It was an interesting weekend at the final major of the season with the big names quickly sloping to the bottom of the leaderboard, leaving room at the top for some lesser-talked about players to take full advantage. Jason Dufner, the ultra-laid back American turned internet-sensation seized the lead early on Sunday and never looked back. Cooling capturing the Wanamaker Trophy, at 10-under-par and solidifying the return of the “Dufnering” craze of 2013.
So who is the man that stole the show at this year’s PGA Championship? And what the heck is all this “Dufnering” talk about? A professional golfer since 2000, Dufner has played on both the PGA and National Tours. Sunday marked the 36-year-old’s first major win. A feat he almost conquered at the 2011 PGA Championship in Atlanta, where he let a 5-stroke lead slip away, losing to Keegan Bradley in a playoff.
Until yesterday’s victory Dufner was mostly known for this stunning collapse two years ago and an
awkward pose, captured during a school visit in Dallas, Texas earlier this year that went viral and began the “Dufnering” movement. Sparking numerous copycat poses of the Titleist player and his uncomfortable looking posture. With the likes of
Rory McIlroy and even
Luke Donald getting in on the fun, tweeting their own versions of “Dufnering.”
Dufner handled the sudden surge of interest from one picture with the calmness and easy-going nature he exhibits both on and off the golf course.
“Got some notoriety for maybe something that was probably trying to hurt me a little bit and ran with it and it helped me a lot,” Dufner said after Sunday’s win. “I got a lot of fans because of it and people identified me through it and that was good.”
A good sense of humour and relaxed outlook seem to have gone a long way for the golfer this weekend. On Friday Dufner narrowly missed history, tying the world record of 63 in a major round. His game went from strength to strength as he entered the final round on Sunday one stroke behind leader,
Jim Furyk.
Furyk had an amazing weekend and looked to be in prime position to win his first major in a decade, but a birdie by Dufner on the 5th hole challenged the 43-year-old’s lead and it was not to be his again.
“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 better,” said Furyk afterwards.
As for Dufner, he handled his first major milestone with a soft fist-pump and a barley-there smile. The king of calm remained just that during his biggest professional moment. The reasoning behind it classically summed up by the golfer himself.
“(Other) sports are a little bit more exciting. Big plays in basketball, home runs in baseball, big plays in football that will get you pumped up,” he said. “For me, golf is a little bit more boring. It’s pretty matter of fact. I hit in the fairway or I didn’t; I hit the green or I didn’t. Usually, I’m struggling with the putter, so there’s not too much to get excited about with that.”
