Olympic belongs to upstart
Simpson joins list of unlikely U.S. Open winners with prayer-filled clutch round
joined the unlikely list of U.S. Open winners at the Olympic Club.
Simpson shot 68 on Sunday, the same number he put up Saturday, to continue a major-championship trend. The last 15 majors have been won by 15 different golfers.
Simpson finished at 1 over, one shot ahead of Graeme McDowell (73) and Michael Thompson (67) and two shots ahead of Furyk (74), who bogeyed three of the last six holes, and four others.
“It was a cool day,’’ Simpson said. “I was at peace all day. I knew it was a tough golf course; it wasn’t going to yield many birdies. I knew I had to go out and do as well as I could. I probably prayed more on those last three holes than I’ve done in my life. And that probably helped me stay calm.’’
Simpson made his move with four birdies in five holes, at Nos. 6, 7, 8 and 10.
“That was an accident,’’ Simpson said of the birdie on No. 10. “We were trying to go 15 feet left of the hole, and it came out right. Luckily, the distance was prefect.’’ That’s what wins U.S. Opens. It was a wrenching defeat for Furyk, who was able to cling to a one-shot lead most of the day.
“I don’t know how to put that one into words,’’ Furyk said. “I had my opportunities. It was right there. On that back nine, it was my tournament to win. If I shot even par, I would have distanced myself from the field, and I wasn’t able to do so.’’
After driving the ball in the left rough on No. 12, Furyk seemingly caught a break, a palatable lie free from trees. But an unsatisfactory swing put the ball in the right front trap and left Furyk flailing his club in anger and frustration after the shot.
Still, Furyk responded with a clutch 35-foot par-saving putt that kept him one shot ahead of Simpson.
When Furyk bogeyed the par-three 13th, though, he and Simpson were tied for the lead. Then Furyk snap-hooked his drive on the 670-yard 16th hole, a rare mistake by a steady player.
That gave Simpson the one-shot lead that made him a U.S. Open champion.
Simpson, a North Carolina native who picked up his two PGA tour wins late last season, seemed an unlikely championship candidate at the start of the tournament.
But he showed the kind of grit that the U.S. Open requires, hanging around for four rounds when better-known players were faltering.
Simpson and his wife, Dowd, who’s seven months pregnant, stayed in downtown San Francisco, enjoying their first time away from their 16-month-old son before Dowd needs to prepare for the birth of their second child.
Even after shooting a thirdround 68, Simpson seemed lost on a crowded leaderboard in which 15 players were within five shots of co-leaders Furyk and McDowell. But he knew what he had accomplished.
“At a U.S. Open, to shoot under par, you have to have things go your way,’’ Simpson said. “That’s