Woodland secures Major #1

The U.S. Open has had its fair share of talking points in recent years but the 2019 tournament was quite simply about the quality of golf on show.

With both Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy nicely placed going into the final round at Pebble Beach, there was much hope for a British winner come Sunday morning. Unfortunately, a closing 74 (three-over-par) left Rose in T3 for the week, whilst McIlroy mixed two double-bogeys with three bogeys and six birdies – par golf is clearly overrated – for a closing 71 and a T9 finish.

Not even serial Major winner Brooks Koepka could do anything about Gary Woodland’s brilliance over the four days in California, with the world’s best golfer having to settle for second place – bringing his stranglehold of the U.S. Open to an end.

Down the stretch

Questions were being asked of Woodland from all directions on Sunday but the American had all the answers needed. After Rose birdied the first hole to wrestle the outright lead away from him, Woodland replied with birdies at both the 2nd and 3rd to give himself some much-needed breathing space. At the same time, Koepka was going on an early charge with four birdies in his first five holes to close the gap to just one shot...

The winning moment

Then came the three shots that won Woodland the U.S. Open. Standing on the 14th fairway with 263 yards (uphill) left to the pin, Woodland’s caddie handed him his 3-wood and told him to go for it. The result? A magnificent shot (which you can see in our Video of the Week below) that finished just left of the flag/green and extended his one-shot advantage to two.

Fast forward to the par-3 17th and Woodland bailed out to the front right of the green. Yes, a green in regulation, but one that the required the American to hit a beautiful spinning chip from one side of the green to the other, to within a matter of inches, to set up his par. And then his final moment: a 30-foot birdie putt that dropped into the centre of the hole at the last (he had three for it) to round off a scintillating week and his first Major title.

Records tumble at Pebble Beach

Although Woodland will capture all the headlines from Pebble Beach – and rightly so – there were two other records that were broken on Sunday afternoon.

First of all, Brooks Koepka – yes, that name again – became the first golfer in U.S. Open history to card four sub-70 rounds and not go on to lift the trophy at the end. In addition, Viktor Hovland won the lowest Amateur honour at Pebble with a four-round total of 280, which is the lowest score ever recorded by an amateur in U.S. Open history.

Having reached the number one spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Hovland is turning professional this week and is a name that will certainly be popping up in future years.