NOW-Sports-PGA

Golf Tidbits: Rose proves that he is Philly tough

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:20:50 -0700

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - In a four-year span, Justin Rose has conquered two of the hardest courses in the Philadelphia area. If Pine Valley, the top-ranked course in the country, were to host a PGA Tour event in the coming years, my money would be on Rose.

The AT&T National was contested at Aronimink Golf Club in 2010 and '11, and in his eight rounds there, Rose broke par in five of them. He won the 2010 playing of that tournament and endeared himself to the locals.

Fast forward to 2013 and Rose returned to the Philadelphia suburbs to take on the East Course at Merion Golf Club. The club was hosting the U.S. Open, which generally is played under firm and fast conditions with thick rough.

The latter was in play, but Merion was far from firm and fast after more than five inches of rain fell on the course in the 10 days leading up and including the first day of the championship.

As television coverage kicked off for the championship, there was a montage about Philly toughness. Bobby Clarke, Allen Iverson, Chuck Bednarik and Chase Utley were among those named.

Not many think golfers are tough, but you probably wouldn't say that to their face, especially if you were talking to Lee Westwood or Tiger Woods.

Rose, all 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds of him, doesn't look very tough, but he becomes tough to beat when you put him on a tough golf course.

The conditions at Aronimink for the AT&T National were tough. When Rose won, the course was in U.S. Open-like shape with firm fairways and hard, fast greens.

He came to Merion not knowing what to expect because of the rain. The greens at Merion were fast, as one would expect, but the fairways and greens were soft from all the rain. The rough, well, it was U.S. Open rough at its best.

Rose never shot worse than 71 over his four rounds at Merion, and fought off a pair of major champions and several of the top players in the world to win his first major championship title.

One of those who Rose fought off was Hunter Mahan, the only player in the field with two rounds in the 60s. Rose also toppled third-round leader Phil Mickelson, who finished second for a record sixth time.

Rose said he had a plan in place to earn his first major championship, and it worked in short order.

"I committed myself to putting a strategy in place that I hoped would work in five to 10 years in delivering major championships. And I tried to strike on that feeling the first week out, first time I tried and tested it to come out with the silver," Rose explained.

The plan worked, but the cynic in me asks why hadn't he done such a thing sooner. Rose, you may recall, shared fourth at the British Open as a precocious 17-year-old.

Rose, now 32, has had top-five finishes at all four majors prior to his victory at Merion. His share of third last year at the PGA Championship had stood as his best finish in a major.

Along with his titles at Aronimink and Merion, Rose has won at other tough venues such at Cog Hill and Muirfield Village.

The tougher the better works for Rose. Winning a golf tournament is a tough task, but it isn't the toughest thing Rose has done in golf.

Rose overcame one of the worst starts in professional golf history: He missed the cut in his first 21 starts.

He has overcome that, and now stands as the first Englishman to win the U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970.

That helped make him one tough Rose.

ANOTHER FAILURE FOR MICKELSON

Karma had to be on Mickelson's side as he entered the final round at the U.S. Open.

First, it was his birthday, so you knew he'd receive the majority of the fan support. Second, he won three of his four major championships titles having entered the final round as the 54-hole leader.

Sunday, Mickelson was in that position for a fifth time.

Unfortunately, Mickelson couldn't stay away from the big numbers in the final round. Through the first three rounds, Mickelson's worst score was a bogey.

He had eight birdies, seven bogeys and 39 pars through 54 holes at Merion. Then a funny thing happened on the way to his coronation.

Big numbers got in his way for the first time all week. A tee shot into the sand at third, and a poor bunker shot led to a double bogey. Mickelson's tee ball at No. 5 was playable, but inside a hazard line.

He pitched down the fairway, but walked off with yet another double bogey. The two came in a three-hole span. If he cut them to bogeys, like he had in the third round on those two holes, Mickelson could have forced a playoff with Rose, the eventual champion.

Instead, it was more heartbreak for Mickelson. This may have been his best chance to win the Open, but it certainly wasn't his last chance.

