2010 U.S. Open Wrap Up, Vol. 1

McDowell contemplates his second on the 8th (click to enlarge)

What a tremendously strange day. So many elite players and yet Pebble just couldn't be taken. I have my theories, but we'll get to that later on this week. Let's enjoy a classy win by a classy guy.

Doug Ferguson's lede:

"In a U.S. Open with golf’s biggest stars on the leaderboard, it was Graeme McDowell who played like one. 

 Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail:

Graeme McDowell grew up playing golf on one of the world's best courses in Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. On a wild and wonderful afternoon over another equally cherished links in Pebble Beach, the 30-year-old Ulsterman ended Britain's  40-year wait for a winner of the United States Open.

The Belfast Telegraph game story.

Oliver Brown in the UK Telegraph:

"Seven American presidents have come and gone since Europe last had a US Open winner, but Graeme McDowell paid no heed to the burden of history in claiming his first major title with a superbly controlled taming of Pebble Beach.
 
McDowell was so relaxed as he strode up the 18th fairway that he joked with television cameramen on the way.
 
He might as well have had his first pint of Guinness there and then, so sure was he in finishing off the par five that ended Europe’s 40-year drought at America’s national championship and sealed victory over France’s Gregory Havret by one stroke.

McDowell's putt from off the 14th green led to a bogey. (click to enlarge)Karl MacGinty says the reviled 14th was the turning point for McDowell.

The Portrush man held his nerve on 14 to emerge with a bogey six when it could have been so much worse as it was for Johnson whose three shot lead disappeared in minutes at the beginning of the round.
 
The American - who has won twice here - duffed a couple of chips to drop three shots on the par four second and then compounded that by losing his ball on a drive at the third to drop two more shots.
 
In contrast, his playing partner was a picture of calm as McDowell turned in level par when a bogey at the ninth took away the shot picked up by a two at the fifth.

Brian Keough, who has followed McDowell extensively, portrays the champion as he came across: cerebral, analytical and bright.

A scratch player at 16, he had a sensational amateur career, capturing the Fred Haskins award in 2002 (US college golf’s equivalent of American football’s Heisman Trophy) having smashed Tiger Woods’ scoring records in his final season at the University of Birmingham in Alabama.
 
He was an A student with a talent for numbers and while he didn’t complete his degree in mechanical engineering, leaving to sign with Chubby Chandler’s ISM when he was one semester short of graduation, he’s justified that decision in spades by winning five times and earning well over €8m.
 
“He’s very, very smart,” Kenny says. “He got three A levels and one in further maths. He didn’t actually finish his degree. He had one semester left in engineering and he said to me that they were just bombarding him to sign. He said to me, what will I do Dad. And I said, go for it. You can always go back and do your degree if you have to.”

The champion displays perfect form in front of the perfect golfing scene. (click to enlarge)Gary Van Sickle on the post round scene:

McDowell said he’d always thought the U.S. Open was his best chance to win a major because driving accuracy, not driving distance, is his strength. But an hour after he finished, as he talked with reporters about his win, McDowell was still having trouble absorbing just what he'd done.
 
"I can't believe I'm going to have 'major champion' after my name," he said. "It's a pretty surreal feeling."
 
McDowell shot a glance to his left at the U.S. Open trophy, sitting on the table a few feet from him, and smiled. "I don't think I've put this thing down since they gave it to me."

Simon Lewis reminds us that McDowell almost didn't make it to Pebble Beach.

McDowell, the world number 37, follows another Portrush native Fred Daly, winner of the 1947 Open Championship, as a major winner but he had almost not made the field after his tie for 28th at the BMW PGA Championships gave US Tour players Scott Verplank, Michael Sim and Brian Gay the chance to oust him from the world's top 50 rankings with their finishes at the Byron Nelson Championship.

Bob Harig on McDowell's stellar collegiate golfing past:

Ranked 36th in the world, McDowell, who played on the 2008 European Ryder Cup team, came to America to play college golf and starred at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, where he became the No. 1 collegiate golfer and won six times in 12 events before turning pro.

The SI/golf.com talked about the win:

"Farrell Evans: Fellow typists, Graeme McDowell is the 2010 U.S. Open Champion. Give the man his due! It can't be a great championship unless a favorite wins? We have this same conversation after every major not won by one of our hall of famers.
 
David Dusek: It's a shame, but I have a feeling that Graeme's win is going to be looked upon like Geoff Ogilvy's U.S. Open win in 2006 at Winged Foot. He was the last man standing while the big names who were supposed to win imploded.
 
Ryan Reiterman: Nah. McDowell was in the driver's seat for most of the day. All those big names were chasing him and couldn't get it done. Big difference.
 
Mark Godich: The guy made two birdies in his last 34 holes and none after the fifth hole on Sunday. It was a survival contest.

Dustin Johnson plays his third shot lefthanded at No. 2 (click to enlarge)Sam Weinman on third round leader Dustin Johnson's peers feeling his pain.

Gene Wojciechowski writes about Johnson too:

He played like vuvuzelas were blaring during his backswings. But everyone else was playing so ridiculously average or crummy that Johnson still had a chance at the turn.

Then came Johnson's back-nine 40, and that was that. Give him this much: He didn't sound like a guy who was going to have sleep issues Sunday night.

"Nah, I'm done with it now," said Johnson, who finished T-8 and barely earned an automatic invitation for the 2011 U.S. Open. "I'm going to get some food and get on my airplane and get home."

Tiger and Steve Williams at No. 8 (click to enlarge)Ron Sirak on Tiger Woods's T-4 finish:

Woods spent most of the day looking like one of those Accenture commercials he used to make where he would be off standing in waist-high grass talking about handling difficult decisions. "Our game plan was just if we shot under par for the day we would probably win," Woods said. "The golf course was playing too hard, too fast, and it can get away from you pretty quickly out there."

Cameron Morfit writes:

Into the seventh month of what has surely been the darkest period of his life, Woods seemed to see daylight. If nothing else, he proved once again that even with his B or C game he still has the uncanny ability to rally at the majors, just as he did at the Masters in April.

Brooks dissects Tiger's post round comments blaming Stevie for bad advice and says don't read too much into them.

Phil Mickelson after the round. (click to enlarge)Damon Hack on Phil:

At Pebble, several hours north of his boyhood San Diego home, Mickelson was the gallery favorite, at least until Woods put in a strong challenge with his Saturday 66.

Mickelson couldn't duplicate the magic he had in April, when he won his third green jacket by digging eagles and birdies out of the Augusta National soil.

The U.S. Open doesn't do magic. It does survival. It also does frustration, a subject in which Mickelson needs no instruction.

And finally, this brilliant observation from USA Today TV columnist Michael McCarthy, who liked NBC's telecast so much that his lone quibble doesn't even make sense.

Say what? As Ernie Els hit his tee shot on the par 3 17th hole, Dottie Pepper told viewers it was "right at the flagstick." Oops. The shot landed at least a club and a half short in a bunker, said Miller. Els bogeyed, finishing off his chances of an Open victory.

Note to Michael, you can hit it short and straight. If only some of us could have that problem.