Bob CollinsBecause the TV cameras had their innards wide open so we could see, it was impossible to tell how dark it really was last evening when the PGA Championship ended in Kentucky.
It was this dark when Rory McIlroy put the finishing touches on his come-from-behind win.
The final round had been delayed by rain and there was always the option of coming back this morning to finish play, but TV calls the shots.
McIlroy and his playing partner were allowed to hit their second shots to the green on the 18th hole while Phil Mickelson and Ricky Fowler, who were still in the hunt to win the tournament, had to wait to putt.
“Phil and I waited on the tee for a good amount of time and had to hit tee shots,” Fowler said. In a way, [McIlroy and Wiesberger] never got out of rhythm as far as hitting the golf shots. I don’t think it really changes it much. We were allowing them to hit the tee shots and we weren’t expecting the approach shots to come.”
“All the scene lacked were a few cars pulled up to the edge of the 18th green, their high beams on to illuminate the gloaming that had enveloped Valhalla Golf Club,” the New York Times’ Bill Fields writes today. “Then it would have seemed like two high school golf teams trying to complete a match on a spring afternoon before daylight saving time had kicked in.”
Christine Brennan of USA Today says the final moments were typical golf.
“The two players who were trying to defeat McIlroy extended him the ultimate courtesy that in the end helped him beat them,” she writes.
Golf has been losing its popularity in recent years. Maybe it’s just too courteous.