Mickelson will be back in the mix at Pinehurst next year, but will he be able to seal the deal?

If he learned anything from this defeat, it was to stay away from the big number for 72 holes, not 54 like he did at Merion.

MINI-TIDBITS

* Tiger Woods seems to complain about the speed of the greens every time he loses, especially at majors. The only major in which green speed normally isn't an issue is at the British Open, where the putting surfaces tend to be on the slow side. Maybe he needs that to break his five-year drought in the major.

* If you're looking for a potential winner of the British Open, consider Jason Day. He has three second-place finishes in 11 major championship starts. The British is the only major in which Day doesn't have a top-10 finish, but the way he is playing this year, that could change soon.

This Week in Golf -- June 20-23

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:56:37 -0700

Leishman, who earned his first title on the PGA Tour, finished the tournament at 14-under-par 266. The Australian had twice finished as the runner-up, and tied for third at the Byron Nelson Championship that May.

U.S. Open winner Justin Rose is in the field this week after securing his first major championship title at Merion Golf Club.

Golf Channel will have coverage for the opening two rounds before handing over to CBS for the weekend.

The PGA Tour heads to Maryland next week, where Tiger Woods picked up career win No. 74 last year at the AT&T National.

EUROPEAN TOUR

BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN, Golfclub Munchen Eichenried, Munich, Germany - The European Tour is in Germany this week for the BMW International Open.

Last year, it took four playoff holes before Danny Willett finally collected his first European Tour title, as he downed Marcus Fraser in rainy conditions to win.

Martin Kaymer and 20-year-old Matteo Manassero are part of this week's field.

Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds.

Next week, Jamie Donaldson will try to successfully defend his maiden European Tour victory at the Irish Open.

LPGA TOUR

NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Arkansas - The LPGA Tour is at Pinnacle Country Club this week for the NW Arkansas Championship.

Last year, Ai Miyazato fired a final-round, 6-under 65 to come from behind and win the NW Arkansas Championship. Miyazato finished at 12-under-par 201. The win was her second of the season and ninth of her career on the LPGA Tour.

The reigning champion is back in the field this week to defend her title.

Golf Channel has coverage of all three rounds.

Next week, the LPGA Tour will be in New York for the U.S. Women's Open, one of the circuit's four major championships, where Na Yeon Choi won last year.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

ENCOMPASS CHAMPIONSHIP, North Shore Country Club, Glenview, Illinois - This week, the Champions Tour heads to North Shore Country Club for the inaugural Encompass Championship.

David Frost, looking to secure back-to-back titles after winning the Regions Tradition, highlights a field which also includes Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer.

Golf Channel has coverage of all three rounds.

Next week, the Champions Tour heads to Pittsburgh, Pa., where Joe Daley became a major champion at the Senior Players Championship last year.

WEB.COM TOUR

REX HOSPITAL OPEN - TPC Wakefield Plantation, Raleigh, North Carolina - The Web.com Tour will be at TPC Wakefield Plantation this week for the Rex Hospital Open.

Last year, James Hahn birdied the second playoff hole to beat Scott Parel and win the Rex Hospital Open. The pair finished the final round tied at 13-under par 271 after Hahn carded a 4-under 67 and Parel shot 68.

There will also be no television coverage of the Web.com Tour this week.

Next week, the Web.com Tour's schedule features the United Leasing Championship, which Peter Tomasulo won in a playoff last year.

CANADIAN TOUR

ATB FINANCIAL CLASSIC, Country Hills Golf Club (Talon Course), Calgary, Alberta, Canada - The Canadian Tour hits Country Hills Golf Club's Talon Course this week for the ATB Financial Classic.

Last year, Michael Gligic defeated Matt Marshall on the second playoff hole to earn his first Canadian Tour victory. Gligic shot a 4-under 67 on Sunday, while Marshall had a 3-under 68. The pair finished regulation tied at 14-under 270.

There will also be no television coverage of the Canadian Tour this week.

