US Open Golf 2016: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Sunday

Dustin Johnson battled the naysayers of yesteryear, a difficult Oakmont Country Club course and a controversial rules violation in Sunday's final round of the 116th U.S. Open. He ultimately passed all those tests and emerged with his maiden major title.

Thanks to a one-under round of 69, Johnson posted a four-under championship total, claiming the U.S. Open trophy by three strokes over Jim Furyk, Scott Piercy and Shane Lowry.

Fox Sports highlighted the elite company Johnson joined by winning in Oakmont, Pennsylvania:

As Johnson began to separate himself from the field on the back nine, he was informed on the tee box of the par-five 12th hole that he might have incurred a one-stroke penalty earlier in the day.

While taking practice strokes for his par putt on the par-four fifth, Johnson was deemed to have caused his ball to move. Although he made the putt and never placed his club directly behind the ball, the 31-year-old was assessed a bogey upon further review, per Golf Digest.

Three former world No. 1 golfers ripped the USGA's pedantic interpretation of the rules with a major championship hanging in the balance when the possibility of a penalty initially surfaced:

Golf.com highlighted the specific rule in question, which may have caused further confusion:

Meanwhile, several groups ahead, the top-ranked player on the planet, Jason Day, was making a charge, spurred along by an eagle on No. 12, as the U.S Open's Twitter account showed:

A double bogey on the 17th in which he found both bunkers near the green doomed Day, who finished two over in a tie for eighth.

For all the hoopla surrounding Johnson, the 54-hole leader by four strokes, Lowry, was almost forgotten. The Irishman's inexperience on the major stage showed when he bogeyed four of his first 10 holes to fall out of the lead.

However, Lowry bounced back with a near-eagle chip-in on No. 12, followed by a gutsy scramble on the next hole as Johnson's ball-striking continued to decline. He lost steam with three-putt bogeys on Nos. 14 through 16 and never recovered, shooting a six-over 76.

Sergio Garcia and Piercy, feeding off each other throughout the afternoon, were able to remain in red figures while Lowry took a tumble and Johnson attempted to weather the storm and possibility of another major heartbreak.

Piercy had a solid round with birdies on the first two holes and another on the 12th to get to three under overall, whereas Garcia's day was more of a roller coaster. But the Spaniard had magic in store on No. 8 to give himself a momentum boost, as the U.S. Open highlighted:

It was another also-ran effort in a major for Garcia, though, and he wasn't a factor once he carded consecutive bogeys on Nos. 14 through 16 to drop to even par for the tournament. Piercy also lost a shot on the 16th, missed a birdie bid on No. 17 and bogeyed the last hole to end his chances.

Johnson was mired in a major rules violation at the 2010 PGA Championship too, as he grounded his club in a bunker he believed to be a waste area and missed out on a playoff. Similar heartbreak threatened to beset Johnson again Sunday.

Kyle Porter of CBS Sports described the happenings as Oakmont's galleries tried to keep Johnson's spirits up:

Sports Illustrated's Alan Shipnuck had an appropriate reaction to Johnson's situation:

But instead of shrinking from the moment, the immensely talented American took the bad news on No. 12 in stride, nearly birdieing the hole. He then got up and down from the left greenside bunker on the par-three 13th and didn't let his bogey on No. 14 faze him.

The most clutch shot came on the par-three 16th, where Johnson buried a par putt from just inside 10 feet up the hill to maintain a two-shot advantage over Lowry, as the U.S. Open showed:

That was followed by a valiant two-putt par, whereupon Johnson had a three-shot edge while walking to the last tee.

It was a fortuitous turn of events that didn't allow the U.S. Open to be decided by the unintentional minuscule movement of a golf ball on the fifth green.

And the conclusion to a round in which Johnson hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation was nothing short of epic. A piped 303-yard drive down the 18th fairway preceded a flushed approach to within five feet of the cup, erasing any doubts he'd deliver, as the U.S. Open shared in this clip:

Being informed of the potential rules violation in the heat of competition on the back nine had to be tough for Johnson—especially given his close call at the 2010 PGA Championship.

He was also trying to respond to the critics after three-putting the 72nd hole at last year's U.S. Open to miss out on a playoff with Jordan Spieth by a shot.

Johnson stood and delivered in the face of all the adversity, making his major breakthrough even sweeter.

This could mark a floodgates-opening type of triumph for Johnson. He is a transcendent talent entering the prime of his career and has all the tools to win several majors. 

Oakmont is perhaps the toughest venue Johnson could've asked for as the setting of his first major title. Adding to his optimistic outlook is the fact that the past six U.S. Open winners at Oakmont proceeded to win multiple majors.

Post-Round Reaction

Fox Sports had the footage of Johnson's post-round interview:

ESPN.com's Ian O'Connor logged what arguably the greatest player of all time, Jack Nicklaus, had to say about the rules ridiculousness that surrounded Johnson:

Said Johnson of the one-stroke penalty, per Golf Digest's Mike O'Malley: "It doesn't matter now...and I'm glad it didn't matter, because that would have been bad."

Johnson also said, "I felt like I wasn't going to be penalized, so I just went about my business...from there on out, that we'd deal with when we got done."

Lowry was unsurprisingly rather disappointed in the outcome, saying, per ESPN.com's Jason Sobel: "If you would've given me second at the beginning of the week, I'd have taken it. But I'm here right now and I'm not happy."

Per O'Malley, Lowry said of the Johnson rules fiasco, "No, it didn't affect the way I played...I credit Dustin for playing the way he played on the way in."

Rory McIlroy tweeted: "Massive congrats @DJohnsonPGA! The wait is over! Feel for @ShaneLowryGolf but he'll come back stronger from this experience."

Tiger Woods also sent his congratulations, tweeting: "Some great golf by @DJohnsonPGA all week, strong way to finish overcoming that rules farce. Happy Father's Day to DJ and all of you."