Per week that started with Phil Mickelson talking with out saying hardly something ended with Matt Fitzpatrick at a momentary loss for phrases in his proudest second.
The US Open was extra that simply a diversion from the disruption in golf.
It introduced that means to the sport.
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“No words,” Fitzpatrick stated moments after a shot that may turn out to be half of US Open lore. He hit 9-iron from behind a lip in a fairway bunker on the 18th gap at Brookline that settled 18 ft behind the pin and led to his one-shot victory.
“It’s what you grow up dreaming of,” he stated. “It’s something I’ve worked at so hard for such a long time. First win in America, and to do it in a major, there’s nothing better.”
Certain, there have been a few cash matters talked about on Sunday. Fitzpatrick received the US Newbie at The County Membership in 2013, which got here with a gold trophy and a probability to play in three majors. This title introduced $US3.15 million from the most important purse in US Open historical past.
Scottie Scheffler, the Masters champion and No.1 participant in the world, completed second with Will Zalatoris and earned greater than $US1.5 million. That allowed Scheffler to set a single-season PGA Tour report at practically $US12.9 million, simply breaking the mark Jordan Spieth set in 2015 – and there is nonetheless two full months to go.
Charl Schwartzel received $US4.75 million a week earlier competing in the Saudi-funded LIV Golf sequence. It was 54 holes with no minimize, a 48-man discipline that featured solely 4 gamers from the highest 50 in the world rating.
Nobody will ever mistake that for the hardest take a look at in golf.
It took till the opening spherical of the US Open for the eye to shift away from Greg Norman’s cash seize and put it again on the very best stage of competitors. However it was well worth the wait. This U.S. Open delivered in so some ways.
The Nation Membership, internet hosting its fourth US Open and its first since 1988, produced a really perfect take a look at to establish the week’s finest participant. There was sufficient size on the par 4s, a par 3 that adjusted for elevation performed underneath 100 yards and greens that solely held the perfect pictures.
It was the fourth straight 12 months there was a first-time main champion on the US Open, although Fitzpatrick was hardly a shock. He knew Brookline in addition to anybody from having made it by six matches to win the U.S. Newbie, and this was his fourth top-10 end in his final 5 tournaments. He was in the ultimate group at his second straight main.
The contenders featured 4 of the highest seven gamers in the world on the weekend. It additionally had three gamers in the highest closing high 10 who needed to get by 36-hole qualifying simply to get to the US Open. One of them was Denny McCarthy, who made the minimize on the quantity and a 68-68 weekend moved him all the best way into a tie for seventh.
And this was one week after Rory McIlroy received the Canadian Open, golf’s fourth-oldest nationwide open, in a tense duel with Justin Thomas.
LIV Golf and its theme of being a “force for good” will return. The one factor swirling greater than the wind over the weekend have been extra rumours about which gamers would be the newest to attempt to money in.
Solely 4 gamers who had been in the primary LIV occasion made the minimize from the 17 on the US Open. The very best end got here from Dustin Johnson, who birdied two of his final three holes to tie for twenty fourth.
Bryson DeChambeau wasn’t in London — he signed up with the LIV Golf the weekend earlier than the U.S. Open and will probably be exterior of Portland, Oregon, on the finish of the month. He completed his closing spherical earlier than the leaders teed off and had three birdies in his weekend rounds of 76-75.
As for Mickelson? He did not even make it to the weekend. To not fear. His subsequent event in the LIV sequence would not have a minimize, simply a lot of cash and little relevance.
Fitzpatrick, in the meantime, was wanting ahead to a while away from golf to decompress and wrap his head across the notion he is a main champion, the third from England in the final decade, becoming a member of Danny Willett (2016 Masters) and Justin Rose (2013 U.S. Open).
He’s No. 10 in the world, a profession excessive, and might lastly have fun a victory in America. Zalatoris suffered one other shut name – his third runner-up end in the final seven majors – whereas Scheffler has a Masters inexperienced jacket and a US Open silver medal. It has been a fairly good 12 months.
They meet up once more in a month at St. Andrews for the British Open, the a hundred and fiftieth staging of the game’s oldest championship on the dwelling of golf.
It will probably’t get right here quickly sufficient.
“You’ve imagined being in this situation you’re entire life, and now I’ve basically been in it three times in a major,” Zalatoris stated. “That’s why you play the game. There’s nothing like it.”
