WEBB SIMPSON RALLIES TO WIN U.S. OPEN
The U.S. Open’s version of a gripping conclusion is when bodies are lying all over the battlefield, but one is still twitching . . . and they hand its owner the trophy.
That body, Sunday evening, belonged to Webb Simpson, who squeezed just enough out of his final round — four birdies in the last 13 holes, parring in from the 11th — to win by a nose when the leading contenders couldn’t handle the stress.
The Olympic Club came in with the reputation as a heartbreaker, having destroyed 54-hole leaders each time the Open has been played here, and it did so again Sunday, chewing up the third-day co-leaders, Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell, and spitting them out.
On a cold, murky day with a dense fog hanging over the Pacific shore — weather better suited to a murder mystery set on the moors of Scotland than the end of what started out a postcardperfect June morning in California — the unflappable Furyk flapped to a 74, and McDowell meandered to a 73. Simpson? He ruled Sunday night the way the cartoon Simpsons have ruled it.
The way Scott Simpson ruled it at this very course in 1987, though back then, the USGA hadn’t yet decided to play the Open in prime time.
He one-putted six greens in a row from No. 6 through No. 11, made a terrific upand-down from the same rough to the right of the 18th hole where Tiger Woods chunked his chip on Saturday, and shot 68 for a winning total of one-over-par 281.
“I probably prayed more the last three holes than I’ve ever done in my life,” said Simpson, who played at Wake Forest on an Arnold Palmer scholarship, and knew the story of Palmer losing the Open here in 1966 to Billy Casper, blowing a seven-shot lead in the final nine holes.
“He’s meant so much to me and Wake Forest that hopefully, I can get a little back for him and make him smile,” Simpson added of Palmer.
The 26-year-old from Raleigh, N.C., who played on last year’s victorious U.S. Presidents Cup team, won twice on the PGA Tour last year and has all the game it takes to be very, very good — albeit very, very slow.
But no one on the Tour has to fear the clock, which was a good thing for the final twosome, because Furyk, never quick at the best of times, hit the ball so wildly on the back nine, both left and right — even shanking a desperation bunker shot at the 18th — it was bound to take time to recover.
McDowell rallied with birdies at the 11th, 12th and 17th to at least make it interesting when he put his approach shot 24 feet above the hole with a birdie opportunity to tie. But the putt never had a chance, and Simpson watched the final chapter of his victory unfold from the players’ locker-room, on TV. He looked as though he couldn’t quite believe it.
“I know what kind of players they are, both have won majors,” he said. “I expected both of them to do well coming in. I thought even though Graeme had a 25-footer, it was probably going to hit the hole or have a good chance. I couldn’t be happier right now.”
He couldn’t celebrate until McDowell’s putt missed, but the die was cast earlier when Furyk failed to hang onto even par, stumbling with sloppy bogeys at the 13th, the 16th (where he duck-hooked his tee shot into the trees) and the 18th. He would have needed a birdie at the closing hole to force a Monday playoff, as would McDowell, but the hole surrendered just six birdies all day to the 72-man field.
McDowell and Michael Thompson tied for second, one stroke back, with Furyk, Jason Dufner, Padraig Harrington, John Peterson and David Toms sharing fourth. The duel of former U.S. Open champions at the top never lived up to its promise, because McDowell faltered early on — making three bogeys on the front side — while Furyk also dropped a shot, and let a large group of suspects suddenly become prospects.
Among them, first-round leader Thompson was the front-runner, posting a 67 to bookend his opening 66, the best and second-best rounds of the week, to finish twoover-par for the week. He just ran out of holes.
Peterson, Ernie Els, and Harrington all made runs, but all failed to close the deal. Har- rington hit a poor wedge to the 18th to bogey when he needed a birdie, and Peterson doublebogeyed the 16th.
Els had come to life with an eagle at the par-four 7th hole, but his challenge ended at the par-five 16th, where he missed the green left and a chip up the steep bank came back to his feet.
That left Simpson, who began applying pressure with his run of four birdies in five holes beginning at the sixth. It didn’t seem like a lot of pressure at the time, certainly nothing Furyk shouldn’t have been able to handle. All he needed was a birdie at any point, but instead he ended the day as one of just four players to go the full final round without one.
Simpson, meanwhile, became the 15th different winner of the past 15 majors, nine of them firsttimers. He called it a new era, and he’s not wrong.
“The first thought I had on the back nine was, I don’t know how Tiger has won 14 of these things,” said Simpson. “I was so nervous, I couldn’t feel my legs.
“I never really wrapped my mind around winning,” the champ added. “‘I’ve been a scoreboard watcher all my life, but when I putted on 18 was the first time I looked at the board since early in the front nine. I had no experience of being in contention in a major at all, so . . . given the conditions, I was glad not to be in the final group.”