Bradley’s extra special victory
Bradley’s victory ended a run of seven major championship wins by European Tour players.
Dufner, 34 and without a win on the PGA Tour, carded a closing, one-under-par 69 to tie on eight under with 25-year-old Bradley, playing his first major and posting a 68, sending the last major of the year into extra time.
Sweden’s Robert Karlsson and Anders Hansen of Denmark had done their utmost to continue European Tour dominance but it was the unsung Americans Dufner and Bradley that kept the pot boiling until the bitter end at Atlanta Athletic Club last night, taking the contest to a three-hole play-off after tying on eight under par with rounds of 69 and 68.
Dufner and Bradley had tied for the lead at nine under par with six and seven holes to play respectively only for Bradley to triple bogey the par-three 15th and give his rival a five-shot lead.
The advantage was down to a single stroke after Dufner bogeyed the 15th and 16th and Bradley bounced back with a birdie at 16 and then sank a monster putt at the 17th for birdie.
Bradley teed off at the treacherous par-four 18th at eight under, as Dufner safely landed his tee shot at the 17th on the green, only to bogey and bring the younger rival into a share of the lead.
It was a fascinating struggle between the animated, tall wiry Bradley and the stoic, shorter Dufner atop this most egalitarian of major leaderboards.
Dufner had shared the overnight lead at seven under par with compatriot Brendan Steele before Bradley, who started a shot behind, joined him at nine under with an eagle at the par five 12th hole and the pair were a stroke ahead of Karlsson.
Dufner had missed four cuts in a row heading into Atlanta Athletic Club this week but the world number 80 did have form in the final major of the year with a tie for fifth at last year’s PGA and for much of this final round.
And he was looking well in control, of his own game at least, in Atlanta as he reached the turn two under for his round having not put a foot wrong.
Steele, on the other hand had wobbled his way out of contention in his major championship debut, bogeying the first and dropping two more shots on the front nine to drop to three under after 10 holes.
The 2003 Open champion Ben Curtis and Francis Ouimet, at the 1913 US Open, had been the only men to have won in their first major start and now Bradley joins that list.
New Englander Bradley, who claims Irish ancestry in Co Cork, birdied the first for an assured start from six under and two more birdies kept him in touch with Dufner after eight holes before he bogeyed the ninth to drop back to seven under.
Karlsson, though, was heading in the other direction. Starting the day at two under, the former European number one was three under for his round at the turn and he leapt into contention at eight under for the tournament with a birdie at the 10th and then an eagle at the par-five 12th to put pressure on Dufner, a shot ahead.
It was Karlsson who faded, though, sending his second shot uphill at the 16th through the green and leaving him with no option but to send his recovery shot way past the hole to effectively end his challenge.
Denmark’s Hansen birdied the 17th for a closing 66 that left him at seven under but Karlsson closed bogey-bogey-bogey for a 67 that left him at five under alongside David Toms, the 2001 champion here, who closed with a three-under 67, joined in a tie for fourth place by Scott Verplank who carded a level-par 70.
Adam Scott closed with a 68 for seventh place while world number two Lee Westwood’s search for a maiden major win at the age of 38 goes on after he closed with a 67 to finish at three under. So too world number one Luke Donald, who had charged up the leaderboard like Westwood from one under to five under, only to find water off the tee at the par-three 15th on the way to a bogey that seemed to drain the Englishman in an instant. Donald also closed with a bogey for a 68 to tie with Westwood in eighth place.
Rory McIlroy signed off with an injured right wrist and a tie for 64th alongside Pádraig Harrington, the pair carding closing 74s at 11 over par.
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