What he said: Quotes from PGA Championship final round

Rory McIlroy (A stunning fourth major win after being tested to the limit)

“I didn’t think in my wildest dreams I’d have a summer like this.

“I’ve played the golf of my life. I showed a lot of guts out there to get the job done.

“I didn’t get off to the best of starts, and the guys came at me pretty quickly and I just couldn’t really get anything going.

“So I needed to sort of stay patient and just sort of bide my time and wait for something to click, something to happen and that something happened on the 10th hole.

“To make eagle there was a big turning point in the tournament, and from there, I kicked on and played some great golf down the stretch.

“Felt like I could have made a couple more birdies to be honest with you, but did what I needed to do, and you know, as I said, I think last night, sitting here, this thing sitting next to me, it’s a pretty good feeling.”

Phil Mickelson (Pleased to be back in contention)

“Well, it’s good for me to get back in the thick of it; to get back in contention, to compete in big tournaments. And it’s just fun. It’s just fun.

“But I know that regardless of how I played this week, I know that I’ve got to address some things these next three or four months, and I think that the next four or five years, I really want to make special, and then we’ll see.

“I feel like I’m a lot closer to great play than what this year showed, and this is just a little glimpse of what I feel I can do and I’ll see if I can work on it some more.”

Rickie Fowler (Proud of a great major season)

“Obviously Rory played great this week, and he’s been a deserving champion last three tournaments.

“He’s playing quite good right now. Best player in the world, hands down. We’ll see if we can sneak one away from him at some point.

“I really felt like I could win this one. Disappointed to come up short, but like I said to look back on the full year and all four majors, definitely something to be proud of.”

Henrik Stenson (So near but yet so far once more)

“I’m not too unhappy. I gave it my best and was fighting all the way to the end

I just went out and played my game, got off to a hot start. I just needed to keep it going in the middle of the back nine.

“I’m really happy with my performance. Theres’ a lot of golf coming up and ill get my chances, don’t worry.”

Ernie Els (Threatened something special but had too much to do)

“It could have been something real special. I’m still quite pleased with that, you know, from what I have been all season long – not really on my game.

“But I feel that my clubs, the Adams clubs, we really got dialed in now. The putter feels good.

“Still felt that my game was in such great shape that I could get to 14. That meant that I needed to make five birdies in ten holes, which I felt was really on.

“I fell short and a bogey on 17 obviously hurt a little bit. I was trying to get to 14 to have half a chance.

“Just after the rain came, almost the whole golf course was underwater, especially the fairways. The greens, they did a hell of a job. I thought the greens were great.

“Obviously the fairways were very, very wet. As we kept playing, it obviously was drying up a little bit.

“The course was as gettable as you can get ever. This is a great course, great spectator course, but for a major, this was as gettable as you are going to get.”

Jimmy Walker (Another good major showing ahead of Ryder Cup debut)

“The round was good. Ernie and I, we started feeding off each other, hitting good shots, kind of playing top this and top that. We got a nice little roll going.

“My finish was strong. That little hiccup on 10, going for the green in 2, but all in all, it was a good day. Struck it well and made a few putts.

“It was pretty wet out there. Walking up 18, I was really surprised about how dry it was. Didn’t have any mud balls. The golf course played soft, was able to hit some good shots.”

Jim Furyk (An impressive 66 for the American veteran)

“On this golf course, stereotypically this isn’t a golf course you would pick for a short ball hitter. It’s a bomber’s paradise.

“The layout sets up for the guys that can really move it. The setup early in the week, set up for the guys that can really move it. Then the rain just kind of added a nice exclamation point on it.

“You look at the guys up there high in the lead, most of them are really long hitters. I really felt I got a lot out of my game this week.

“I thought I was real patient. For as long as a golf course played, I feel like I played a pretty good darn tournament.”

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