The Canadian Tour is off next week before heading to Saskatchewan for the Dakota Dunes Casino Open, which Matt Hill won in a playoff last year.

Rose moves to third in the world rankings

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:50:36 -0700

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Justin Rose claimed his first major championship title on Sunday and that helped him move up two spots in this week's world golf rankings.

Rose won the U.S. Open by two strokes over Phil Mickelson and Jason Day. Rose is now No. 3 in the rankings and that matched his career high ranking.

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy held steady in the top two spots despite poor results at Merion. They were followed by Rose.

Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar both dipped a spot to fourth and fifth. Mickelson jumped four places to sixth and was trailed by Luke Donald, Brandt Snedeker, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen. Steve Stricker inched up two to 11, while Lee Westwood was down a spot to 12th.

Charl Schwartzel inched up a notch to 13th, Keegan Bradley dropped a pair to No. 14 and Sergio Garcia was 15th again this week. Day jumped 10 positions to 16th and was followed by Jason Dufner, who moved up three, and Ian Poulter, who dipped a spot to 18th.

Bubba Watson dropped three to 19th, while Ernie Els moved up a spot to 20th.

Webb Simpson and Dustin Johnson both fell out of the top 20 this week with Simpson down three to 21st and Johnson down four to 23rd.

U.S. Open Final Round News & Notes

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:20:22 -0700

Ardmore, PA (Sports Network) - Justin Rose had back-to-back birdies twice in the final round of the U.S. Open on Sunday, and those two bursts helped him claim his first major championship title.

The Englishman was able to grab the trophy thanks to an impressive statistical week.

Rose shared the championship lead to with 15 birdies. He tied for second in fairways hit, 42 of 56, and shared seventh in greens in regulation, as he hit 50 or 72 greens over the four rounds.

Rose said afterwards that he had put a plan in place to win a major championship over the next five to 10 years. The plan obviously worked quickly and now he has a chance to win multiple majors in that span.

MICKELSON COMES UP SHORT, AGAIN

At the start of the day, there were plenty of statistics to make the case for someone other than Phil Mickelson winning the U.S. Open.

Unfortunately for Mickelson, those statistics were correct.

Among them, and maybe the biggest one, is that Justin Rose became the fifth U.S. Open champion at Merion to come from behind in the final round.

None of the five winners were the 54-hole leaders, and this season on the PGA Tour only 11 of 23 54-hole leaders have gone on to win the event.

Mickelson entered Sunday having won three of the four times he led entering the final round of a major, but with Rose's comeback win, just five of the last 18 major winners have led entering the final round.

In the 113 U.S. Open Championships, the third-round leader won 49 times and there have been only seven wire-to-wire champions.

Maybe the seventh time will be the charm for Mickelson.

KIM EASILY CLAIMS LOW AMATEUR CROWN

Michael Kim won numerous awards this season while starring on the University of California golf team. Maybe his biggest honor came on Sunday.

Kim closed with a 6-over 76, but won the low amateur honors at the U.S. Open by five strokes.

"That feels awesome. I had a difficult ending, but the overall week, it's just an unbelievable experience," Kim said.

Kim was the PAC-12 Player of the Year and won the Jack Nicklaus Award as collegiate Player of the Year. After surviving the tough test at Merion, he was glad he wasn't the only one that thought it was a hard test.

"The rough, I talked to Geoff Ogilvy yesterday who said this is the worst I've seen it at an Open so far. I'm glad that he said that. This rough is pretty long and thick," Kim said of the former U.S. Open champion.

NOTES:

* Shawn Stefani's hole-in-one on Sunday at the 17th was the first ace in the five Opens played at Merion, and was the 43rd known hole-in-one in Open history,

* The top-10 finishers and ties -- Justin Rose, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Ernie Els, Jason Dufner, Hunter Mahan, Billy Horschel, Steve Stricker, Luke Donald, Nicolas Colsaerts, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama -- are exempt into the 2014 U.S. Open.

* For the week at Merion, there were 11 eagles and 977 birdies versus 2,079 bogeys and 373 double bogeys. There were also 78 dreaded others.

