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This is pure reaction, written minutes after Keegan Bradley's playoff win over Jason Dufner at the PGA Championship. Here goes.

First, so what if Tiger Woods missed the cut? Whoops, sorry. I thought I'd get away with writing this without mentioning the man formerly known as "the man who dominated golf." But the question makes sense. The PGA Championship's last round was the most exciting tournament in, well, I don't know how long. I mean, I was anxious as the contenders were crashing and burning and making birdies, bogeys, double-bogeys and triples down the murderous final four holes at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

"Glory's last shot?" as the PGA Championship has for its theme. How about "Gory's last shot?"

Consider what was going on. Dufner with the fat grip on his putter that he put into play for the tournament. Bradley with his belly putter. Dufner's face betraying no emotion. Bradley emoting all over the place. Dufner has a four-shot lead with four holes to go and bogeys the 15th, 16th and 17th before parring the last. Keegan chips into the water on the par-three 15th - yes, chips - and triple-bogeys the punishing hole. He birdies the 16th and 17th, and pars the last hole ahead of Dufner. They both make terrific two-putts from long range on the final hole.

To the playoff. Dufner rips his drive 285 yards down the centre line. He's trying to make the PGA Championship his first win on the PGA Tour, and he's 34 years old. Twenty years ago another golfer with the initials JD made the PGA his first win. That would be John Daly. Meanwhile, Bradley has won this year after qualifying for the PGA Tour based on his 14th place finish on the 2010 Nationwide Tour's money list, and he's 25 years old. He nails his drive past Dufner.

The tweets are coming fast and furious from my colleagues on the scene. Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press: "Now we find out what Dufner's pulse really is." Sports Illustrated's Alan Shipnuck: "There's nothing artful about AAC or the finish it's producing, but you can't deny this is insanely exciting."

I can read their excitement. The PGA has come alive. The course has way too much water, but the water hazards are creating the hyped-up atmosphere and the stomach flutters. Many people don't think much of the PGA Championship as a major, but the players sure do, and that's what matters. And CBS's announcers don't get their minds all twisted over regular PGA Tour events.

Nick Faldo was so tongue-tied that he said after Dufner three-putted 17 for bogey, "You just can't believe that Keegan and Bradley make a six and a five," referring to Bradley making a six on the par-three 15th and meaning to refer to Dufner making a five on the 16th. Understandable. This was major championship announcing pressure, although Faldo and Jim Nantz had plenty of time to think about what they wanted to say, given the endless and bang your head against the wall in frustration commercial breaks.

Back to the playoff. Dufner's second is right at the hole and looks for a moment as if it could go in. The ball rolls past the right edge to about six feet. Great stuff. Bradley stuffs his approach inside Dufner's. Greater stuff. Dufner misses. Bradley makes. He's a shot ahead in the three-hole playoff, aggregate score to win.

Bradley makes three on the par-three 17th hole that's across water. Dufner hits his tee shot on the green, right of Bradley's, but runs his putt 12-feet by the hole. Bogey. He's two behind with the demonic, par-four 18th ahead. Bradley hits a perfect tee shot. Dufner hits a perfect tee shot, a few yards past Bradley's.

The second shot is all over water. Anything can happen. Bradley, up first, hits his second left of the hole and probably a bit closer to the water than he intended. But it's the right distance, it carries the water easily and finishes about 15-feet left of the hole. Dufner hits his second just outside Bradley's. He holes his birdie putt, and good for him. Bradley has two putts to win, and rolls his first putt just past the hole. In. Win, in his rookie PGA Tour season, in his first major. His dad's a PGA pro. Win-win.

Riveting stuff. What a way to end the season's majors. Tiger-less, but with a tiger and a roar and two golfers everybody will know, and watch. One young lion, a new major champion. One veteran, making mistakes down the stretch but showing plenty of guts.

You tell me: How can this be anything but good for the game?

ALSO FROM LORNE RUBENSTEIN:

Dufner tougher mentally than many think

Tiger's not out of the woods just yet

Ernie Els not finding it 'Easy' these days

Memorable par threes more than intimidating

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Lorne Rubenstein has written a golf column for The Globe and Mail since 1980. He has played golf since the early 1960s and was the Royal Canadian Golf Association's first curator of its museum and library at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario and the first editor of Score, Canada's Golf Magazine, where he continues to write a column and features. He has won four first-place awards from the Golf Writers Association of America, one National Magazine Award in Canada, and, most recently, he won the award for the best feature in 2009 from the Golf Journalists Association of Canada. Lorne has written 11 books, including The Natural Golf Swing, with George Knudson (1988); Links: An Insider's Tour Through the World of Golf (1990); The Swing, with Nick Price (1997); The Fundamentals of Hogan, with David Leadbetter (2000); A Season in Dornoch: Golf and Life in the Scottish Highlands (2001); Mike Weir: The Road to the Masters (2003); A Disorderly Compendium of Golf, with Jeff Neuman (2006); and his latest, This Round's on Me (2009). He is a member of the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Lorne can be reached at rube@sympatico.ca . You can now follow him on Twitter @lornerubenstein

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