PGA Final Round Clippings, Vol. 1

Several final lede's and stories considering the burning desire our finest scribblers had for departing to the Tulsa Airport as soon as they possibly could. Oh, and Tiger's won 13 of these major thingy's now and it gets just that much tougher to say something fresh...

Doug Ferguson writing for AP:

The 13th major for Tiger Woods looked like so many others until he finished.

His father is no longer alive for Woods to walk into his arms. His mother no longer travels to any major but the Masters. He now shares his triumphs with a wife and baby daughter, and the biggest surprise Sunday at the PGA Championship was seeing them when he walked into the scoring trailer to sign for a 69 and a two-shot victory.

Thomas Bonk writing for the LA Times:

Row after row, they rose to their feet in the sun-splashed late afternoon and cheered as Tiger Woods reached the 18th green at Southern Hills Country Club, ready for another chapter of history to be made, this time right before their eyes.

Mike Strain in the Tulsa World:

The billboards around Tulsa advertised the PGA Championship as Tiger vs. Southern Hills. We have a winner.

Damon Hack writing for the New York Times:

There was a different texture to this five-mile walk, an appearance of tension and conflict in Tiger Woods’s midst as he stepped into the furnace of Southern Hills Country Club and tried to pass another milepost.

As an old foe and a hot-tempered journeyman prodded him along the way, Woods pushed back during the 89th P.G.A. Championship, throwing a roundhouse punch after an early birdie and holding off all challengers in the end.

Lawrence Donegan writing for The Guardian:

The surest bet in golf became drama of the highest order last night as first Ernie Els, then Woody Austin, turned an expected procession in Tulsa into a genuine contest as they sought to deny Tiger Woods victory at the 89th PGA Championship. That he finally secured the title by two strokes from Austin with a closing round of 69 might read as a routine victory, but it was anything but.

And Steve Elling for Sportsline:

The perspiration beads dripped off his nose, down his chin and, at one point, from the bill of his sweat-saturated black cap.

And not solely because the 89th PGA Championship shall officially go into the meteorological record books as the hottest major in history after weathering four consecutive days of Tulsa's triple-digit boil, either.

Here are the final results and more importantly, the FedEx Cup point breakdown.

The final course stats are here. The 13th was the only hole that played under par for the week and I don't think it's a coincidence that the holes with the more dramatic short grass banks produced most of the others during the week.

Chris Lewis selects highlights from the final day, with photos and a nice acknowledgement for the scribblers who dared to be on the first tee instead of in the Southern Hills tennis center.

Gary Van Sickle with some fun, offbeat awards for the week including a nice award package of Woody Austin's best diatribe.

Eddie Pells on Woody Austin bumping Lucas Glover out of an automatic spot on the President's Cup team while Stuart Appleby edges Nick O'Hern.

Reuters reports 264 were treated for heat related exhaustion during the week, with 85 on Sunday alone.

Please, help the big golf sites generate page views since I borrowed a few here: golf.com's photos are here, Golfchannel.com's are here, and GolfDigest.com's are here.

Sporting Life compiles the best quotes of Sunday, but if you want to read more, Tiger, Ernie and Woody are posted below the ASAP transcript links are here.