U.S. Open Championship: McDowell win for Europe again
A European, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell returns to win the U.S. Open Golf, the second largest of the season, a triumph shone not a golfer of the Old English since Tony Jacklin Doing so in 1970.
Four decades have had to pass to break a curse. Northern Ireland has a new hero, and Europe a golfer to assume that across the Atlantic after winning in the tournament’s most charismatic to the great power of world golf.
In the final battle, McDowell, aged 30 and born in Portrush, attended the early American disaster 25 years and leader at the beginning, Justin Johnson (now 82 strokes), abstracted from the battle between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and ignored sustained harassment Ernie Els and, especially, the Frenchman Gregory Havret.
McDowell won in Pebble Beach, California, with 284 strokes (par for the course), after delivering one last card of 74 to get the first ‘major’ of his career and the second for a Northern Ireland player, following the successes of the late in 1990 Frederick Daly, who in 1947 won the British Open.
Northern Ireland, the world number 37 and five-time champion in Europe, faced the last two holes with a couple of strokes ahead of Havret and three over Els. Previously, Johnson was diluted in the first flags, even losing four ball into the hole, Els was halted in the holes 9 and 10 (+3 in that stretch), Tiger accumulated more “bogeys” which hits and Mickelson did not see the hole in the greens.
Only Havret, also unreleased titles of ‘Grand Slam’, placed high doses of emotion in the outcome. Paris could put pressure on the leader McDowell on the 18th hole but missed a putt eight feet for birdie that would have matched the marker. After the failure of Havret, McDowell only needed tables in that last par 5 to emerge victorious U.S. Open. No risked on his second shot, hit “green” with the third and two “putts” gave him the glory.
Els finished third, two strokes behind the champion, while Tiger and Mickelson signed tables in fourth place after three days of assumptions about the world rankings and alteration, by the San Diego left-hander, the established order and made a five years. In that sense, nothing will change after this devastating Open at Pebble Beach where he has been the big winner: no one, not the champion, was able to get the pair accumulated.
Sergio Garcia was the best of the Spanish, after climbing twenty positions in the final round thanks to their 71 strokes (par) to finish in the twenty-second.