Gary Woodland sounds like a name you'd expect to find in the Topeka, Kan., phone directory, not so much in the final group of a major golf tournament -- much less being engraved on a championship trophy.
But as some past U.S. Open winners learned this weekend, some within sight of the leader and others not, the 35-year-old journeyman from Bob Dole country proved himself of championship caliber. Gary Woodland -- not Brooks Koepka or Tiger Woods or Dustin Johnson or Jordan Spieth -- is, to use a British term, champion golfer of America.
Although his drives were not always as straight as the proverbial Kansas Rotarian, Woodland kept his cool at scenic but treacherous Pebble Beach. A previous PGA Tour winner but certainly not first choice in an office pool, Woodland never lost the lead with which he began Sunday's final round at one of the cathedrals of golf. An 18th-hole birdie gave him a closing 2-under 69 and a three-stroke edge over Koepka, the tourney's two-time defending champion.
Woodland joins the Graeme McDowell wing of U.S. Open winners at Pebble Beach, where better-known champions include Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. The man from Kansas kept appearing on your TV screen after shots by Koepka, whom the networks' talking heads were all but crowning champion before Sunday's round.
His lead down to one over Koepka with five holes remaining, Woodland was clearly wobbling after two bogeys in four holes, that following two bogeys in the first 62. A two-putt birdie at the par-five 14th gave him a two-stroke advantage that would not diminish. Then came a crucial 3 1/2-foot par putt at the 15th before Woodland made his second dagger shot on the back nine -- saving par-three at the 17th, where Watson holed out from the rough against Nicklaus in the 1982 Open, after a delicate pitch from back of the hourglass green.
"What we saw today," said Fox Sports analyst Paul Azinger, "is that with pressure on and nerves rattling, (Woodland) can still have that touch."
With pressure off, or at least dissipated, Woodland played safely on the par-five 18th, perhaps the most picturesque hole in American golf. Birdieing the 18th gave the champion 72 holes of 13-under 271, one stroke better than Woods' winning total (by 15 strokes) in the 2000 Open at Pebble.
Koepka, playing catch-up all day after starting four back, recognized the other man's superb effort: "To go out in style like that (birdieing 18) was pretty cool."
A word about Koepka, who did everything but pose for pictures with the championship trophy. Four rounds in the 60s at a major tournament should get someone more than second place, which Koepka also earned at Augusta National in April in Woods' miracle Masters. In between, the former Florida State Seminole won his second-straight PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York, successfully defending the title he claimed last August at Bellerive outside St. Louis.
At 29, halfway to a career Grand Slam, Koepka looked for a moment like the first winner of three straight American opens since Willie Anderson in 1905. He reached double digits for good at No. 4 while birdieing four of the first five. Just as quickly becoming a victim of capricious fate, Koepka's sure touch around the greens betrayed him on the back nine despite heroic three-wood and three-iron approaches on separate holes.
Englishman Justin Rose, in the final group with Woodland, could not locate a fairway with a GPS, putting heavy pressure on his putter. Fittingly, he was the last man on the course, with work to do on the 18th green after Woodland holed out. A past Open champion, Rose finished six back after a 74.
Woods, seeking his 16th major title, never looked like a winner. At 43, he is no sure bet to equal Nicklaus' record 18. But he is still Tiger Woods, and the press will fawn over him whether he is leading or 10 strokes back.
Days after the Toronto Raptors took pro basketball's championship to Canada, the U.S. Open has an American winner for the fifth consecutive year -- Woodland following Spieth, Johnson and Koepka (twice). This one comes from the heartland, where the wind (to borrow a line from "Oklahoma!") comes sweepin' down the plain. With former Wichita State player Fred Vanvleet starring for the Raptors, mark it down as a great sports week for Kansas.
Sports on 06/18/2019