SportsSection C Monday, August 12, 2013

■ Martin Perez threw a four-hitter for his fi rst career complete game to lead the Texas Rangers over the Houston Astros, 6-1, for their seventh straight victory. 5C

By Schuyler DixonAssociated Press

OXNARD, Calif. — Tony Romo is progressing, Dez Bryant is dominating and DeMar-cus Ware is gearing up for full-time pass rushing.

The stars of the Dal-las Cowboys look strong heading into the fi nal week of a long training camp in California. There are plen-

ty of concerns for Dallas, and the biggest won’t be settled before the team re-turns to Texas for the fi nal three weeks of preparation for the season opener Sept. 8 against the New York Gi-ants.

Romo and the other big names on off ense fi nally got their fi rst game ac-tion Friday night in a 19-17 preseason loss at Oakland — 19 days after the fi rst practice.

The leaders of a re-vamped defense under new defensive coordi-nator Monte Kiffi n also got into their fi rst game. Dallas now has four turn-overs in two games after getting just 16 a year ago. The highlight was Sean Lee’s sack on Matt Flynn that forced a fumble deep in Oakland territory on its fi rst possession.

Here are fi ve things to watch before the Cowboys break camp Friday.

1. ROMO’S RECEIVERSBryant has been the best

player in training camp, and he showed it against the Raiders. He had three catches for 55 yards on a long drive that ended in Dan Bailey’s blocked fi eld goal. Miles Austin has shown no signs of trouble with his hamstrings.

Rookie Terrance Wil-liams has missed a week with a concussion but is expected back, and the battle for the third receiv-er looks like it will come down to him and Dwayne Harris.

COWBOYS: 5 THINGS TO WATCH

Dallas ends training camp a better team

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Quarterback Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys will wrap up their training camp in Oxnard, Calif on Friday.

■ Team leaves Oxnard at week’s end

INSIDENFL notebook. 5C

See COWBOYS, 5C

TEXAS LEAGUE

TRAVELERS HOOKS

7 4

By Greg Rajangreg.rajan@caller.com361-886-3702

A homestand fi lled withdrama ended on a rather anticlimactic note for the Hooks.

The Arkansas Travel-ers averted a three-game sweep by downing Chris-ti 7-4 on Sunday night atWhataburger Field, ending the Hooks’ season-long, 10-game homestand.

The Hooks (30-20 sec-ond half, 72-48 overall) went 7-3 during that span. They scored the winningrun fi ve times during their fi nal turn at-bat, including four walk-off victories.

“We’ve had a nice run,” Hooks manager Keith Bodie said. “We’ll take it. It was a very exciting home-stand and we played some very exciting baseball, to say the least. I’m very hap-py with how we’re going about our job and playing. It’s fun.”

Spoiling the fun Sunday was Arkansas right fi elder Randal Grichuk. Rankedthe Los Angeles Angels’ No. 6 prospect by Baseball America, Grichuk went 4 fo r 4 with two homeruns, three runs scoredand fi ve RBIs.

Neither Hooks starterKyle Hallock nor Travel-ers counterpart Michael Roth, who’s spent time in the majors this season,were particularly sharp in the early going.

Hallock fell behindquickly in the fi rst inning,giving up a leadoff single to Grichuk before TaylorLindsey lashed an RBI triple to right-center fi eld.

The Hooks answered in the bottom of the

Hooks travel out to a loss

■ CC drops final game in homestand

By Matt YoungSpecial to the Caller-Times

Kevin Smith is leaving Corpus Christi in a few days to attend college, and he’s taking the city’s golf championship with him.

The 18-year-old In-carnate Word Academy

graduate fired an even par 70 Sunday afternoon to come from four strokes back to win the City Medal Play Championship at Oso Beach Municipal Golf Course.

After shooting a 77 —

including seven bogeys and a double bogey — in Saturday’s opening round at Gabe Lozano Golf Cen-ter, Smith bounced back nicely Sunday. He still made fi ve bogeys, but he evened his cared with fi ve birdies to fi nish the tour-nament at 7-over.

