FOR someone to score a wire-to-wire win in the year’s third major in golf—that is legends’ domain—Gary Woodland, at 35, has arrived. Finally.
The Topeka, Kansas, native did everything to win the U.S. Open yesterday.
He hit four straight rounds in the 60s as though he had reprised the magic of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
He did it with a lot of guts, spunk unseen in decades and an inner self stuffed with character.
He started yesterday rock-solid, didn’t blink when the ship keeled and finished the journey unscathed.
Going 17, Woodland was two shots ahead of the ever dangerous Brooks Koepka, the two-time defending champion chasing a third title in the US Open.
And almost all-day long yesterday, the well-built Koepka was always close by, crowding Woodland like a pestering pest in summer.
But calm-as-a-cat all week, Woodland faced the par-3 220-yard 17th with the same resolve and poise that gave him three straight pars there previously.
Bungle this penultimate tee shot and Woodland would surely cause leaks in his faucet.
Pulling out a five-iron, Woodland courted collapse when he saw the fringe some 100 feet below the cup. Worst, a hump stymied his birdie putt.
Opting for the wedge, he next produced his most wondrous shot of the tournament, his ball slithering just over a foot past the hole. The tap-in par preserved his two-shot lead going to the 72nd hole.
When Koepka, a flight ahead, missed an eagle on 18 from 50 feet and next flubbed an 8-foot birdie, the door had been opened wide for Woodland.
Avoiding histrionics, Woodland went for safety on the 539-yard 18th—hitting two successive five-irons before landing his 148-yard approach safely on the green 30 feet from the hole.
Three putts would do it.
But if it was show time or not, Woodland banged home the birdie to beat Koepka by three shots, vaulting suddenly to stardom after languishing at 169th overall.
What a way to celebrate Father’s Day, Woodland gifting his wife heavy with twin girls with America’s oldest (119 years) golf trophy.