US Open final scoreboard http://espn.go.com/golf/leaderboard?tour=pga
Let me be clear... Jordan Spieth deserved to win this 115th US Open, he went out and shot 69, -5, and he did have a putt for eagle at 18, made birdie, he played like the champion he is.. twice over, all ready this year heading into St.Andrews..and he's only 21...
However as is the case with Stewart Cink, Jack Nicklaus, Paul Lawrie and Lew Worsham just to name a few, he along with them won't be remembered so much as the winners as much as how they won..when someone else lost.
Dustin Johnson lost this tournament, he was so good, so powerful, so in charge especially after a brilliant tee shot into the deadly par 3 17th for birdie, then a 346 yard bomb of a drive dead center onto a fairway at 18 so narrow in spots, Lee Trevino used to say you have to walk down it in single file, then a 5 iron with ease from 245, to 12 feet, but above the hole.
They were 2 of the greatest shots under pressure with a major on the line in golf history. He barely touched the downhill 12 footer, and was unlucky to see it roll past 4 feet and of course then the shocker, the gut wrencher, the unbelievable as he missed the hole on the high side and missed another chance to win his first major, leaving Spieth the winner..
Stunning, but sadly not unprecedented..
2009 at Turnberry 59 year old Tom Watson turned back the clock and was poised to make history as the oldest man to win the Open at a course a loves, where he won the duel in the sun against Jack in 1977, the second of his five Open's..He hit a perfect drive on the 72nd hole and a beautiful 8 iron right into the green, but it took a very hard bounce and rolled over and up against the fringe. He chose to putt it up the slope, left it short and then the gut wrencher.. he missed the 4 footer !
Cink beat him in the 4 hole playoff, but Tom lost it..
1970 at St Andrews Doug Sanders stood over a 3 foot putt for the Open on the famous 18th. He took forever to hit the putt, then inexplicably, bent over to pick up a blade of grass in his line then went right back into his crouch, then the gut wrencher... he pushed it right and almost raked it back to try again..
Jack beat him in the 18 hole playoff.. but Doug lost it..(and never won a major)..
2009 at Carnoustie, Jean Van de Velde just needed a bogey six on the final hole to win the Open. You remember the melt down don't you. He tries to go for the green over the winding Barry burn and hits it off the stands back into the rough, then chunks it into the burn, off with the shoes and socks, into the burn, takes an unplayable, drops in the rough, hits into the greenside bunker and got up and down for a seven !!
Paul Lawrie won in the 4 hole playoff which also included Justin Leonard.. but Van de Velde lost it..(have you heard of him at all recently)
In 1947 in St Louis Sam Snead had a 29" putt to win the US Open. Before he could hit the putt Lew Worsham called in the referee to see if he or Sam was away. The referee, ruled it was Snead, but with his rhythm disrupted and his temper boiling, he missed the gimme then lost in the playoff..
Lew won US Open.. but Sam lost it.... ( and never won it)
There are many others, Tony Jacklin can tell you about Lee Trevino seemingly out of it, chipping in hard off the flagstick in 1972 at the 17th at Muirfield for birdie, leaving Jacklin stunned, and he then missed a 3 footer for par, a two shot swing that he couldn't recover from.
What about Greg Norman in 1989 at Royal Troon with the wild 4 iron into the stands or the meltdown in 1996 at the Masters, or Adam Scott with a 4 shot lead in 2012 at Royal Lytham and St Annes.... Or how could we forget Phil Mickelson in the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot...Mark Calcavecchia, Nick Faldo, Ernie Els and Geoff Ogilvy were the respective winners in those cases, but we only remember the losers..
So after a riveting week on a Chambers Bay course that like it or hate it, made must see TV, and a shocking finish, Dustin Johnson is home with his wife Pauline and baby Taylor when he needs them most, and when the pain eases and life goes on I think he'll take little solace that he is not alone..but he should.. that's golf..
Bryan
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