“I putted a lot better than I did Saturday,” said Smith, who will play golf at University of the Incarnate Word. “That’s probably the most putts I’ve made

in a really long time.”It turned out, he needed

every one of those putts.University of Houston-

Victoria senior Zach Garbe had matching 74s to fi nish one stroke behind Smith at 8-over. The 21-year-old Garbe appeared to be in control midway through Sunday’s round. After starting the opening day stroke behind Bill Odom, who finished fourth, Garbe bolted out of the gate by shooting 2-under

through the fi rst 11 holes. However, things fell apart down the stretch. Garbe shot six-over on the fi nal seven holes. Included in that rough stretch was a lipped out four-foot putt on 18 that would have sent the championship to a playoff .

Garbe also had some bad luck on No. 15 when he hit a shot into a roped-off area that led to a long

GOLF

Incarnate Word Academy grad wins City Medal titleSmith came back from four strokes down to win the tourna-ment.

■ Smith, 18, shoots a 70 in final round

See GOLF, 6C

NEXTGAMEOpponent: Northwest Arkansas NaturalsWhen: 7 p.m. TuesdayWhere: Arvest Ballpark; Springdale, Ark.Pitching probables: Mike Foltynewicz(CC, RH, 5-2, 2.71 ERA) vs. Brooks Pounders (NWA, RH, 4-7, 4.58)Radio: KKTX-AM 1360Next home game:Aug. 20 vs. Midland

By Doug FergusonAssociated Press

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Jason Dufner fi nally cracked a smile, raised both arms and gave a slight pump of the fi st, saving all that emotion for a big occasion.

He won the PGA Champi-onship.

Dufner played the kind of golf that wins majors Sunday with a steady diet of fairways and greens that made it too tough for Jim Furyk or anyone else to catch him. Even with

bogeys on the last two holes at Oak Hill, Dufner closed with a 2-under 68 to capture his fi rst major and atone for

a meltdown two years ago in Atlanta.

“It’s been a tough day. It was a long day. Tough golf course,” Dufner said. “It probably hasn’t hit me yet. I

IN CONTROL ■ Dufner defeats Furyk for 1st major title

ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS

Jason Dufner hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during the fi nal round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Sunday in Pittsford, N.Y. Dufner closed with a 68 to win his fi rst major championship.

Leaderboard At Oak Hill Country Club, East Course, Pittsford, N.Y.Purse: $8 million; Yardage: 7,177; Par: 70

FINAL ROUND

Jason Dufner ........................... 68-63-71-68—270 -10Jim Furyk ................................. 65-68-68-71—272 -8

Henrik Stenson ....................... 68-66-69-70—273 -7Jonas Blixt ............................... 68-70-66-70—274 -6Scott Piercy............................. 67-71-72-65—275 -5Adam Scott ............................. 65-68-72-70—275 -5David Toms.............................. 71-69-69-67—276 -4Jason Day ................................ 67-71-72-67—277 -3Zach Johnson .......................... 69-70-70-68—277 -3Dustin Johnson ....................... 72-71-65-69—277 -3

Rory McIlroy ........................... 69-71-67-70—277 -3Graeme McDowell ....................... 70-69-73-66—278 -2Boo Weekley ........................... 72-69-70-67—278 -2Marc Leishman ....................... 70-70-70-68—278 -2Marc Warren ........................... 74-67-68-69—278 -2Roberto Castro ....................... 68-69-71-70—278 -2Kevin Streelman ..................... 70-72-66-70—278 -2Steve Stricker ......................... 68-67-70-73—278 -2

“It’s been a tough day. It was a long day. Tough golf course. It

probably hasn’t hit me yet. I can’tbelieve this is happening to me ...”

Jason Dufner, PGA Championship winner

See PGA, 6C

INSIDEFull results. 6C

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

See HOOKS, 5C

6C » Monday, August 12, 2013 » C A L L E R - T I M E S

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

discussion of how the shot should be ruled. He ended up playing the ball where it lied, but should have been allowed to take a drop.

“The wind picked up a little bit, and I had a little commotion on 15 that kind of threw me off,” the Greg-ory-Portland graduate said. “I just didn’t play as well as I should have at the end.”

After his trying open-ing round, Smith said he thought he’d have to shoot a 66 in the final round to have a chance to catch the likes of Garbe, but the in-creased winds on the back nine helped his cause.

“Conditions got tough-er on the second nine, so that probably helped,” Smith said. “It was pretty calm early in the day, but then at about No. 12 or 13, it became Corpus Christi weather again and the wind picked up.”

