Brooks Koepka held off dramatic challenges from Tiger Woods and Adam Scott in a thrilling back-nine battle Sunday to win the 100th PGA Championship.
The 28-year-old two-time US Open champion sealed his third major title by firing a four-under-par 66 to finish 72 holes on 16-under 264, edging Woods by two strokes at Bellerive Country Club with Australia’s Scott another shot adrift.
“To do this is truly incredible,” Koepka said.
As Woods electrified spectators by displaying the form that made him a 14-time major champion, American rival Koepka stayed calm and persevered under intense pressure to claim the Wanamaker Trophy and a top prize of $1.98 million.
_______________
Read more:
Brooks Koepka 'extremely confident' even as Tiger Woods in US PGA Championship contention
Second US Open title means Brooks Koepka cannot be 'overlooked' now
_______________
“I heard all the roars when Tiger made his run,” Koepka said. “It was fun. It made it enjoyable.
“It’s my focus. For some reason the majors get my attention. When you’re firing at flags you have to be calm and focus on every shot.”
Deadlocked for the lead with Scott – who began the back nine with three birdies in four holes – and only one stroke ahead of Woods, Koepka sank a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-4 15th and a six-foot birdie putt at the par-3 16th then parred the last two holes to secure the victory.
“I missed putts on 14 and 15 and Brooks didn’t and my momentum was gone,” Scott said. “I’m definitely playing better and in the right direction and that’s a positive.”
Woods, who hasn’t won a major title since the 2008 US Open and hasn’t won any title in five years, proved he is a legitimate major title contender once again at age 42 with an epic 64 which he concluded with a 20-foot birdie putt at 18, the crowd roaring as he walked off.
“These fans were so positive all week,” Woods said. “I can’t thank them enough for what they were saying out there and what it meant to me coming back trying to win a major championship again.”
Koepka, who defended his US Open crown in June at Shinnecock, became only the fifth player to win the US Open and PGA Championship in the same year, joining Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan.
And it came in a season where he missed the Masters with a left wrist injury.
“Going from that to even being able to play this year to this, it’s absolutely mind blowing,” Koepka said.
In his eighth month of a comeback season after spinal fusion surgery and years of back injuries, Woods grinded out four birdies against a lone bogey on both the front and back nines but could never draw level with Koepka, settling for his seventh career major runner-up finish.
“I played hard,” Woods said. “Bit of a struggle with my game. I was hanging in there, grinding it out trying to make as many birdies as possible.”
Crowds cheered the veteran through a thrilling round that saw him miss every front-nine fairway but take only 10 putts, scrambling from dirt, trees and bunkers to stay in the hunt.
“It was a struggle until I found a little bit of something on the back nine,” Woods said. “I was hanging in there with my mind and it got me through.”
Woods, who said he wants to be chosen as a captain’s pick for the US Ryder Cup team, was pleased he was able to contend at the PGA and lead in the last round of last month’s British Open.
“I would never have foreseen that a year ago,” Woods said.
The impact was dramatic for rivals as well.
“The roars were pretty unbelievable,” second-ranked 2017 PGA winner Justin Thomas said. “Any birdie he made everyone went nuts. This was the first real Tiger effect I’ve experienced with that many people.”
Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, missed a short birdie putt at the par-5 17th and made bogey 18 to finish third but was pleased with his overall effort.
“I was feeling really good out there, especially as he back nine got going,” Scott said. “I didn’t play the last two holes very well.”
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
