Masters Champ Jordan Spieth Wins 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay
It may have been, but only in retrospect, because after Spieth two-putted from there to finish the tournament at five under par, Johnson hit his approach into the 18th green even closer, to 12 feet.
Suddenly, Louis Oosthuizen was rolling in a 10-foot birdie putt at the 18th — his sixth birdie on the last seven holes — to cap a round of 67 and move into second place at four-under-par.
World no1 Rory McIlroy threatened but endured more woe at the tournament. It also makes him the first golfer to win the Masters and the United States Open in the same year since Tiger Woods pulled it off in 2002. The three-putt for par handed Spieth, the 2015 Masters victor, his second consecutive major championship, and ruined Johnson’s third decent chance to win a major. “I think it’s in the realm of possibility”, he said shortly after his U.S. Open win. “I didn’t make any putts today, I really didn’t”, Johnson told reporters. “I didn’t have my best stuff, I didn’t have my ball strength at all and we really grinded those four of five-footers and that was the difference”. I tried my damndest to get in the hole.
“But I’m just excited for the opportunity coming and I’m not going to think about what could possibly happen after”.
Afterward, DJ tentatively threw his weight behind the scores of players blasting the splotchy, dicey greens that are a mixture of fescue and poa annua by wondering if the conditions had cost him the title.
The 27-year-old Grace battled Spieth down the stretch but the South African slumped badly on the 16th hole, finishing with a double bogey to Spieth’s birdie for a crucial three-shot swing. “Then he got up and said, ‘Dude, give me a hug, you did it”. It had die speed, which was the speed I wanted.
“I very much feel for him”. After a perfectly average first three days, the Aussie fired a flawless 64 Sunday, the best round of any player all week.
“At certain times I was getting frustrated out there and that mainly could only be seen between me and Michael”, Spieth said.
But a three-putt on the par-three 15th took the wind out of his sails and two holes later another dropped shot effectively ended his challenge. “I certainly never envisioned all the things in between”. I’m proud of the way I handled myself and the way I played today.
The potential storylines are strong and none more so that for Day, who collapsed at the end of Friday’s second round with a vertigo attack, but, still suffering, came out to put together one of the most remarkable rounds in U.S. Open history on Saturday. I’ve worked hard the last couple of weeks but I haven’t been out here in five years.
All the talk is of a rivalry between the two young guns that will light up golf for the foreseeable future, although Spieth says he doesn’t yet consider himself to be in the same elevated bracket as the Northern Irishman.