Day Seven - The Final Day
You probably won't even believe that I wrote that last sentence before the final day action. I arrived and watched the leader group of Morgan, Bryant and Roberts tee off. At the beginning of the day, it looked like a two man race. Right off the bat, Morgan slipped.After bogeys on 3 and 4, Morgan sat a couple of strokes behind Bryant. But Bryant bogeyed five while Morgan scored a birdie, so it was right back to being tied. In the end, though, the hometown guy just wouldn't have a good day. Morgan's back 9 was solid, but bogeys on 6, 8 and 9 just put him too far behind.
Brad Bryant, on the other hand, had a great back 9 that included a birdie on what has become one of my favorites, 13, and an astounding eagle on 16. And Jay Haas would come storming back, led by a great stretch from 4-8 with 5 straight birdies. It was going to come down to a playoff.
In the playoff, Haas hit a putt from about 12 feet out on the 18th, and it looked like it'd go another hole as Bryant had a short putt to push the playoff. But Bryant's putt missed left, and Jay Haas wins the 67th Senior PGA Championship in Edmond.
For me, it was a great week with plenty of drama. I would've loved to see Morgan hang on and be in the mix near the end, particularly after playing well in the ferocious winds of Saturday. Sunday was still windy, though not quite as bad. Morgan would say afterward he played poorly on the front nine and just wasn't able to make it up on the back.
And now I go to let my sunburns heal, far more knowledgable in the ways of professional golf and expensive PGA water than I ever was before. For all of those in the OKC area who were lucky enough to attend, it was quite an amazing, one-of-a-kind event.
