PGA Championship Final Round News & Notes

From Monsters and Critics.com

Golf
PGA Championship Final Round News & Notes
By TSN
Aug 13, 2007, 1:30 GMT

Tulsa, OK - Before this week, Woody Austin was best known for smashing a putter against his skull after missing a putt at Hilton Head years ago.

He acknowledged this week he wished the incident would go away to some extent. Austin acknowledged that if his volatile personality flares up, it's fair game, but more should be made of his golf game.

Austin fired a final-round 62 on Sunday to come from behind and win this year's St. Jude Championship. But Austin also elected to skip the British Open due to the travel and that he has a poor links golf record.

So Sunday's final round should prove to the world he can play.

However, that personality may have gotten the best of Austin a bit in the press room Sunday. Austin was asked about whether he should feel intimidated by Woods.

'Are we going to get in a fight,' asked Austin. 'I don't get that. Why should I be intimidated? I'm not intimidate by any other person. I'm intimidated by the golf.'

Austin, who said Saturday he was upset at himself for not getting into the final pairing Sunday, went a step further.

'In the media especially on Friday, you said that he was toying with the field,' said Austin. 'We can go through our rounds, I outplayed him on Friday, but he beat me by seven shots.

'Does that mean he's that much better? It just happens that he scored better. You can not throw away that many opportunities when you are trying to win a big golf tournament. He took advantage, I didn't. Does that mean he played better than me or he's better than me? I don't' agree with that.'

Austin collected his first top 10 in a major on Sunday.

Woods collected his fourth PGA Championship and 13th major overall.

WEIRD YEAR FOR LEFTY

Phil Mickelson put a strong round of one-under 69 together on Sunday. He finished well down the leaderboard, but his 17-par, one-birdie round made the 2005 PGA Champion happy.

'I'll certainly take a bogey-free round on Sunday,' said Mickelson, whose only birdie came at the 17th. 'I had a nice Faldo round going where he won the British at Muirfield with no birdies, no bogeys. That's kind of where I was headed until 17.'

Mickelson failed to win a major championship for the first time since the 2003 season. He did pick one huge win at The Players Championship, but this has been an off year for the No. 3 player in the world.

'I consider the Players Championship to be a pretty special event, so that's kind of what salvaged the year for me is winning that, on a golf course nobody expected me to play well on. So winning that event has kind of made me still look at the year very positively.'

Mickelson has been hampered by a left wrist injury most of the summer. He tweaked it at Oakmont in his preparation for the U.S. Open and declared that he felt healthy starting last week.

With his new-found health, and with it being the first year of existence, Mickelson contended once again on Sunday that he intends to play all four FedEx Cup events.

Mickelson, who admitted he still didn't know everything about the FedEx Cup, will take next week off and get going at the The Barclays. This is a serious departure for Mickelson, who traditionally ends his season after whichever international team competition is on the docket that year.

'I've probably had a three-month suspension it feels like for my year. But I feel like I'm able to resume,' said Mickelson. 'I'm actually pretty excited about playing. Usually this time of the year after the PGA, I'm ready to pack it in.'

* England's Simon Dyson turned in the low round of the PGA Championship on Sunday. He fired a six-under 64 to move up 38 spots into sixth place at even- par 280.

* The easiest hole for the championship was the par-five 13th. It played to an average of 4.54 with 11 eagles for the week.

* The hardest hole of the week was the par-four closing hole. That played to an average of 4.34 and only saw 13 birdies for the week.

* The low club professional was University of Illinois head golf coach Mike Small. He shot a five-over 75 on Sunday and finished one shot better than Ryan Benzel at plus-16.

* Next year's PGA Championship will visit the South Course at Oakland Hills, site of the 2004 Ryder Cup Matches. The 1996 U.S. Open won by Steve Jones was the last major there.