2010 US Open Review
McDowell wins the 2010 US Open
Back at Pebble Beach for the first time since 2000, the U.S. Open Men’s Golf tournament had many different storylines heading into the final day of action at the famous northern California golf course looking over the Pacific Ocean.
The Golf Links at Pebble Beach is widely considered one of the most beautiful courses in the world, and has played home to four U.S. Open’s prior to 2010. Among the top headlines in the tournament’s opening days was the chase for the world’s number one ranking. Americans Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson began the tournament neck and neck for the top spot with Woods holding a slight edge. A strong finish by Phil and a missed cut by Tiger would have led to Woods relinquishing his #1 ranking for the first time in five years.
Yet, after day two, it was clear that Woods would make the cut and hold on to his spot. Furthermore, the storyline changed. People around the golf world wondered if they would get the opportunity to see some history as three of golf’s top icons in Woods, Mickelson and South Africa’s Ernie Els were among the leaders heading into the final day of play.
Day Four of the tournament was set up to be a classic. As the top guns set out to chase down leader American Dustin Johnson, another unlikely contender wanted his shot at glory as Graeme McDowell; a 30-year-old from northern Ireland was in prime position to become the first European to hoist the championship trophy in 40 years. He began the day 3 shots off the lead.
However, history is not on the side of Johnson and McDowell. Fans and the media were ready for the unlikely leaders to crack under the pressure and give way to the three veterans poised to make a move.
Yet, as the final round moved on, McDowell never seemed to feel out of place among golf’s elite players. Dustin Johnson began his final round with a triple bogey and a double bogey on holes 2 and 3 it seemed that McDowell was handed the lead and the tournament. With the top guns faltering early, (Woods bogeyed 5 of the first 10 holes) McDowell only had to nail one birdie in the final round to seize the championship.
From the final scores, it seems that Pebble Beach lived up to its hype of being one of the toughest courses to navigate in the world. Rather than trying to beat the course, McDowell took a different approach and one that proved worthy of his efforts.
The crafty player decided to play within himself and did not try to beat the course, rather he managed his game and let the other leaders falter along the way as they tried to hit nearly impossible shots that left them to the right and left of the fairways which in turn, forced them to putt for double and triple bogeys.
For McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open was his first major championship and gave him the right to say he outplayed the three biggest names in his sport. Not to mention that he ended Europe’s 40 year win less streak in U.S. Open play.
