By John Strege
There is more than one way to win a golf tournament, as Australian Rod Pampling proved on Sunday, winning the Boeing Classic outside Seattle on Sunday with his feet up in the clubhouse. More or less.

Pampling, 51, claimed his maiden PGA Tour Champions victory by finishing his round of 66 at the Club at Snoqualmie Ridge, tied with Jim Furyk, then repairing to the clubhouse to await his fate, which at the time seemed certain to place him second or worse.

“Yeah, I think he’s got four holes to go, so I’m not going to hit balls for an hour, whatever it is,” Pampling said. “I’ll just go in the locker room and just chill out for a bit.”

Furyk, who recently won the U.S. Senior Open, seemed more than likely to birdie one of his six remaining holes. Instead, he missed birdie chances at 13, 14, 15 and 16, bogeyed 17 to fall one behind, then parred 18, allowing Pampling, by then on the range in the event of a playoff, to begin a celebration that seemed unlikely to occur for much of the afternoon.

“There’s so much pressure getting your first win and finally to get it done is great,” Pampling said. “You know, it’s golf, sometimes it works out.”

A first win was inevitable, sooner or later. Pampling had finished in the top 25 in 18 of his first 25 starts as a senior and had earned nearly $1.2 million.

But a bogey on the 16th hole on Sunday threatened to end his bid for win No. 1. “The bogey on 16, yeah, that was the only shot really today that I wasn’t happy with,” he said.

He completed 54 holes in 12-under par 204, a number that might have been one short until Furyk, no doubt a future Hall of Famer, began misfiring with his putter. Furyk closed with a two-under par 70 and tied for second, with Tim Herron and Billy Mayfair. Woody Austin also had a chance to tie Pampling at 18, but made bogey following a perfect drive and tied for fifth.

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Obviously, Spieth is one of the most popular players in the game—not just with fans but his fellow players. So Hurley has a tough fight ahead with the 24-year-old “Golden Child” in Tuesday’s election. Conversely, Hurley might’ve swayed some votes with this hilarious video he shared on social media on Monday.

For those of you who don’t know, I am running against @JordanSpieth for Chairman of the @PGATOUR Player Advisory Council. One final push for the voting that ends tomorrow pic.twitter.com/dO2uLiTg3B

— Billy Hurley III (@BillyHurley3) February 12, 2018

Fabulous work by Hurley, the winner of the 2016 Quicken Loans Invitational, who served five years in the U.S. Navy after graduating from the Naval Academy. You know even Spieth cracked up after watching this.

The rest of the 2018 PGA Tour Player Advisory Council, which was named in January, includes Justin Thomas, Steve Stricker, Paul Casey, Roberto Castro, Ben Crane, Andres Gonzales, James Hahn, J.J. Henry, Matt Kuchar, Geoff Ogilvy, Rod Pampling, Harold Varner III, Johnson Wagner and Tim Wilkinson.

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By Alex Myers
Area storms caused an hour-and-40-minute delay during Day 2 at the 99th PGA Championship and led to an exciting finish as players raced — literally — to finish their rounds. And we’ll race through Friday’s highs and lows with our latest edition of winners and losers.

Winner: Hideki Matsuyama

Last week’s winner at the WGC-Bridgestone was making the biggest move of anyone until play was suspended on Friday afternoon. Matsuyama was five under through 14 holes and. . . the break did nothing to cool him off. He returned to the course to birdie No. 15 and play the “Green Mile” in one under to post a 64. The World No. 3 who is in search of major title No. 1 has a 36-hole (co-)lead at one of golf’s four biggest events for the first time. At 25, we’re guessing it won’t be the last.

Loser: Jordan Spieth

Another day, another disappointing round for the guy trying to become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam. Spieth putted better on Friday, but his irons — the strongest part of his game this season — let him down as he lost nearly a stroke to the field. There was also a wild drive right (we’ve heard that before recently) that sent him on a pine straw adventure resulting in a bogey on the par-5 10th. This time, Spieth didn’t respond with a burst of brilliance, dropping one more shot on his way to a 73 that has him at three over and trailing by 11 shots heading into the final two rounds. If he’s to get into the record books this weekend, then he’ll also have to pull off a historic comeback.