Smith had never played in a city championship be-fore, but he’s no stranger to pressure. As a sophomore, he helped Incarnate Word

Academy win the TAPPSstate championship when he finished fifth individu-ally. He finished 25th instate as a junior and 26thas a senior.

“I’ve definitey kind ofstruggled the past couple years, and the game of golf hasn’t been very easy, soto get a win in any tourna-ment feels good,” Smith said. “It’s good to have something positive happen as I head off for college.”

CITY MEDAL PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP

Final resultsat Oso Beach GC

Championship flight: 1, Kevin Smith 77-70 — 147; 2, Zach Garbe 74-74 — 148; 3, Raymond Garcia 78-73 — 151; 4 (tie), BillOdom 73-80 — 153; Lee Martinez 75-78 —153; 6, Lucas Trevino 80-74 — 154; 7 (tie),Kevin Grillo 77-78 — 155, Terry Yarbrough81-74 — 155; Greg Laves 82-73 — 155; 10, Robert Cardona 77-82 — 159.

First flight: 1, Bruce Taylor 82-80 — 162; 2, Alex DeLeon 85-80 — 165; 3, Refu-gio Rodriguez 82-87 — 169; 4, Jeff Irizarry83-87 — 170; 5, Mike Hatley 88-89 — 177.

Second flight: 1, Bob Spelhaug 85-85 — 170; 2, Randy Glasson 93-82 — 175; 3, Will Speck 88-88 — 176; 4, Raymond Ames 91-89 — 180; 5, Mark Perron 93-90 — 183.

Third flight: 1, Bill Speck 90-89 — 179; 2, C.W. Herber 96-84—180; 3, John Fry 97-86 — 183; 4, George Zampikos 101-92 — 193; 5, Mike Korn 100-94 — 194.

Fourth flight: 1, Melvin Hierholzer 87-87 — 174; 2, Dan Donnelly 96-98 — 194; 3,Michael Gunning 95-101 — 196; 4, Emile Laquerre 93-111 — 204; 5, Rick Milam94-110 — 204.

GOLF from 1C

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — The red shirt on Sunday and the size of the galleries were the same. So, too, in an odd sort of way, was the early departure.

Tiger Woods was gone from the PGA Champion-ship by early afternoon, 4 over for the tournament and miles from Oak Hill by the time the trophy presentation began. He always said majors were the events he wanted to be measured by, so it should have come as no surprise when a fan reminded him of that, yelling “Masters 2014!” even as Woods trudged his way up the fi-nal fairway.

Asked afterward wheth-er it would be tough to wait until next spring to resume his chase of Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 career majors, the glazed-over look in Woods’ eyes was familiar as well.

“The only time it was really hard was going into ’01,” he began. “That was really tough because I was asked, basically ev-ery day and every round for eight months, ‘Is it a grand slam? Are you going to try and win all four?’”

That was at the end of the 2000 season, but it seems like a lifetime ago now. Woods won the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in succession that year, roughly the middle of an incredible run when he collected seven majors in four years.

“Then I was in a slump through that period where I didn’t win for three (years) or something like that,” Woods added a mo-ment later. “I heard it for a very long time. So that was a long wait, too.”

Those were three years between his wins in the 2002 U.S. Open and the 2005 Masters. That seems like a lifetime ago, too. Back then, Woods kept in-sisting he could get even better, so he embarked on a swing overhaul with a new coach and bided his time until history proved him right. That 2005 win at Augusta launched the second great major run of his career — another six titles in four years — end-ing at the 2008 U.S. Open, where Woods won playing on a broken left leg. He has been stuck on 14 majors since.

The maddening thing about this latest drought — beyond the fact that Woods will be 38 in De-cember, an age when most great champions are done winning majors — is that Woods can still play. Inju-ries and the self-inflicted sex scandal of late 2009 effectively wiped out the next two seasons. But he won three times last year and five times already this season, including just a week ago at Fires-tone, where he practically

lapped the field by seven strokes.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t this week,” Woodssaid. “Didn’t seem to hit itas good and didn’t make many putts until the lastfew holes today. Didn’tgive myself many looks and certainly didn’t hit the ball good enough to be in it.

