS SERVICES

Rich Beem smiles on the 16th hole at Pebble Beach golf links during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) ORG XMIT: OTKJC102
Beem (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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