Jason Dufner is not going to light golf on fire with a scintillating personality, nor will he land it on the cover of mens' magazines with a sculpted physique. But if you are looking for an textbook display of poise under pressure and the oh-so-important golf skill of leaving the past in the past, Dufner's victory at the P.G.A. Championship on Sunday was a thing of beauty.
After a blazing start set him up for his first major title - in the same tournament where he so crushingly lost a big lead two years ago - Dufner calmly strolled through the back nine at Oak Hill Country Club as if none of that mattered. This is Dufner's personality at any tournament, but keeping it intact while he nursed a two-shot lead to his breakthrough triumph came with an impressive degree of difficulty.
The same face that stoicly watched the shots he was firing at the pins and putts that were rolling in from everywhere early, also greeted the birdie putts that stubbornly would not drop on the back nine. It all made it look like the 36-year-old Dufner was sharing a friendly round of golf on an average Sunday, instead of crafting a victory.
Only when he stuck his approach shot a few feet from the hole on No. 16 for an easy birdie that seemed to all but assure his victory, did one side of his mouth curl in a tiny hint of a smile.
Starting one shot behind Jim Furyk, Dufner rolled in two straight birdies after gutsy shots into the fourth and fifth greens, then saved two gutsier pars on the next two holes - one on No. 7 after driving wildly into deep trouble and pitching back out. On the next hole, he nearly holed his wedge shot from the fairway and tapped in for birdie.
The closest he came to a show of emotion was slapping his thigh when his birdie putt on No. 12 failed to break and rolled just right of the hole. Still, he was avoiding the kind of trouble that might have conjured up troubling memories until 17, when a three-putt broke his streak of 26 holes without a bogey, but by then, his nearest chasers had lost all their momentum as well.
Two years ago, Dufner seemed poised to collect his first P.G.A. trophy. He had a five-shot lead late in that tournament at Atlanta Athletic Club before sending his tee shot on No. 15 into the water. He followed with two more bogeys, allowing Keegan Bradley to catch him and force a playoff, which Bradley won for his first major.
This tournament's 54-hole leader, Jim Furyk, is not much more of a marquee name, mostly known for a homegrown swing and being the genial guy who seems to contend for majors but never winning one beyond his single United States Open in 2003. He took the lead into Sunday at nine under and proceeded to play his usual steady golf, with pars on the first five holes. He finally rolled in a long, 30-plus-foot birdue putt on No. 6, but gave the shot back after a bad approach on No. 9 and could not make any more headway until a nice birdie putt on No. 16 lifted him to 10 under.
Whatever pressure Furyk hoped to place on Dufner, though, ended when his approach on No. 17 lodged in deep rough to the left of the green and he could manage only a bogey to nestle back at nine under.
Also making a leap foward was Henrik Stenson, who brushed off a bogey on his first hole by curling in an eagle putt on No. 4 to reach eight under, where he remained until nearly rolling in another eagle putt on No. 13. Through 16 holes, he was at eight under.
He was tied there with his Swedish countryman Jonas Blixt, who is playing in his first P.G.A. Championship and only his second major. He used birdies on Nos. 10, 13 and 14 to lift himself to eight under.
Both Stenson and Blixt, who were playing together, collected bogeys on No. 17 to drop back to seven under and Blixt also added a bogey on 18.
Behind them was Masters champion Adam Scott, who spent his day trying to climb up the leaderboard, but had his efforts stunted when he walked off the par-5 No. 13 with a three-putt bogey. He bounced back by holing a bunker shot on No. 15 for birdie, but finished well back at five under.
Scott Piercy, who eight birdies and three bogeys in his round of 65 to finish at five under.
Playing among the earliest players after falling way out of the mix was Phil Mickelson, who did not exactly follow his British Open victory with a strong final major. His final-round 72 left him 12-over par for the tournament. Tiger Woods did significantly better than that, but not by his standards. He shot a final-round 70 to finish four over par.
