Winners And Losers From the PGA

Normally, the PGA Championship is the major reserved for a newbie. They call it "Glory's Last Shot" because seven of the last 14 have been first time winners. Normally the one that bucks that trend is Elderick Woods, who, unbeknownst to the golf world, has handed the title of major champion king to an Irishman with a quirky smile.

Oakland Hills gave us everything, from floods to hole-in-ones to a marathon finish that ended with a putt you almost knew had to fall. Here are the winners and losers from a great week of golf at the year's final major.

Winners

• Padraig Harrington -- Wait, didn't I just write one of these? Harrington has now won three of the last six majors championships and has truly earned the nickname "Back Nine." A 32 at the British a month ago and a 32 on the closing stretch yesterday has Padraig with as many majors as Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh. Think he's taken advantage of the Woods layoff?

• Sergio Garcia -- It might be easy to admit, but Sergio has never grown up. Blaming anyone he could find east of Vermont last year after his loss at the British, everyone continued to look at Garcia the way you look at the elementary school kid that won't share the ball. "Well, someday he'll grow up, just give him some time." It looked like Oakland Hills did that. Battling the whole way, with a new-found putting stroke that seemed confident unlike anything we've seen this decade, Sergio was there, he tried, and he showed that his game is still major worthy. Also, the all black look was miles better than some of the outfits he'd pulled out over the years.

• The PGA -- For most of the week, all you could hear was bellyaching from the players about the Oakland Hills set-up. With some help from Mother Nature and a great move with some of the tees, especially the drivable par-4 6th, it turned out to be a stern, but fair, test of golf. Face it, that golf course isn't a favorite on tour and the fact that you could miss a drive by one yard and be screwed but by 15 yards and be perfect shows that something needs to be changed. No matter, the PGA danced with the date they brought and gave us the finish they could only have hoped for.

• Europe -- Producing the first European PGA champion since 1930, having three of the top-5 hail from the mini-continent and have two of your best golfers playing their best golf right before the Ryder Cup has to merit a nod in the winner's bracket. A week ago I was convinced the Cup was going to be a close contest, even without Woods. Now, with the play of Kenny Perry, Anthony Kim and Mickelson -- ehhh, not so much.
  

Losers

• Mickelson -- Where'd you go, I miss you so, seems like it's been forever, that you've been gone, please come back home! Note to heavy drinkers, avoid the "Winged Foot" shot because I heard it saddles you with a nasty hangover. Lefty hasn't even been close to the same guy since the infamous double-bogey in 2006 and with two chances to win a major sans Woods, he closed about as well as your buddy that's so drunk at the bar he spits when he talks. Making a run early Sunday with three birdies in his first four holes, he finished the last 14 holes three-over.

• Sergio Garcia -- He might have shown he's aged (the facial hair sure helped) but the bottom line is you need to step it up and win that thing. A birdie-eagle start to the round had him right there, but Sergio closed with a two-over 37 that included a water ball on the 16th hole from the middle of the fairway. The birdie putt on 17 from five feet (and that's being generous) that didn't go in was a straight yank and showed that his putting stroke, while improved, still has a long way to go. That was Garcia's 41st major appearance without a victory, inching slowly towards Mickelson's mark of 46 before his breakthrough at Augusta in 2004.

• J.B. Holmes -- Oh, the places you'll go! Holmes went a ton of places....on the first hole, managing a triple-bogey after snapping his drive, trying to play a shot reserved only for a Monday match at a muni and then taking an unplayable lie. It didn't get any better for the young American, who carded just four pars all day on his way to an eleven-over 81 and a tie for 29th. Holmes, Aaron Baddeley's on the phone from you, he's calling from Oakmont.

• Singh's Putting -- You know what the best thing to do when needing a birdie on your last hole Friday to make the cut? Five putt. Poor Vijay had stated the week before, on his way to winning the Brigestone, that he had decided to stick with the long putter and quit changing because it was affecting his feel. With a putting exhibition that wouldn't even have impressed Bob Barker on "The Price is Right" he might need to rethink that theory. Think he could just borrow Mike Weir's hybrid and putt with it?

Alright, that concludes the major year for '08. Trevor Immelman grabbed the reigns and rode them at Augusta, the Woods and Rocco Mediate playoff will be remembered for years to come and then Harrington claimed the final two in extremely dominant fashion. Not a bad group of champions if you ask me.