The goddess Fortune turned her back on American Dustin Johnson at the most inopportune moment, when he had an accessible putt to win the US Open. It was his compatriot Jordan Spieth who finally celebrated victory at Chambers Bay. Spieth birdied the par-5 18th for an overall score of 5 under par. Behind him came Johnson, one stroke behind.
With his second shot, Johnson left the ball about four yards for eagle. It was a fast downhill putt, and Johnson overshot it. The return shot was not good, so he was not able to make the eagle or the birdie that would have given him the tie with Spieth and the possibility of playing this Monday a play-off that would have been spectacular. In the end, Johnson had to settle for a par and a second place that surely would have been too little for him.
Following him in the early stages of the day were Australia’s Adam Scott, with an impressive six under par and a cumulative total of three under par, and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, who in July will defend his British Open won in 2010 at St Andrews, and who finished tied for second place after a heroic comeback from +7 on the first day.
On Thursday and Friday the South African had shared a match with 14-time major winner Tiger Woods, who went home on Friday with a dreadful 16-over-par score and gave way to the prominence of Jordan Spieth, considered his successor by many and the youngest U.S. Open winner in nearly a century.
Another who failed to live up to expectations was Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. The world No. 1 finally went on the attack on the last day, but his round of four under par was not enough to catch the leaders and he finished in ninth place. A top-10 that by no means meets his expectations on a final day where Spieth hogged all the limelight.
Spieth, 21, is the first player to win the U.S. Open under 22 since Bobby Jones in 1923.
He is also the sixth player in history to win the U.S. Open and the Augusta Masters in the same year. The other five were Tiger Woods in 2002, Jack Nicklaus in 1972, Arnold Palmer in 1960, Ben Hogan in 1953 and 1951, and Craig Wood in 1941.
Sergio Garcia, the only Spaniard who played the four rounds as Jimenez missed the cut, finished eighteenth, with +3, eight strokes behind the winner. The Spaniard finished with a good card, 68, but suffered the punishment of his 75 strokes on the second day.
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