US Open Golf 2013 Leaderboard: Most Surprising Finishers in Top 10

The U.S. Open was certainly an ugly one this year, with not a single golfer shooting under par and several big surprises cracking the final top-10.

What were probably even more surprising were the meltdowns of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.  A tweet by ESPN summed it up quite nicely to explain how many of the big names struggled at the major held at Merion Golf Club.

There were also a few surprises who were able to break the top-10 finishers, so let’s take a look at the biggest surprises from the U.S. Open.

Note:  All rankings are courtesy of ESPN.com

Nicolas Colsaerts

It was certainly a great outing for Colsaerts, particularly for a guy who wasn’t even in the top-100 in the FedEx Cup standings entering play at the U.S. Open.

Colsaerts got off to a great start relative to the rest of the field on Thursday, shooting a 69 and finishing with four birdies on the seventh, eighth, 13th and 14th holes.

While the rest of his tournament wasn’t anything special, Colsaerts was able to stay consistently near the top of the field.  An eagle on the second hole on Saturday was his best hole of the weekend, as he was able to crack the final top-10 for a nice payday.

Ernie Els

At 43 years old, Els has had a sensational career.  Although he has slowed down a bit, he was still able to win the U.S. Open championship last year.

This year, Els hasn’t been the same.  Ranked No. 76 in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the tournament, Els was finally able to crack a majors' top-10 in the 2013 campaign, ending tied for fourth.

Els had a great finish to the tournament on Sunday, putting up a 69 for the day.  He finished with five birdies, including back-to-back birdies on the first and second holes.

It always seems like Els is out there having fun and this tourney was no different.  He played comfortably compared to others out there and was able to finish in decent standing and end up in the top five.

Jason Dufner

It certainly wasn’t the best tournament for Dufner, but an excellent round on Sunday helped the 36-year-old out quite a bit.

Sunday was an excellent round for Dufner.  He finished with six birdies on the day, and even with his double bogey on the 15th hole, he was able to shoot a 67.  He had solid driving accuracy throughout the tournament, landing on the fairway with 75 percent of his drives.

At five-over for the entire tournament, Dufner was able to finish tied for fourth as well. Even though he wasn’t able to pick it up the entire tournament, he was able to make a late surge.