Dufner's Redemption

Two years ago, Jason Dufner stood on the 15th tee in the final round at Atlanta Athletic Club with a five-shot lead and more than just a hand on the Wanamaker Trophy. Indeed, such was his stranglehold on the tournament that the weighty piece of silverware was all but in his grasp. The US PGA Championship might not be the most glamorous of the majors but regardless: the cauldron of major championship pressure does strange things to a man seeking his first, and Dufner crumbled. Three bogeys, combined with a couple of moments of brilliance from Keegan Bradley, and he had lost his lead. Bradley would go on to win on the second play-off hole.

Fast forward two years at Oak Hill Country Club and nothing got any easier for Dufner in his bid to bury any pervading Atlanta demons – but bury them he did, with a pure shot-making display to win the 95th edition of the championship by two strokes from Jim Furyk. His maiden major championship accomplishment, however, wasn’t built on ball-striking alone. Heart and belief played just as an important role.

While post-championship attention has focused intently on Dufner slowly suffocating the field by hitting fairway after fairway and green after green down the stretch, it’s easy to forget that he also one-putted seven consecutive holes through the middle of the round, taking a mere eleven in total on the front nine, to quickly erase the slender lead Furyk had taken into the final round.

Throughout his final round 68, the Dufner’s demeanour never wavered, as we’ve come to expect. A thigh slap after shaving the hole for birdie on the 12th might have made the top-10 in his career ‘shows of emotion’.

We know it’s in there, the drive and competitive spirit. He’s not as unflappable as he seems but at age 36, he does a great job in controlling his emotions and not letting it affect him for too long when – on those rare circumstances – it does bubble to the surface. A wedge flipped into the creek fronting the fourth green at Merion during the second round of the US Open was a rare anomaly, although he recovered quickly and went on to tie for fourth behind Justin Rose.

"I come across as a pretty cool customer I guess, but there are definitely some nerves out there, especially when you're trying to win a major championship," Dufner would say once the Wanamaker battle was won.