“Jim is 9-under par right now,” Woods continued, referring to leader Jim Furyk who had yet to tee off. “I’ve had nine birdies through 72 holes.”

Exactly why that is re-mains anyone’s guess.

If it’s because Woods presses too hard duringthe majors now, we’ll all be a lot older by the time hegets around to admittingit. He certainly knows this litany:

Most of the game’s great major champions crestedthe hill by their mid to late30s. Bobby Jones retired at28. Tom Watson and Byron Nelson never won another after 33; Arnold Palmer, 34; and Walter Hagen, 36. Gary Player won only one after 38 and Nick Faldo his last at 39. Ben Hogan was an outlier, winning into his early 40s.

Jack Nicklaus won all but one of his by age 40, covering an 18-year span; and that last one, the 1986 Masters at age 46, waswhat people mean by “catching lightning in abottle.”

Woods can’t rely on that. But neither, it seems, should he rely on trying toplay the majors the way healways has — cautiously plotting his way around the game’s toughest ven-ues while many of the same golfers he inspired to hit the gym and hit itlonger fly by him taking risks. What he’s doing at the moment isn’t work-ing, at least not in the ma-jors, no matter how hard Woods tries to spin the results.

“Is it concerning? As I said, I’ve been there in half of them this year,” he said referring to his finishes at the Masters (tied for fourth) and last month’s British Open (tiedfor sixth). So that’s aboutright.

“If you are going to be inthere for three-quarters, or half of them, with a chance to win on the back nine,”he added, “you have justgot to get it done.”

Good luck with that.

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org and follow him at Twitter: JimLitke

Woods departs early, empty-handed again

JIMLITKE

COMMENTARY

At Oak Hill Country Club, East Course, Pittsford, N.Y.Purse: $8 million; Yardage: 7,177; Par: 70

FINAL ROUNDJason Dufner, $1,445,000 ............68-63-71-68—270 -10Jim Furyk, $865,000 .....................65-68-68-71—272 -8Henrik Stenson, $545,000 ...........68-66-69-70—273 -7Jonas Blixt, $385,000 ...................68-70-66-70—274 -6Scott Piercy, $304,000 .................67-71-72-65—275 -5Adam Scott, $304,000 .................65-68-72-70—275 -5David Toms, $259,000 ..................71-69-69-67—276 -4Jason Day, $206,250 ....................67-71-72-67—277 -3Zach Johnson, $206,250 ..............69-70-70-68—277 -3Dustin Johnson, $206,250 ...........72-71-65-69—277 -3Rory McIlroy, $206,250 ................69-71-67-70—277 -3Graeme McDowell, $132,786 ......70-69-73-66—278 -2Boo Weekley, $132,786 ...............72-69-70-67—278 -2Marc Leishman, $132,786 ...........70-70-70-68—278 -2Marc Warren, $132,786 ...............74-67-68-69—278 -2Roberto Castro, $132,786 ...........68-69-71-70—278 -2Kevin Streelman, $132,786 .........70-72-66-70—278 -2Steve Stricker, $132,786 .............68-67-70-73—278 -2Keegan Bradley, $93,167.............69-72-72-66—279 -1Hideki Matsuyama, $93,167 .......72-68-73-66—279 -1Rickie Fowler, $93,167 .................70-68-72-69—279 -1Michael Thompson, $75,000 ......72-67-72-69—280 E

