What a week it was at this year’s US Open at Torrey Pines. The story heading into the weekend was all Englishman Richard Bland. The story leaving Torrey Pines Sunday evening is all Jon Rahm. Bland has a rather unpleasant weekend shooting 77-78 leaving him in a tie for 50th. Heading into the final round there were 3 players all tied at -5 including Louis Oosthuizen, Russell Henley, and Mackenzie Hughes. This all changed real quick early in the final round. Just 5 holes into the final round, it seemed like anyone could end up winning. There was 10-15 players within 2-3 shots of each other. McIlroy was tied for the lead at one point along with Morikawa, DeChambeau, and Wolff. The tight leaderboard started to take shape on the back nine as some guys were really struggling. Dechambeau, Thomas, Wolff, McIlroy, Morikawa, and Koepka combined for a +20 score on the back nine of the final round. Dechambeau shot +8 (44) on the final nine holes after capturing the lead at -4 for a brief period of time. Rahm played extremely well down the stretch and his two left-to-right putts that he drained on hole 17 and 18 proved to be the turning point in the tournament. Rahm was into the clubhouse at -6 and all he could do was watch. At this point, Oosthuizen still was at -5 with plenty of holes left. Oosthuizen made a clutch par putt on hole 16 and needed to go -1 on the last 2 holes. He pulled his tee shot on 17 and was forced to take a penalty and attempted to get up and down for par. Ultimately, he failed to do so and needed an eagle on the last hole to force a playoff. Oosthuizen ended up missing the fairway on his tee shot on 18 and had to lay up which led to him trying to make a wedge shot from about 100 yards for his eagle. His wedge attempt came up just short and he made his birdie putt for birdie and a solo second finish. Rahm’s putt on 17 and 18 were incredible to say the least…
Rahm had been playing some really solid golf prior to the US Open including the Memorial tournament where he was forced to withdraw due to covid contact tracing. Rahm held a 6 shot lead and would’ve more than likely defended his title at the Memorial tournament at Muirfield Village. This is Rahm’s first won major and he cashed in a nice $2.3 million to go along with the coveted US Open trophy. Rahm responded really well to the adversity he was dealt with a couple weeks ago and it all payed off for him this week at Torrey Pines.
Oosthuizen has been so close to winning a boatload of majors and found himself in another runner up finish. This is Louis’ SIXTH runner up finish in a major. Regardless, he’s a great talent to watch and a better person off of the course. Congrats to Jon Rahm on his first major and I’m looking forward to seeing a great British Open at St. Georges in England!
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