2010 US Open Golf Lost By Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson

Kathy Bissell

Pebble Beach, CA -- This year’s US Open wasn’t won.  It was lost. Lost by  Ernie Els, who hit into the hazards.  Lost by Phil Mickelson, who had so much promise with a 66 in round two.  Lost by Tiger Woods, as his long game and short game deserted him one day after it looked like he had regained his form. And lost by Dustin Johnson, who had shown so much promise over the first three days.

For Els, who has won twice already this year, it has to be a cruel cut.  At the sixth, he was tied for the lead at -3.  But his round was derailed at the difficult ninth and tenth where he went bogey, double bogey.  

Mickelson started with a birdie, missed a chance for another at the fourth, then generally got stuck on even par until the tenth. At the 14^th , his chances faded when an 86-yard third shot rolled back off the green.  It was a sign.  

Woods bogeyed the first hole and never looked comfortable. When he pull hooked a drive into weeds and shrubs at the third, it was clear that he was going to have a tough day. As he has been saying, it’s a process. A tie for fourth in the US Open may be acceptable to any one other than him.

Dustin Johnson, who admitted to nerves after round three, finally showed them. He started with a par, but followed that with a triple bogey followed immediately by a double bogey.  His lead was gone. 

After two holes were played by the last three groups, only Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, France’s Gregory Havret and South Africa’s Ernie Els were in red numbers. After nine holes, only McDowell was under par.

Today McDowell has done something that no player since Tony Jacklin could manage, bringing a US Open victory to Europe. At some point, Queen Elizabeth will probably knight him.  He won’t have to win anything the rest of his career and he will still be a national hero.  He has done what Nick Faldo couldn’t do, what Seve Ballesteros couldn’t do, what Lee Westwood couldn’t do. 

 

 

As a youngster, he had a hard time finding a college coach who was interested in him, but the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) gave him a home. He was ranked No, 1 collegiate golfer in the US  and won six of 12 starts, beating the previous best of Luke Donald and Tiger Woods.

McDowell won his maiden European Tour title on his fourth start, the 2002 Scandinavian Masters.  He has four other victories and played on his first Ryder Cup team last fall. McDowell came to Pebble Beach with a victory two weeks ago in the Celtic Manor Wales Open.  

With Ian Poulter winning the Accenture Match Play, Rory McIlroy winning Quail Hollow,  Justin Rose taking the title at The Memorial, and McDowell now a capturing the US Open championship, European looks strong for the future. It ’s on to St. Andrews.