The American Gary Woodland is the new champion of the US Open, which has been played at the centenary course of Pebble Beach, on the shores of the Californian Pacific. Woodland, who wins his first major, arrived at Sunday as leader and resisted the onslaught of his compatriot Brooks Koepka, winner of the two previous editions and the recent PGA Championship in Bethpage, New York, and finished with 13 under par, three strokes behind Koepka (-10).
It is the fifth consecutive US Open trophy to stay in the United States, since Germany’s Martin Kaymer’s victory in 2014.
Englishman Justin Rose (-7), winner of the 2013 edition, came to threaten Woodland’s lead, but a succession of bogeys in the last holes left him within a quartet of thirds formed by Americans Xander Schauffele (-7) and Chez Revie (-7), and Spaniard Jon Rahm (-7).
“It’s been a long time since I’ve played a course as complicated as this one. I didn’t need to do anything very special, just stay close to the leaders and wait for the opportunity,” said Rahm, who did not achieve his goal, but did achieve his best ranking in a U.S. Open and in a major.
The week began with speculation about Koepka’s third consecutive victory and the possibility of star Tiger Woods conquering his 16th major after winning the 2019 Augusta Masters.
“I had a disastrous start and was able to fight my way back. I turned the score around and got under par,” said Woods of his final round and final score of -2, well off the winner.
Woodland’s -13 is a record score at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, although he is only three strokes ahead of the runner-up. In the 2000 US Open, Woods swept this course with a score of -12 and no less than 15 strokes ahead of the runners-up, South Africa’s Ernie Els and Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez.
In 2019 there have been four Spanish participants, Rahm, Sergio Garcia (+4), Rafa Cabrera Bello (+5) and Adri Arnaus (+6). All four made the cut, but, except for Rahm, the rest finished in the lower part of the ranking.
Now lies ahead the last major of the year, The Open in Portrush, Northern Ireland, where the Europeans will try to end the dominance of the Americans in the three majors contested in 2019.
Rahm, among the best
Jon Rahm, tied for third, noted that “it’s a tough course. It was my best finish at the U.S. Open after a couple of bad weeks,” said Rahm, who has been under par in all four rounds and felt “mentally calm.”
The Biscayan golfer, six strokes behind the winner, pointed out that “it had been a long time since I had played on a course as complicated as this one. I didn’t need to do anything very special, just stay close to the leaders and wait for the opportunity,” said the golfer from Barrika, who has not ruled out winning the trophy at the start of his round of -3.
“It’s been a good week and now I’m really looking forward to Valderrama,” said a satisfied Rahm, who will again take part in the first European Tour tournament of the year in Spain at the end of June.
“Let’s see if I can have a resolution process with the course, because the last time I was there it was not a good week,” said Jon Rahm about the course in Cadiz, where he will play against Sergio Garcia, winner of the previous edition.
Despite coming into the weekend for the first time after seven consecutive majors missing the cut, Garcia has slipped back over the last two rounds to finish at +4, at the bottom of the leaderboard.
“The week has been tough. With the good weather, it’s been the easiest US Open ever at Pebble Beach, but unfortunately we’re playing poorly and it is what it is,” said Sergio Garcia, who has accumulated no less than 81 major appearances.
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