USPGA: Tiger Woods Satisfied With 2nd Place Finish, Wants Ryder Cup Spot

Tiger Woods was proud of his performance at the USPGA Championships despite coming up just short at the Bellerive Country Club on Sunday. The American had to settle for second place behind winner Brooks Koepka.

The 14-time major winner came with a fine 6-under 64 in the final round of the last major of the year — his best ever final round in his major career — but it was not enough to beat Koepka, who won his second major of the year by two strokes from Woods.

It was the second time in under a month that Woods came close to winning his first major championship since 2008. The Open Championships in July saw the American leading in the final round, but he came up short finishing tied sixth.

Woods admits that he was angry after the Open, because he had the lead — but was proud of his performance in Bellerive, as he did not have the lead, but did everything to try and win. He praised Koepka and admitted that his game over the four days, especially on the final day deserved the win.

"I was pretty ticked at the British Open, but I had the lead there and this one I never quite got to the lead," Woods said on Sunday, as per Sky Sports. "I was always trailing, and it was a golf course on which I couldn't sit still and make pars and be okay with it. I had to keep making birdies. The golf course was soft, it was gettable, I had to go get it and I tried hard.”

"Making that putt at least gave me a chance, but Brooksy is tough to beat when the guy hits it 340 down the middle, that's tough. What he did at Shinnecock, just bombing it, and then he's done same thing here and made a bunch of birdies."

"I played with him in a practice round and he was literally hitting it 340, 350 yards in the air. And when a guy's doing that and hitting it straight and as good a putter as he is, it's tough to beat,” he explained praising Koepka, who won his second major of the year.

Despite missing out, Woods was proud of his performance, and admitted that he would never have believed at the start of the year that he could be in contention to win the last two majors of the year. The former golf world number one returned to action in January this year after spending a major part of the last two years struggling with a back injury.

Apart from just impressing on tour, Woods’ recent performances have put him back into contention for qualifying for the US Ryder Cup team as a player. He was already appointed the vice-captain of the team earlier in the year.

"I didn't know what my schedule would be, how many tournaments I would play this year or if I would even play, so each tournament brought about its own challenges," he added.

"And so at the beginning of the year, if you said I would have a legitimate chance to win the last two major championships? I didn't have a swing at the time, I had no speed and my short game wasn't quite there yet. My putting was okay, but I hadn't played in two years. So it's been a hell of a process for sure."

"I was in contention in the last two majors and would never have foreseen that a year ago, so I'm just so thankful to be here. I'm just very pleased at what I've done so far and now to be part of the Ryder Cup conversation, going from where I've come from to now in the last year, it's been pretty cool."

Woods had to win the final major of the year to have a chance at automatic qualification for the Ryder Cup team ahead of the tournament in September this year. But Koepka’s win confirmed the first eight automatic qualifiers, with the other four of the 12 member team set to be picked by the captain.

Koepka along with Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson make up the eight. Woods’ second placed finish has vaulted him up to 11th in the Ryder Cup rankings, and he revealed that he is keen to be on the team as a player.

"I do want to be on the team as a player. I'm going to be there either way," Woods said after the final round at Bellerive. “Our captain [Jim Furyk] has some decisions to make after the first [FedEx Cup] playoff events, and we'll sit down and give him our input and what we think and who should be on the team, and who can contribute to the team. And hopefully my name will be part of that process."