Matt Kuchar, $75,000 ..................67-66-76-71—280 EDavid Lynn, $75,000 .....................69-69-71-71—280 EKiradech Aphibarnrat, $58,750 ..68-71-71-71—281 +1Robert Garrigus, $58,750 ............67-68-74-72—281 +1Webb Simpson, $58,750 ..............72-64-73-72—281 +1Bill Haas, $58,750 .........................68-70-71-72—281 +1Miguel Angel Jimenez, $48,500 ..68-72-75-67—282 +2Rafael Cabrera-Bello, $48,500 ....68-75-69-70—282 +2Scott Jamieson, $48,500 .............69-72-70-71—282 +2Ryo Ishikawa, $48,500 .................69-71-70-72—282 +2Peter Hanson, $38,571 ................72-69-74-68—283 +3Martin Kaymer, $38,571..............68-68-78-69—283 +3Paul Casey, $38,571 .....................67-72-74-70—283 +3Brendon de Jonge, $38,571 .........71-71-71-70—283 +3Justin Rose, $38,571 ....................68-66-77-72—283 +3Francesco Molinari, $38,571.......72-68-70-73—283 +3Lee Westwood, $38,571 ..............66-73-68-76—283 +3Matt Jones, $28,000 .....................72-71-73-68—284 +4Thorbjorn Olesen, $28,000 .........71-70-74-69—284 +4J.J. Henry, $28,000........................71-71-73-69—284 +4Danny Willett, $28,000 ................73-70-72-69—284 +4D.A. Points, $28,000 .....................73-70-72-69—284 +4Tiger Woods, $28,000 ..................71-70-73-70—284 +4Charley Hoffman, $28,000 ..........69-67-73-75—284 +4Thongchai Jaidee, $18,875 .........70-71-75-69—285 +5John Merrick, $18,875 .................75-68-73-69—285 +5Ryan Palmer, $18,875 ..................73-70-71-71—285 +5

Josh Teater, $18,875 ....................71-71-71-72—285 +5David Hearn, $18,875 ..................66-76-71-72—285 +5K.J. Choi, $18,875 .........................76-65-71-73—285 +5Marcus Fraser, $18,875 ...............67-69-75-74—285 +5Luke Guthrie, $18,875 .................71-71-69-74—285 +5Scott Stallings, $16,900 ..............73-70-73-70—286 +6Ryan Moore, $16,900 ...................69-71-73-73—286 +6Hunter Mahan, $16,300 ...............70-68-78-71—287 +7Shane Lowry, $16,300..................71-70-75-71—287 +7Chris Kirk, $16,300 .......................71-69-73-74—287 +7Ken Duke, $16,300 .......................75-68-70-74—287 +7Stephen Gallacher, $15,700........75-68-76-69—288 +8Ian Poulter, $15,700 .....................70-71-77-70—288 +8Tommy Gainey, $15,700 ..............69-74-73-72—288 +8Harris English, $15,700 ...............74-69-72-73—288 +8Sergio Garcia, $15,700 ................69-68-75-76—288 +8Ben Curtis, $15,350 ......................73-70-74-72—289 +9Brandt Snedeker, $15,350 ..........70-73-70-76—289 +9Tim Clark, $15,150 .......................69-71-75-75—290 +10Vijay Singh, $15,150 ....................70-72-73-75—290 +10John Senden, $14,950 ..................72-70-73-76—291 +11Brooks Koepka, $14,950 ..............71-72-71-77—291 +11Phil Mickelson, $14,750 ..............71-71-78-72—292 +12Matteo Manassero, $14,750 .......72-69-74-77—292 +12Gary Woodland, $14,600 .............73-70-80-70—293 +13Darren Clarke, $14,500 ................69-73-74-80—296 +16

Results

can’t believe this is hap-pening to me. ... I just decided that I was go-ing to be confident and really put my best foot for-ward and play aggressive and try to win this thing. I wasn’t going to just kind of play scared or soft.

“I’m happy to get the job done. It’s a big step in my career.”

Dufner wasn’t sure he would get another chance after the 2011 PGA Cham-pionship, when he blew a four-shot lead with four holes to play and lost in a playoff to Keegan Bradley. He wasn’t about to let this one get away. Dufner won by playing a brand of golf that matches the bland ex-pression on his face.

It wasn’t exciting. It didn’t need to be.

The turning point at Oak Hill was the final two holes — on the front nine. Dufner made a short birdie on the eighth hole to take a one-shot lead, and Furyk made bogey on the ninth hole to fall two shots behind. Furyk, a 54-hole leader for the

second time in as many years in a major, couldn’t make up any ground with a procession of pars along the back nine. He finally made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 16th, but only af-ter Dufner spun back a wedge to 18 inches for a sure birdie.

Furyk also made bogey on the last two holes, taking two chips to reach the 17th green and coming up short into mangled rough short of the 18th green, where all he could do was hack it onto the green. Furyk closed with a 71 to finish three shots behind.

“I have a lot of respect for him and the way he played today,” Furyk said. “I don’t know if it makes anything easy, or less easy. But I don’t look at it as I lost the golf tournament. I look at it as I got beat by somebody that played bet-ter today.”