* There were 23 rounds in the 60s all week. After five in the first round, there were six in each of the last three rounds.

* The four par-3s combined to measure 862 yards for the final round. That's pretty long considering as the 13th measured 121 yards and the 17th moved up to 213 yards. The par-3s yielded 35 of the 169 birdies made in the final round.

* The 13th was the easiest hole on Sunday as players averaged 2.77 strokes on the par-3. For the championship, the 13th was the easiest hole playing to an average of 2.81 strokes.

* The par-4 fifth was the most difficult hole in the final round as it took players 4.79 shots on average. The par-4 18th, which no one birdied in the third and final rounds, was the most difficult hole for the championship, as it averaged 4.71 shots.

* The 2014 U.S. Open will be contested at Pinehurst No. 2, and will be followed the next week by the U.S. Women's Open.

What they said after the final round of the U.S. Open

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 18:21:08 -0700

Ardmore, PA (Sports Network) - One of these times will be the charm for Phil Mickelson. It wasn't the first or second or third or sixth for that matter.

The four-time major champion again failed to win the U.S. Open. He finished second for a record sixth time.

He was more upset about his two double bogeys as opposed to his two late bogeys.

"I just would have been very happy with bogeys on three and five. Those are tough holes, and those were costly doubles," Mickelson admitted. "But I hung tough. And waited until I got some birdie holes, and ended up getting lucky with the hole-out on 10 and getting back into it."

Mickelson fought back with a hole-out eagle from 75 yards out on No. 10, but again he couldn't get over that final hurdle.

- WEBB SIMPSON, the 2012 champion was pretty blunt about his title defense: "I did what I thought I needed to do except I didn't make any putts."

- TIGER WOODS, when asked if he thinks the U.S. Open will come back to Merion: "I'm sure it will come back. Obviously, there are some vendors that are going to make more money with hospitality and that nature. But I think that overall as a golf course, yes, it can be played. They move the tees back, and they give us some pretty tough pins this week. But certainly as a golf course wise, it could definitely host another major championship. But I don't know if USGA wants to, they make a lot of money on other venues."

- SHAWN STEFANI, who had the first hole-in-one in U.S. Open history at Merion on Sunday, and he kissed the rough, where his ball landed: "We're in Philly. There's some great fans up here and I know they can be tough on you and they can love you forever. So I'm sure they appreciated me going to the ground and kissing it, because obviously the ground is where the kick started and the ball kicking right and going on the green."

- SERGIO GARCIA, on the condition of Merion Golf Club's East Course: "I think that you can set up any course difficult if you want to. When the rough is as high as it is and a little bit of breeze that we have had, the greens played soft, but you still had to hit good shots. And by playing soft, the rough was much thicker. When it dries up, it's a little bit easier to get a club through the grass. But when it's as lush as it was this week, obviously it makes it much tougher."

- RORY MCILROY, was among those that hopes the Open comes back to Merion: "It was great. I thought it was a really good test. I thought the atmosphere out there obviously when you're in a group like I was the first two days, it's going to be great anywhere. I enjoyed the week. Regardless of not playing my best. I thought it was a great venue and a venue that hopefully we come back to."

- ERNIE ELS, the British Open champion echoed McIlroy's statement that the Open should come back to Merion: "Absolutely. It's been an unbelievable venue this week. The course definitely held up. Started the week with people saying there could be record scores. I totally disagreed with that. It was a great setup. The rough was tough. Yeah, everything about it was just wonderful. And the fans were unbelievable. It definitely shouldn't wait another 32 years."

Woods posts worst score as a pro

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 13:49:13 -0700

Ardmore, PA (Sports Network) - Three-time champion Tiger Woods wrapped up the 113th U.S. Open Championship on Sunday with a 4-over 74.

Woods, whose last major championship came five years ago to the day at Torrey Pines, ended at 13-over-par 293. His total of plus-13 was his highest score in a major championship as a professional.

The three-time winner birdied the first on Sunday, but then hit his tee shot out of bounds on the second. That led to a triple bogey.

