PGA Championship 2021: Why you shouldn’t bet Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas

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FRIDAY MORNING FOUR-BALLS Match 1: Brooks Koepka / Tony Finau, USA, def. Justin Rose / Jon Rahm, Europe, 1-up Holes won: Europe 4, USA 5 Holes led: Europe 14 USA 1 Recap: After trailing for almost the entire match, the Americans stole a pivotal point with a great finish, helped by an incredible bounce. Koepka and Finau were two down with six holes to play and still under pressure when they reached the par-3 16th tee a hole behind. But Finau’s shot, that appeared well short and too far right, caught the wooden bulkhead and bounced up to just 3 feet from the hole. The birdie squared the match and then a pair of pars on the last was enough to steal the match when Rose found water and Rahm trouble in the deep rough. Quotes: “We will take the breaks when we can get them. I knew it needed to get up a little bit. It rose on me a little bit, started to spin. I said get lucky somehow, that’s what I was thinking in my head. Fortunately it did. That was a huge break for us.â€� – Tony Finau “Feels like two (points). They got us down early, which you never really plan on, but you just got to fight and keep fighting.â€� – Brooks Koepka Match 2: Dustin Johnson / Rickie Fowler, USA def. Rory McIlroy / Thorbjorn Olesen, Europe, 4 and 2 Holes won: Europe 1, USA 5 Holes led: Europe 1 USA 7 Recap: After halving the opening seven holes the European side took the lead on the par-3 eighth when neither American could make par. But it was the last bit of joy the home side faced. With Rory McIlroy playing poorly and unable to find a single birdie it was up to rookie Olesen to keep pace. He couldn’t despite some decent play. Fowler made back-to-back birdies around the turn to wrestle the lead and Johnson then stepped up with two of his own to create a big cushion. Johnson sealed the match with a clutch iron to a few feet on the 16th hole. Quotes: “I think the big thing was we tried to both be in as many holes as we could. We just played some solid golf. When one of us was out of the hole, the other picked the guy up. We knew that was going to be needed against Rory and Thorbjørn. They’re great ball-strikers, and knew it was going to be a tough match.â€� – Rickie Fowler “We believe in each other. Our demeanors are pretty similar, especially on the golf course. We practice a lot together. We spend a lot of time together, whether out here this week or even at home. We felt we’d be really good partners, and so far so good.â€� – Dustin Johnson Match 3: Jordan Spieth / Justin Thomas, USA def. Paul Casey / Tyrrell Hatton, Europe, 1-up Holes won: Europe 3, USA 4 Holes led: Europe 0 USA 16 Recap: It appeared the birth of a new super team for the USA after the good friends stormed to a 3-up lead through just seven holes. Spieth’s putter found form and the pair of former FedExCup champions were on fire. But Casey and Hatton refused to roll over and wins on 11, 12 and 13 squared the match. Thomas made his move to reclaim the lead on the 15th hole and they held firm over the difficult closing stretch. Quotes: “It was great. Playing Ryder Cups over here are extremely fun. We were able to feed off each other. We ham-and-egged it extremely well around this golf course. I don’t think we birdied the same hole once. We made a lot of birdies today. What a blast that was.â€� – Jordan Spieth “We’ve talked about this really for so long, so long being all of nine or so years, but it’s cool to finally be here and doing it. We’ve spent time at Ryder Cups together. We’ve played in the Junior Ryder Cup and he’s played in a couple of these now and it’s been my first. There’s not a partner in the world I’d rather have a chance to go out here with.â€� – Justin Thomas Match 4: Francesco Molinari / Tommy Fleetwood, Europe, def. Tiger Woods / Patrick Reed, USA, 3 and 1 Holes won: Europe 7, USA 4 Holes led: Europe 7 USA 3 Recap: The most up and down battle of the morning finished with a European flurry to post their only point of the Four-ball session. Woods and Reed were touted to be a formidable mix but Molinari set a tone with an opening birdie. Through eight holes things were tight and square before Woods took the ninth with birdie and Reed chipped in for birdie on the 10th to go 2-up. And then the European revival took flight. Molinari posted back-to-back birdies to square the match at 11 and 12 before Fleetwood stepped up late. Huge birdie putts on the 15th and 16th holes from the Englishman took control of the match and then just for good measure Molinari made a long one on the 17th to close it out. Quotes: “Just unreal. We had that little tough stretch in the middle of the round, I lost three holes out of four, I think, it’s easy for it to go flat, but the crowds, the home crowds, as soon as Fran holed that putt on 11, things changed straightaway. And the crowd carried us through it all the way. There is nothing like it. And that’s just my first morning experience. Guys have done this 10 times. There is nothing like it, and I can’t wait to get out and do it again.â€� – Tommy Fleetwood “I love him. What can I say? I love him. We both played really well. We had a couple of moments where we had to dig in, but we both stayed positive.â€� – Francesco Molinari

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