Dufner finished at 10-under 270, four shots better than the lowest score in the five previous majors at Oak Hill. Jack Nicklaus won the 1980 PGA Championship at 274.

Henrik Stenson, trying to become the first Swede to win a men’s major title,

pulled within two shots on the 13th hole and was poised to make a run un-til his tee shot settled on a divot hole in the 14th fair-way. He chunked that flip wedge into a bunker and made bogey and closed with a 70 to finish alone in third. In his last three tournaments — two majors and a World Golf Champi-onship — Stenson has two runners-up and a third.

Jonas Blixt, another Swede, also had a 70 and finished fourth. Masters champion Adam Scott never made a serious of move and shot 70 to tie for fifth. Defending champion Rory McIlroy made triple bogey on the fifth hole to lose hope, those he still closed with a 70 and tied for eighth, his first top 10 in a major this year.

Dufner two-putted for bogey on the 18th from about 10 feet and shook hands with Furyk as if he had just completed a busi-ness deal. He hugged his wife, Amanda, and gave her a love tap on the tush with the cameras rolling.

Asked if he had ever been nervous, she replied, “If he has been, he’s never told me.”

That’s what gives Duf-ner is own personality on the PGA Tour. His pulse didn’t appear to be any dif-ferent on the opening tee shot than when he stood on the 18th hole.

“I would say I was pretty flat-lined for most of the day,” he said.

Among the first to greet Dufner was Bradley, who beat him in the PGA play-off at Atlanta and was behind the “Dufnering” craze from earlier this year.

Dufner went to an el-ementary school in Dal-las as part of a charity day as defending champion in the Byron Nelson Clas-sic. A photo showed him slumped against the wall in the classroom next to the children, his eyes glazed over, as the teacher taught them about relax-ation and concentration techniques. The pose was mimicked all over the country, giving Dufner some celebrity for his zom-bie appearance.

Now he’s known for something far more im-portant.

Dufner became the sixth player to win a major with a round of 63.

PGA from 1C

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Jim Furyk couldn’t make up any ground Sunday with a procession of pars along the back nine. He made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 16th and made bogey on the last two holes to close three shots behind Dufner.

By The Associated Press

PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Rory Mc-Ilroy is happy with his golf game after the PGA Championship, and one unfortunate shot won’t change that.

The defending cham-pion tied for eighth, seven strokes behind winner Ja-son Dufner, by far his best showing at a major this year.

In a season without any titles, he gave himself an outside shot at victory with two late birdies Saturday. And as McIlroy stood on the fourth green Sunday, that chance didn’t look so crazy. He had a 4-foot birdie putt that would have moved him to 5 under, but

missed it.Hope wasn’t lost as he

hit his drive on the par-4 fifth hole into the fairway. All it took was one swing of the club for that to change.

McIlroy’s second shot hit the green, but it trick-led back down the slope and onto the rocks. In a hazard, McIlroy had to take a penalty drop, and things didn’t get any bet-ter from there.

His fourth shot from 80 yards sailed over the green. His chip reached only the collar. His putt from 20 feet just missed, and when McIlroy tapped in, he had a triple-bogey 7 and had tumbled back to 1 under.

“I hit a good shot,” he said. “I did exactly what I wanted to do, but it was in the exact wrong place. But everything else feels pretty good.”

KOEPKA’S NEW NEIGHBORHOOD

Brooks Koepka lives down the road from Tiger Woods, though the two don’t usually run into each other on the course.

The 23-year-old Ameri-can chose Europe’s Chal-lenge Tour as his route to golf’s top levels. He earned promotion to the European Tour in June.

With a special exemp-tion from the PGA of America, he teed off in this week’s PGA Championship

and made the cut at a major for the first time in three tries. Grabbing a bite to eat after his third round Satur-day, he saw on TV that Ti-ger Woods was at 4 under, the same score as Koepka. He hoped it stayed that way so the two could play together in the final round.

Sure enough, Koepka got to meet Woods for the first time on the putting green Sunday before they played 18 holes together. Koepka shot a 7-over 77, while Woods had a 70.

NOTEBOOK

McIlroy feels good after tie for 8th place

■ He rebounds from almost missing the cut

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rory McIlroy tied for 8th place by the end of the PGA Champi-onship on Sunday.

★