Brooks Koepka joins golf legends with incredible feat

Brooks Koepka has held off Tiger Woods and Adam Scott to win the US PGA Championship at Missouri’s Bellerive Country Club.

The victory was his third major championship title and puts the big-hitting American on a list with some of golf’s greats.

Koepka joins Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the US Open and PGA championship in the same season.

The 28-year-old fired a four-under-par 66 to earn a 16-under total and a two-shot win from 14-time major champion Woods (64), with Australia’s Adam Scott (67) third at 13 under.

But Koepka, who heard the crowd cheering for Woods further down the course, was not to be denied.

“I definitely knew on the back side I had to pick it up a little bit to keep it going,” he told NBC.

“You definitely heard Tiger’s roars. The fans, you can tell right away. They’re quite loud, especially when he’s making birdies.”

Scott kept pace but the birdies dried up after the 13th hole, and a missed putt on the 18th saw the Australian fall below Woods for third.

“Playing with Scotty helped, you knew what he was doing and what I was up against,” Koepka said.

“To do it in this fashion, playing against Tiger and Scotty down to the wire, it’s really incredible. I can’t even put it into words.”

Woods finished in style with a birdie on the last for a 64 to match the day’s best round with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello and Englishman Tyrrell Haton.

“I made a bit of a run, looks like I’m going to come up a couple of shots short,” Woods said.

“It was a struggle, I found a little bit of something on the back nine, I was hanging in with my mind basically, it kind of got me through.”

Despite missing second place on the last hole, Scott’s outright third was his best result since winning the Masters in 2013.

“Everyone got going around the turn, a lot of roars happening out there, it was good fun to be in it,” he said.

“Just missed putts on 14 and 15 and Brooks made them and my momentum was gone and I didn’t play the last two holes very well.”

with agencies