Dufner-ing has new major meaning
Jason Dufner took an internet insult and made it work for him just as he used a golf setback two years ago to help win a major title on Sunday.
The 36-year-old American with the laid-back style and emotionless manner around the golf course won the 95th PGA Championship at Oak Hill, holding off Jim Furyk over the final holes to claim his first major title.
Dufner won two years after squandering a four-shot lead with four holes to play in the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. After that defeat, he won his first US PGA titles last year at New Orleans and the Byron Nelson Championship.
But this year, Dufner became an internet sensation after a picture of him seated in a relaxed position with an emotionless stare became a web site with the tagline “Dufner-ing.”
But what had been used to poke fun at Dufner turned into a following, with fellow golfers and fans sending their own “Dufner-ing” images over the Internet.
“Got some notoriety for maybe something that was probably taken trying to hurt me a little bit and ran with it and it helped a lot,” Dufner said.
“I got a lot of fans because of it and people identified me through it and that was good.”
So Dufner wasn’t totally surprised to see a trio of fans wearing “Duf’s Dips” T-shirts come over from Canada to cheer him on to victory.
“They will have to pay their own expenses,” Dufner said. “Pretty expensive to travel out here too. Great for them to come out and support me. Added a little bit to the excitement I guess. They were pretty jacked.’
Dufner vows that winning a coveted major title will not make him a different person, although it will ensure he plays at major golf tournaments for a while.
“It’s definitely going to change my life, but I’m determined that it’s not going to change me,” Dufner said.
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