PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Most major champions are happy to bring back a check, a gleaming trophy and great memories from their breakthrough wins.
Just-crowned PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner went one better.
His wife, Amanda, said her husband had a feeling he'd do well at the tough Oak Hill course. So, in the middle of the second round Friday, he walked over to the gallery ropes and handed over a couple of acorns he'd picked up. The plan was to plant them on a 50-acre site near Auburn, Ala., where the couple is building a home.
Amanda conceded neither she nor her husband are gardeners. So to be sure, the Dufners also spoke with the club's general manager and arranged to have a sapling from Oak Hill shipped to the new homesite as well.
"So at least that one will take root," Dufner laughed. "I will have some trees out there, and it will be a neat experience — first major championship at Oak Hill and hopefully, have some of their oak trees out there on the property."
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After a blazing start set him up for his first major title — in the same tournament where he so crushingly lost a big lead two years ago — Dufner calmly strolled through the back nine at Oak Hill Country Club as if none of that mattered.
This is Dufner's personality at any tournament, but keeping it intact while he nursed a two-shot lead to his breakthrough triumph came with an impressive degree of difficulty. He never cracked a smile until he hugged his wife on the 18th green.
The closest he came to a show of emotion was slapping his thigh when his birdie putt on No. 12 failed to break and rolled just right of the hole. Still, he was avoiding the kind of trouble that might have conjured up troubling memories until 17, when a three-putt broke his streak of 26 holes without a bogey, but by then, his nearest chasers had lost all their momentum as well.
It all made it look like the 36-year-old Dufner was sharing a friendly round of golf on an average Sunday, instead of crafting a victory. His first major victory.
