Rory McIlroy hoisted the 37.5 pound Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening for the second time in three years. It was his fourth major championship victory and only Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have won four majors before their 26th birthday.
The PGA Championship provided fantastic television drama all weekend. Rain left the course soft, players were able to fire at the pins and were rewarded with short birdie and eagle putts.
The final two hours of coverage on Saturday provided some of the best golf ever televised, with unparalleled shot making by the leaders and birdies aplenty.
It was one of the most closely contested majors in many years, but the ending resembled something from the "Twilight Zone."
The PGA of America and CBS, in all of their wisdom, set the tee time for the final grouping of Rory McIlroy and Bernd Weisberger at 3:00 PM ET. All things considered with a normal 4 ½ hour round the tournament would wind up at 7:30 PM.
That didn’t leave much additional time for rain delays or playoffs. The worst-case scenario came to pass and a rain delay prevented the leaders from teeing off until 4:19 PM.
Sunset in Louisville, Kentucky comes at 8:38 PM in August, which did not allow much wiggle room to fit in a full 18 holes of championship golf.
Play was sluggish due to the two inches of rain that had drenched the Louisville area. Free drops from plugged lies and casual water on the totally saturated Valhalla Golf Course made play excruciatingly slow.
McIlroy seemed agitated and unnerved from the extremely slow play on his front nine. Two bogeys at Nos. 3 and 6 and a birdie at No. 7 left him at one-over-par for his first nine holes and he trailed Rickie Fowler by three shots at the turn.
As McIlroy can do, however, he shifted into a higher gear and an eagle at the par-five No. 10 brought him to within one shot of the leaders.
After birdies at Nos. 13 and 17 and bogeys by Fowler and Mickelson, McIlroy opened up a two-shot lead.
No. 16 is where things started to get a little funky. Darkness was rapidly approaching. Fowler playing in the group immediately ahead of McIlroy drove his ball far right into the adjoining 15th hole.
McIlroy did not wait for Fowler to hit his second shot before he launched a 320-yard bomb down the middle of the 16th fairway. When he reached his massive tee shot he paced, while waiting for Fowler and Mickelson to putt out on the green.
When McIlroy reached the 18th tee, Mickelson and Fowler had not yet teed off and Rory asked officials if they could play the last hole as a foursome.
According to the Rules of Golf, the officials should have no say in the matter, but they took charge anyway. Mickelson and Fowler alone have the right to invite the group behind them to play up, while they walk up to their shots.
If it became too dark for McIlroy to finish, he should have requested play be halted and return to the course on Monday morning to finish his round.
There would be no waiting, he was going to drink from the Wanamaker Trophy Sunday evening.
The officials allowed Weisberger and McIlroy to hit their tee balls while Mickelson and Fowler waited to the side. All four players walked up the fairway, but McIlroy was asked to wait while Mickelson and Fowler played to the green. Once Fowler and Mickelson reached the green they were asked by the officials to wait greenside, while McIlroy and Weisberger hit their second shots to the green.
Mickelson was clearly upset by the officials taking charge of events. He still had a chance to eagle No. 18 and tie McIlroy for the championship to force a Monday playoff.
To his credit Mickelson did take the high road and did not rip the officials for this disruption of play. By allowing McIlroy to hit his tee shot at No. 18, he may have been the beneficiary of some good fortune from the PGA officials.
Plus Mickelson was clearly distracted by the actions of the officials and his concentration on his eagle opportunity was broken. He did make a birdie and finish runner-up, but at 44 years old he is counting wins not second-place finishes.
Fowler also seemed rushed in the confusion at the last hole, resulting in a bogey, which bumped him down to a tie for third.
An aging Phil Mickelson challenged the 20-something kids, Fowler and McIlroy down the stretch. McIlroy fired bomb after bomb into the middle of the fairway and Fowler played steady championship golf. 2013 FedEx Cup Champion and Race to Dubai winner, Henrik Stenson was even tied for the lead for a time on Sunday.
It was a golfaholic’s dream scenario.
The 96th PGA Championship, as a whole, was filled with wonderful golf shots and a worthy champion was crowned.
With the chaotic ending this year and the unforgettable Tiger Woods/ Bob May playoff in 2000, Valhalla has etched a permanent spot in golf history.