We should celebrate the greats while they’re still among us, because for one reason or another, eventually, life takes them from you. Sometimes, as in the case of Payne Stewart or Seve, suddenly. Others are the inexorable passage of time, as with Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen, with Ben Hogan, with Arnold Palmer, with Jack Nicklaus… That’s why Rory McIlroy, in this 124th US Open, has broken a ten-year drought. The Grand Slam, its fourth since the clock stopped at the 2014 PGA Championship, was golf’s cause. Rory is everything a professional athlete should be. A dedicated worker, a student of his game, an advocate for his peers before the PGA (who sometimes trust him less than the organization that theoretically owns him), always attentive to the press. A diamond like his is held only once in a generation at most, and competitive careers in this sport tend to be 30 years. So, whatever happens, the story of DeChambeau’s victory this Sunday at Pinehurst No. 2 will be another tear in the heart Roars And of those who make their triumphs and sorrows their own. There are no band-aids in the whole world.
The result was pure US Open, a contest to see who makes the fewest bogeys and who makes the most birdies. The first nine holes separated the chaff from the wheat and decided it was a tie between the American and the Northern Irish. The Swede Aberg, who in his first appearance looked like the winning horse for a large part of the week, quickly fell to the sidelines. He lived the full experience of the most emotional greatness, which takes you to heaven in a hole and pulls you out of a hole. some or the other From 15 centimeters to the next. A triple bogey on 13 on Saturday and another bogey on 2 this Sunday put an end to his chances. It also finished outside the top-10, at +1 to +3. Neither Hideki Matsuyama (-2 for par), who was chasing his second major, nor Patrick Cantlay (-4 for par) nor Tony Finau (-4 for -3) nor Matthew Pavon (-3 for + 1), who sniffed the first.
Rory led the way with four birdies from 9th to 13, giving him a two-shot advantage with five holes remaining. Putting has been his workhorse on the trip through the desert, as it has always been steady from tee to green, rain or scorching sun, with greens like Velcro or granite, one of the best (when not the best) in the world. But this time it seemed to be working, the help of guru Brad Faxon, with whom he had been working for months, was finally bearing fruit. He had gone too far on the 9th, 10th and 12th, winning again with his fingers like countless times. And then he made a collapse that will haunt him: three bogeys in the last four holes. With a miss of less than a meter on 16; at the 18th, when it was enough for him to force a playoff by just over a meter. -5 for -1 in the end in a disastrous sequence. Like his face in the card delivery tent, between bitterness and innocence, DeChambeau was waiting for a bogey on the last hole that would not come. Fate had priorities and they were not his. I wanted to pay tribute to old Payne Stewart, 25 years after his memorable victory on this square and his picture with fist in the air, which also houses his own statue, with the hands of the player who, without any intention, has best embodied his spirit. This with that eccentric personality, and reportedly with that beret that he stopped using after the 2021 Ryder Cup.
DeChambeau defends Pinehurst from European attackDeChambeau, who had three shots on the 15th hole for bogey, came close to birdie after a superb 8-iron on the 17th hole and sealed it by working a par from the sand on the 18th hole. +1 for par, enough to confirm himself as the one who has best orchestrated the home turnaround of the great ‘runaway’ stars of the LIV (he was also second at the PGA), the second to win in the Saudi Super League major after Koepka at the PGA last year, from ‘oddball’ to one of the favorites of North American fans. “This goes to Payne Stewart and SMU, this is a very special place for me. Thank you to the public, it has been impressive. I can’t thank my team more, if it wasn’t for their help I wouldn’t be here. This tournament final will be remembered for the rest of my life.” “I still can’t believe it,” he will say at the end to loud applause, proof that people are already tired of the divisions and want peace that can be confirmed as soon as next week. He already has two of these ‘bugs’. One might be a chance, the second and the latter are for a select few.
Sergio Garcia produced his best performance in nearly a decade
Since he wore the green jacket in 2017 and saved his career, which if it had not been so would have been forever tarnished by one of the best golfers of his generation unable to hit the big shot, Sergio Garcia who has brought forth a version not seen, the best major version of Castellon since that cathartic week at Augusta. The Ramalazos of ‘El Niño’, of the player who was predicted before he was even 20 that he would have a career full of Grand Slam pieces. Perhaps there is still one last chapter to write in his legend. Of course, in Pinehurst No. 2, he presented arguments for the faith. That turning point canon of Thursdaywhen the USGA gave quarters; a survivor born on Friday and Saturday, when things got tough; a final 70, +1, this Sunday for 12th.
The spectacular finale, in the last major he will play unless he gets a ticket to the British Open last season, is the closest he has come to improving his resume this season since winning Sanderson Farms in 2020, when he was still a member of the PGA. He had nearly won the LIV opener at Mayakoba and then finished in the top-10 in Miami and Houston. It’s another step toward another victory after entering as a reserve, a process that would have been saved for next year if he eventually finished in the top-10. It would have come in handy to add it to his major agenda, since his drop in the rankings leaves him with only the annual guarantee of the Masters as champion. David Puig, deranged, went from +8 to +11, finishing in 55th place, his third great, his qualification for the Olympic Games. Scottie Scheffler, world number one, went from +2 to +8, to 41st, his worst week of the year. No one was surprised that only eight players played on par.
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David Puig will accompany Jon Rahm at the Games
