San Francisco (AFP)

Golf found a new star on Sunday in PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa, first Grand Slam of the season, aged 23 as Tiger Woods, for his very first appearance, just a year after his professional debut. .

We wish Morikawa to experience the same sporting success as the "Tiger" over time (15 Major titles), while waiting it could well be that an "eagle" has taken flight on the Harding Park course, in reference to his fantastic successful fairway eagle on the 16th hole, which will be remembered forever.

"I was just hoping for a really good bounce, I got it. And now I'm here," said the Los Angeles native, who was educated across the San Francisco Bay Area to his cloud. Berkeley.

This shot, which bears the stamp of the great, aroused the admiration of his runner-up of the day, the Englishman Paul Casey. "We just have to bow and take our hat off in these cases," he commented on the NBC microphone.

In just fourteen months, three of which are to be withdrawn given the forced interruption of the circuit due to the coronavirus, Morikawa's talent has shown itself to be as urgent as it is precocious.

To continue the comparison with Woods, who finished in 37th place, Morikawa passed the cut in his first 22 tournaments on the circuit, approaching the record in the matter of his elder (25).

- "The dream of my life" -

He also won the Barracuda Championship at the end of July 2019 and the Workday Charity Open a month ago. And here he is, again with Woods, now in the very closed club of the winners of the PGA Championship at only 23 years old, in the company of the legendary Jack Nicklaus and Rory McIlroy.

"It's the dream of my life. As a kid, I watched all these players, and I knew this is what I wanted to do. Amateur golfer, then junior, I turned professional last year, and there it is the loop in San Francisco, almost my second home where I spent the last four years of my life, it's pretty incredible, "he was amazed.

Sunday, Morikawa finished stronger than his many competitors - there were six of them sharing the lead after the tenth hole -, pulling drives with devilish precision validated by cold-blooded putts for four birdies.

Until this eagle which completed its perfect 4th round, in this PGA Championship which was the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, played for the first time behind closed doors.

In the end, the world number 12, who should make a significant jump in the standings, returned a last card of 64, or 6 strokes below par, winning with a total of 267 (-13).

- Koepka cracks -

He is two moves ahead of a duo composed of Paul Casey and Dustin Johnson, a regular in the honor ranks in this tournament, since it was also his result last year behind Brooks Koepka. Leader the day before, the American once again did not go the distance.

They are five to share behind 4th place three strokes behind Morikawa: the Americans Bryson DeChambeau, Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler, Matthew Wolff and the Australian Jason Day. And everyone believed at one point that it was their time on Sunday.

Unlike Koepka, who was seeking yet a third consecutive coronation and finally collapsed where we imagined seeing him on the contrary finish strong, he who has become used to it in recent years in Majors. He committed six bogeys (2 birdies) to return a card of 74, finishing in 29th place (-3), just ahead of McIlroy (33rd).

On the French side, without making any noise, Victor Perez will have been the most consistent by ranking in a nice 22nd place (-2). Mike Lorenzo-Vera, so brilliant 2nd Thursday and Friday, cracked him by committing six bogeys on Sunday to finish 43 (+4).

Finally, a little higher, in 37th place, is Tiger Woods who saved the honor by making a success of his best card (67), to finish under par (-1).

For him as for Koepka, the next big meeting is fixed in a little over a month with the US Open, in Mamaroneck (New York).

Be careful, an eagle could land there.

© 2020 AFP