Woods went on to drop shots at six and seven. His back nine included two birdies and two bogeys as he wrapped up a 74 with a pair of pars.

"Today was a little bit strung out in these conditions. The conditions are tough out there," Woods said. "Not a lot of low scores out there, for sure."

Simpson wraps up title defense at U.S. Open

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 13:00:50 -0700

Ardmore, PA (Sports Network) - Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, wrapped up his title defense with a 2-over 72 on Sunday.

Simpson finished the 113th U.S. Open at 13-over-par 293. It could have been worse, but he ran off three straight birdie chances from the 13th.

"I did what I thought I needed to do except I didn't make any putts," he said.

The 27-year-old started with a bogey at one, then picked up a birdie at the fourth. Simpson faltered to a double bogey at five and he dropped another stroke at the seventh.

Simpson tripped to another bogey at the 12th, but he fought back with three consecutive birdies from the 13th to get to 1-over for his round. He then bogeyed the long 17th to end at 13-over.

He had missed three of his last six cuts coming in.

Stefani's ace leads to 69 at U.S. Open

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:50:44 -0700

Ardmore, PA (Sports Network) - Shawn Stefani played in his second major championship this week, and on Sunday he did something no one else has done in a U.S. Open at Merion.

The 31-year-old Texan had a hole-in-one on No. 17, and that helped him post a 1-under 69. He was in the third group out on the course and his 69 was the first score in red figures for the day. He finished the championship at plus-19.

It was the first-ever ace in the five Opens at Merion. The hole-in-one was the sixth in the last 10 years at the U.S. Open and the 43rd known ace in Open history.

Stefani's other U.S. Open start was in 2009 at Bethpage, where he missed the cut after rounds of 73-73.

Golding rallies for Wales Senior Open crown

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 10:00:42 -0700

Bridgend, Wales (Sports Network) - Philip Golding fired a 5-under 66 on Sunday to rally for a 2-stroke victory at the Wales Senior Open.

Golding, who finished second at this event last year, finished at 2-under-par 211 at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club.

It was his first career victory on the European Senior Tour.

"I have to admit that I didn't play at my best today in terms of ball striking and off the tee, but my short game was really on early in the round and I made some really important par saves early on to stay in the tournament," said Golding.

David J. Russell (71) finished in second at even-par 213, while second-round leader Ian Woosnam struggled to a 4-over 75 to fall into a share of third place with Barry Lane (70) and Andrew Oldcorn (71) at 1-over.

Woosnam entered the day with a 1-stroke lead, but his title bid was derailed by a pair of couple bogeys at the ninth and 13th.

Golding, meanwhile, took advantage of Woosnam's downfall by picking up a couple of shots at the fourth and sixth before reeling off three straight birdies from the ninth to grab the lead.

After trading another birdie at the 15th with a bogey at the 17th, the Englishman closed with a par at the last to close out the win.

How recent U.S. Opens have been won

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:49:44 -0700

Ardmore, PA (Sports Network) - Phil Mickelson is on the cusp of winning the U.S. Open Championship for the first time.

Haven't we been here before?

The four-time major champion is a five-time runner up at the season's second major. No one has finished second at the Open more than Mickelson has. There are far more numbers against him heading into the final round than there are working for him.

As for the historical notes working for him, Mickelson has won three of the four times in which he had at least a share of the 54-hole lead in a major championship.

And today is his 43rd birthday, so karma should be on his side. Right?

On the flip side, the overwhelming data says Mickelson won't be able to hold his lead.

Mickelson has won just one of the last four times he led a tour event going into the final round. Just five of the last 17 majors champions were among the 54-hole leaders.

The third-round leader of the U.S. Open has won 49 times. And Mickelson is trying to become the seventh player in U.S. Open history to in wire-to-wire fashion. Interesting numbers until you remember this is the 113th U.S. Open.

Only 11 of the 22 PGA Tour winners this season were the 54-hole leader.

