Graeme McDowell Takes U.S. Open Crown With Solid Sunday Play

American Dustin Johnson entered the final round of the U.S. Open six-under with a three-shot lead over Irishman Graeme McDowell. He parred the first hole, and it appeared that if he could continue this trend and play steady golf he could win his first major.

His train was riding smoothly, but then all of a sudden, it steered off track, crashed into a ditch, and caught fire. What ensued was indeed a train wreck, an implosion he won’t soon forget. An implosion that gave his playing partner a distinctive chance to become the major’s first European champion in 40 years.

Johnson’s front nine was nightmarish, something no golfer wishes upon their competition. McDowell witnessed Johnson flounder. He saw him triple bogey the second hole, badly pushing a five-footer in the process.

He then watched him shank his drive into the weeds, where he unsuccessfully looked, and walk back to the third tee to hit his third shot. A double-bogey was the result for Johnson, and with the span of a half hour, he had dropped five shots and had fallen two shots behind new leader McDowell.

Ernie Els was lurking behind McDowell and soon joined him atop the leaderboard. Els has played in many a U.S. Open, but Gregory Havret, a Frenchman who was paired with Tiger Woods on this day, was basking in his first, and after a birdie found himself just one behind the leaders.

The course was playing incredibly difficult, with par seemingly a good score on any hole. Many players were in contention. Most of them were notable names: Els, Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III. But McDowell and Havret, two relatively unknowns, entered the final holes fighting for the crown.

The stars struggled. Mickelson pulled his putts. Woods made many costly mistakes, despite saying afterwards, “I had three mental mistakes. The only thing it cost us was a chance to win the U.S. Open,” he was never truly in the hunt.

When he had something going for him, he would mishit an iron and make a bogey or narrowly misread birdie and par putts. That was the same story for Mickelson and Els. The trio combined to shoot +9. They just couldn’t execute. Meanwhile, McDowell and Havret did.

The duo’s play wasn’t eye-opening, but given the difficulty of the course, they were brilliant. Pebble Beach was firm and fast. The 14th hole, which ruined many scorecards all week with its green’s demoralizing slope, frustrated the field to no end. They survived, and duked it out.

Both played very intelligently. Neither was particularly long off the tee, but they hit their spots and for the most part stayed out of trouble. And when they did get in trouble, they either escaped or bounced back from a rough stretch. McDowell once held a three shot lead at -4, but though he drifted back and gave others life, he didn’t have a Johnsonesque stumble. He was able to regroup.

Havret, on the other hand, was never in the position where he had to regain his composure. He was the steadiest of them all, which was particularly incredible considering he was playing alongside such an icon as Woods, but he could not step up to the plate when it mattered most.

As Johnson stumbled to shoot a miserable 11-over 82, McDowell, ahead by one over Havret at even-par, he looked a bit affected by what was potentially on the horizon. He was on the 18th hole and Havret was ahead on the green. The Frenchman, who entered ranked 391st in the world, had a birdie putt of moderate length looming, a putt that could put all of the pressure on McDowell.

McDowell hit his drive, a draw into the first layer of rough in the right side of the fairway. As he walked to his ball, Havret lined up his all-important putt, stood over it, and hit it towards the hole. It was fairly straight, with a little right to left break, but it zoomed past the hole.

He made the comebacker, finishing a superb round of 72 given the circumstances and conditions. Now, to keep his hopes alive, McDowell would have to bogey, which would force a playoff between the unlikeliest of contenders.

McDowell, settling over his second shot, could relax. The ball was in his court. If he didn’t make a disastrous mistake he would win. He laced an iron within a hundred yards on the closing par-five, hit his approach 20 feet beyond the pin, and lined it up needing to get down in two to make his career-long dream reality.

His first attempt curled within two feet, and his second fell into the heart of the cup. Upon seeing it drift in, he picked it up, thrust his arms into the air, looked towards the sky with tear-filled eyes, then bear-hugged his father, who had rushed onto the green in euphoric celebration, for the best of Father’s Day gifts.

With that, the 30-year-old from Northern Ireland, who was ranked in the world’s top-40 entering the tournament, etched his name onto the U.S. Open trophy, outlasting a star-studded field and a determined Frenchman to not only become the first European to win the major in 40 years, but to notch his first PGA Tour win.

And what an impressive, historic, and incredibly memorable one on the oceanside Pebble Beach—a course that washed away the dreams of many by allowing 64 double bogeys or worse on the final day. A grueling course that Graeme McDowell managed to conquer.