US Open 2012: Everything You Need to Know About the Final Round of the US Open

San Francisco, CA—The jinx lives.  The belly putter wins its second major in less than a year. The Second Simpson wins a US Open and becomes World Wide Webb Simpson.

“I never felt nerves like I felt today,” Simpson said after the victory. 

The rest of us were never more surprised, well at least since the last time a US Open was at The Olympic Club.

Tiger Woods, tied for the lead after two days, got up on the wrong side of the bed Saturday morning and shot himself out of the final round.  Was it that he was pressing to try to win his 15th major?  Or was it, as he said, that he was just a little off?  Perhaps there’s something in the fog and mist that just doesn’t like to see the very biggest names in golf win.  This time Olympic Club didn’t wait until Sunday to get rid of its biggest star.  It took care of Tiger Woods a day early.

Then two US Open champions, Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell, stepped up to the plate with the third-round lead only to be denied on the back nine on Sunday. 

Furyk was undone at the 16th tee with a shot into the trees.  After pitching out, his third shot was still short of the green, and he took a double bogey.  Johnny Miller likes to say that is just US Open pressure, and maybe it was.  

Graeme McDowell had three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on the front nine.  He dug himself out, then made two more at the 14th and 15th.  He miracle-putted the 17th to get to +2, but with Webb Simpson in the clubhouse at +1, McDowell needed a birdie at the 18th for a playoff.   McDowell misread the putt or pulled it, and he finished one shot out of a playoff.  He tied with Michael Thompson who put pressure on the field finishing at +2 more than an hour ahead of the leaders on the course.

One of Simpson’s biggest breaks was a drop into the first cut of rough on the 16th.  Without the drop, he would have been playing from the long rough.  That ruling could have affected the outcome, but the rules of golf are there to penalize as well as protect players.  USGA rules officials are assigned to walk with every group. Simpson. also asked for relief on the fringe at the 18th and was denied. It looked like an old sprinkler head location.

Though he was no one’s pick at the beginning of the week, Simpson was one of few players under par for the day.  He shot 68-68 on the weekend.  And he overcame a four-shot deficit to take the title.

Now the real unanswered question is since a belly putter just won the biggest USGA title, are they finally going to take a look at it or are they going to give it a permanent hall pass?  

Course stats:

Scoring average for final round 72.90

Scoring average for the week: 73.84

Hardest hole for final round: par-4, 6th with average of 4.51

Hardest hole for the week: par-4, 6th with average of 4.54

Easiest hole for the week: par-5, 17th with average of 4.71

Easiest hole for the final round: par-4, 7th with average of 3.5

Webb Simpson tied for third in birdies for the week with 13.  He hit 58 percent of the greens in regulation for the week, hit 55 percent of fairways and was 41 percent in sand saves. 

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.