Finally, maybe the harshest stat Mickelson has to overcome? Of the four previous U.S. Open winner at Merion, none were the 54-hole leader.

As you can tell, there is a lot of data that shows you why he won't win. Another reason he has a chance to win, he has had just seven bogeys and eight birdies all week.

That's it. No eagles, no double-bogeys, no dreaded others. If he can keep that up, someone will likely have to shoot 68 or better to beat him.

Mickelson shares sixth place in greens in regulation for the week, yet ranks tied for 29th in putting average.

Among his closest pursuers, Steve Stricker and Billy Horschel share second in GIR, while Rose shares sixth with Mickelson.

The putting average numbers favor Hunter Mahan, who shares the lead for the week, and Donald, who is tied for fourth. Stricker is tied for 37th in putting average.

If Mickelson can continue to stay away from the big numbers, it'll take a special round for someone to beat him.

But will there be demons in Mickelson's head? The only time he had the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open was in 2006 at Winged Foot.

I think we all remember what happened there.

With that in mind, here's how the past five U.S. Opens have been won:

STEADY SIMPSON GRABS THE TITLE (2012)

Looking at the 2012 U.S. Open, the players closest to Phil Mickelson's lead heading into the final round are hoping to replicate what Webb Simpson and Michael Thompson accomplished last year.

Thompson, the first-round leader, posted a 67 in the final round to get to plus-2 for the championship. He sat and watched as Simpson did what he had to do to win.

Simpson was 5-over par through 36 holes, then eased his way into contention with a 2-under 68 in round three. He still trailed by four shots heading into the final round,

After falling even further behind Jim Furyk early in the final round, Simpson charged into the lead with four birdies in a 5-hole span from the sixth. Over the final eight holes, he did what is almost always best in U.S. Opens -- make pars.

Eight of the them in fact. After he signed his scorecard, Simpson sat and watched.

Graham McDowell birdied No. 17 to get within one, but he failed to birdie the last.

Furyk was one back with two holes to go. He had just over 20 feet for birdie at 17, but his birdie chance stayed above ground. His approach at the last buried in a greenside bunker. He blasted into another bunker on his way to a closing bogey, which left him two back.

With that, Simpson was a first-time major champion. All it took was a pair of 68s on the weekend.

MCILROY'S RECORD REBOUND (2011)

Rory McIlroy seemed on the verge of his first major title at the 2011 edition of the Masters, where he carried a four-shot lead into the final round. But the Northern Irishman endured a disastrous back nine, carded an 80, and finished in a tie for 15th.

A couple months later, McIlroy found himself at Congressional and rebounded in a big way. He opened with a 6-under 65, followed with a 66 and followed with a 68 to give himself an eight-shot cushion heading into Sunday.

Not only did McIlroy not melt down, but he maintained his enormous margin on the way to the title, thanks to an aggressive approach in the final round.

He opened with a 12-foot birdie putt to extend his lead to nine strokes, and tapped in for birdie at four. He managed nice par saves at two, five and six.

Then, on the back nine, McIlroy maintained his form. At the demanding par-3 10th hole, he spun his tee shot within a foot and drained the birdie to reach 17-under. He stumbled to a bogey at 12, but got the stroke back four holes later and never did anything to jeopardize his lead.

In all, McIlroy set or tied 12 separate records last year. Among them, his score of 16-under 268 set marks for lowest score and lowest score in relation to par in U.S. Open history. McIlroy also became the youngest winner of the championship since Bobby Jones in 1923, and was the third player in U.S. Open history to post four rounds in the 60s.

MCDOWELL AS LAST MAN STANDING (2010)

After tapping in for par on the final hole in 2010, McDowell looked toward the sky and exhaled. He was the last man standing on a brutal Sunday at Pebble Beach that chewed up some of the world's best players.

McDowell -- like McIlroy, from Northern Ireland -- became the first European in 40 years to win the U.S. Open after closing with a 3-over 74 for a one- shot victory over Gregory Havret of France.

Hanging on down the stretch, McDowell laid up and made a two-putt par at the 18th hole to clinch the first major championship of his career. But the day was a nightmare for so many others, especially Dustin Johnson.