Winner: Kevin Kisner

With a second consecutive 67, the Kiz grabbed a share of the 36-hole lead at Quail Hollow, putting him in the best position he’s ever been to win a first major. Not that that’s saying much for a guy who has never had a top 10 in a major. But Kisner has established himself as one of the most consistent players on tour and he enters this week at No. 9 on the FedEx Cup points list and with nearly $4 million in earnings. Not bad for someone who thought about quitting the game and was embarrassed to play practice rounds with other tour pros just four years ago.

Loser: Rory McIlroy

With four bogeys in a five-hole stretch, McIlroy played himself from in contention to nearly out of the tournament. But he rallied late and was this close to finishing his second round with three consecutive birdies:

? #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/7eknnNibn7

— PGA of America (@PGA) August 11, 2017

Still, it was the latest round in which some jaw-dropping ball-striking didn’t translate to a low score as McIlroy signed for a second consecutive 72. It could have been worse, though, if he didn’t make the most entertaining par save of the day:

You’ve got to be kidding me #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/j6W20RbOhz

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 11, 2017

And when Rory won his first PGA Tour title in 2010 at Quail Hollow he opened 72-73 before shooting 66-62 on the weekend. So maybe he still has a chance. . .

McIlroy, Spieth both currently +2, 10 back of leaders. No player has ever won the PGA when trailing by double-digits after 36 holes.

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) August 11, 2017

Nope. Never mind.

Birdie: Jason Day

It’s been a disappointing season for Day, but he could change that with one tournament, and Friday might have been the one round that provides the spark. Beginning with a tap-in eagle on the par-5 7th, Day went five under over a four-hole stretch until play was halted. When it resumed, he bogeyed the 11th hole, but then added a couple birdies to shoot 66 and pull within two shots. For whatever reason, the PGA Championship suits the Aussie. After winning the tournament for his first major in 2015 he finished runner-up last year. In other words, don’t expect the former World No. 1 to go away. As for the current World No. 1, however. . .

Loser: Dustin Johnson

Confounded by Quail Hollow’s new greens, DJ shot a 74 to drop him to two over. That means that we are two rounds away from what seemed inconceivable heading into the Masters: Dustin Johnson, a man who won three consecutive tournaments earlier this season, likely won’t win a major in 2017. Remember, kids, nothing is a sure thing in life. Oh, and be careful walking down stairs in rental houses.

Birdie: Francesco Molinari

The Italian matched Matsuyama with a 64 himself to vault up to T-4 following an opening 73. Molinari’s best major finish was a T-9 at the 2013 British Open, but he has four career European Tour wins and he’s one of the game’s best iron players. With Quail Hollow’s greens playing so firm — excluding the couple hours after the rain delay — that has played into his hands.

Loser: Phil Mickelson

Following the worst score of his PGA Championship career, Mickelson played better on Friday, but still badly missed the cut for a second straight major. The most unusual part of Phil the Thrill’s performance was the lack of thrills, as he failed to make a birdie in his first 30 holes and wound up with just one in two rounds.

Phil Mickelson +11 and now 27 holes into the #PGAChamp without a birdie. Inexplicable.

— Dave Shedloski (@DaveShedloski) August 11, 2017

Or is it?

Phil and Bones: 1992 – 2017 pic.twitter.com/tOeEqaT3Sy

— Skratch (@Skratch) June 20, 2017

The bigger picture bad news for Mickelson is that he’s currently 17th on the Presidents Cup points list, meaning his fate of representing the U.S. for an incredible 23rd consecutive Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup will probably be in the hands of captain Steve Stricker — and assistant captain Tiger Woods.

Winner: Danny Willett and Rod Pampling

With no chance of making the cut, these two pros sacrificed their final-hole tee shots for the good of their groups — and themselves — by hurriedly hitting so they wouldn’t have to wake up early on Saturday just to play one hole. Willett hit an iron off the tee so that his group could finish, and Pampling did, well, whatever this was:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/7RRrf6AIOe

— PGA of America (@PGA) August 12, 2017

Loser: The weather

That bad weather forecast finally caught up with the tournament on Friday afternoon with a lengthy suspension of play. Not that this type of thing is unusual when it comes to the PGA Championship:

Six years in a row this has happened at the US PGA. They need to find a golf course with a roof.

— Ewan Murray (@mrewanmurray) August 11, 2017

Or maybe they should move the tournament to another month, like, say, May. Has anyone thought about that yet?

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