Hazeltine's major boasts two record-setting holes

No major championship venue this year had a tougher par-4 or par-3 than a couple of record-setting back-to-back holes that Hazeltine National had set up for the 91st PGA Championship.

The par-4 12th hole played to a 4.502 stroke average, while the par-3 13th played to a 3.308 average. The 12th hole was listed at a PGA Championship record 518 yards, but it played between 501 yards and the 515 it played on Sunday. The 13th hole was listed at a PGA Championship record 248 yards but played much shorter except for Sunday, when it played 240 yards.

The 12th hole played as the toughest hole of the tournament and had the most bogeys (190) and double bogeys (29) of any hole. The 13th hole was the third-toughest of the week. It was second in double bogeys (25) and was third in bogeys (123) behind the 12th and 18th (127).

Overall, of the four majors, Y.E. Yang's winning score of 8 under was the second-lowest behind Angel Cabrera's 12 under at the Masters. Lucas Glover won the U.S. Open at 4 under, and Stewart Cink's 2 under won the British Open.

Tiger Woods didn't play in last year's PGA Championship because he was recovering from knee surgery. CBS' third-round coverage had a 1.0 rating and a 2.0 share. This year's third-round coverage had a 4.9 rating and a 13 share. That's a 390 percent increase.

Last year's coverage also went up against the Olympics and had rain delays.

Tournament officials scanned about 35,000 tickets for Tuesday's practice round and about 36,000 for Thursday's opening round. More than 40,000 tickets a day were scanned starting Friday.

Rich Beem walked off the 18th green Sunday to a robust ovation, ending his PGA Championship on a warm note. But his game wasn't nearly as hot, leaving the 2002 PGA Championship winner a bit wistful as he wrapped up his return to Hazeltine National.

Beem shot a 72 in the final round after shooting a 76 Friday and a 75 Saturday. He finished the tournament at 6 over par, 16 strokes higher than his 10-under 278 that beat Tiger Woods by one stroke in 2002. "I'm proud of the way I handled myself this week,'' Beem said. "It's a big golf course out there, and with the wind blowing like that, it was tough."

Beem said thanks one last time to the Minnesotans who seem to have adopted him as one of their favorite golfers.

"From Day 1, it was fantastic,'' he said. "The crowds were unbelievably huge again. It's been great.''

Five players shot Sunday's low round of 70: Champion Yang, Dustin Johnson, John Merrick, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy.

Westwood and McIlroy tied for third at 3 under. For McIlroy, the top-three finish came to him as a 20-year-old in his PGA Championship debut.

"This is a great result for me,'' McIlroy said. "I was very satisfied with the way I played all week. I felt I could do well on this course. It's a big, long course, which suits me, and I felt comfortable ever since I got here. After the way I started, I'm really happy with the 70. This gives me a lot of momentum going into next year.''

Under normal circumstances, Phil Mickelson starting the final round of a major with an eagle at the par-4 first hole would have been a big deal.

"I had 205 yards, hit a 5-iron right through the wind," Mickelson said. "It landed 6, 8 feet short of the hole. Went in. I couldn't believe that thing went in. It was fun to see."

Mickelson started the day 8 over and finished 12 over after shooting 41 on the back nine and 76 for the day. He doubled the par-4 16th and bogeyed both par-5s on the back.

Again, his putter was AWOL. "I haven't putted the best for a little while now," Mickelson said. "It's going to take a little more than overnight [to fix]. But I at least feel like I have a little bit better direction."

Mickelson, the No. 2 player in the world, played with 17-year-old Ryo Ishikawa, the youngest player in PGA Championship history. From a media standpoint, Ishikawa was the more popular of the two, with several Japanese reporters and photographers following his every step.

"I've come to expect it with Ryo," Mickelson said. "He's a wonderful player and obviously very popular in Japan. And he handles throngs of people around him all the time. He does a great job. He's a classy guy."

Mickelson said he thinks Ishikawa, who shot 72 Sunday to finish 8 over, could become one of the next great golfers in the world. "He's winning a lot in Japan, and he's a tremendous player," Mickelson said. "He has a lot of shots. I would certainly think so. And he's so young, too."

• This was the final major of the 2000s. Padraig Harrington won three majors. They were the only majors won by a European this decade.

• Vijay Singh, who was tied for second through 36 holes, tried something unconventional in hopes of curing his putting woes Sunday. Instead of keeping his head down through the stroke, he kept his eyes on the hole throughout his entire stroke. He still shot 73 and finished tied for 16th at 1 over.

• Greg Bisconti, the assistant pro at the St. Andrew's Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., was the low club pro. He shot 76 Sunday and finished 13 over. Grant Sturgeon, assistant pro at Oakmont Country Club, was the other club pro to make the cut. He shot 79 and finished 15 over.

Staff writers Rachel Blount and Patrick Reusse contributed to this notebook.