Beginning the round with a three-shot lead, Johnson was out of contention by the seventh hole, an epic collapse that included a triple bogey at No. 2, where he took one of his shots left-handed. He missed a short putt at the 18th hole that would have been his only birdie of the day and finished with an 82 that left him five shots back.

Woods and Mickelson also hacked their way out of the championship, combining for nine bogeys and just three birdies on a day when simply breaking 70 would have won them the title. Els had a share of the lead, but his misadventures included a shot over the grassy cliff at No. 10.

How ugly was last year's final round? Among the last 24 players on the course, no one broke par. But McDowell did just enough to end on top of them all.

THE GLOVER ONE (2009)

Lucas Glover made it through a qualifier to get into the 2009 U.S. Open, then won it exactly two weeks later, the unlikely champion of a Monday finish that began with so many possibilities for a storybook ending.

It wasn't the final chapter everyone expected at the rain-soaked championship, but then little went as planned in five stop-and-start days at soggy Bethpage Black.

Things certainly fell apart for Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes on the final day, but Glover managed to scratch out a 3-over 73 to win his first major at a championship where he'd never even made the cut before.

He beat Mickelson, Duval and Barnes by two shots, becoming only the sixth qualifier since 1960 to win the U.S. Open.

Mickelson had tied him for the lead -- and electrified the crowd -- with a 25- foot birdie putt at the 12th hole and a 4-footer for eagle at the 13th. But he made two costly bogeys after that and posted his record-setting fifth runner-up finish at the U.S. Open -- including fourth in New York. The heartbreaker came just over a week before his wife, Amy, began treatment for breast cancer.

Duval, playing that week as the 882nd-ranked golfer in the world, also earned a share of the lead with three straight birdies on the back nine as he tried to capture his first win since the 2001 British Open. But he missed a 6-foot par putt on the next hole, the 17th, and came up short.

Barnes, the former U.S. Amateur champ who set a 36-hole U.S. Open scoring record that McIlroy broke, folded under the weight of playing in the last group of a major and made seven bogeys for a 76.

ON SHREDDED KNEE (2008)

Is it possible to be too hyperbolic about the 2008 U.S. Open? Probably. But the fact remains that Tiger's 91-hole win over Rocco Mediate that year -- on a severely disabled leg that required surgery soon after -- remains one of the enduring legacies of Woods' on-the-course legend.

The Monday playoff at Torrey Pines was something: Mediate, though overmatched in talent, took Woods past 18 holes and to a 19th before losing.

But it was peanuts compared to what happened during two electrifying days over the weekend.

First came Woods' Saturday charge. Limping and using his club like a cane, he took the 54-hole lead with a highlight-filled third round that included a 70- foot downhill eagle putt with six feet of break, a chip-in birdie from beside the green and another long eagle putt -- three signature moments in a six-hole span.

Then, on Sunday, Mediate could only stand and watch on a TV nearby as Woods rolled in a 14-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Sunday to tie him for the lead and force the playoff.

The championship, shown during primetime on the East Coast through Sunday, scored great ratings and made a sympathetic hero out of Mediate. But it was better for Woods, of course, who won his 14th major to move within four of Jack Nicklaus' all-time record.

As we all know, he hasn't captured one since.

ANGEL SMOKES THE STARS (2007)

Smoking cigarettes and sweating, Angel Cabrera won Argentina's first major championship in 40 years when he shot a 1-under 69 in the final round at prickly Oakmont in 2007.

The score by Cabrera, who has since won the Masters, was good enough to hold off Woods and Furyk by a shot.

He carded two of only eight sub-70 rounds recorded that year, holding his foot on the pedal till the end and benefiting from mistakes by his closest competitors.

After making back-to-back bogeys from the 16th to fall into a tie with Furyk, Cabrera smashed a 350-yard drive at the 18th and made par, placing the pressure on his more-experienced challengers. They didn't respond, leaving Cabrera with a moment that defined his career until that point.