Winners and Losers, 2024 U.S. Open: Rory’s putts, Bryson’s heroics, more
Rory McIlroy came painfully close to a U.S. Open title on Sunday.
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If you like late-game heroics? This U.S. Open was for you. If you like watching a man’s dreams yanked from his body and vaporized into the North Carolina Sandhills? This U.S. Open was for you, too. Bryson DeChambeau won. Rory McIlroy finished second. But there’s more…
Here are our week’s-end winners and losers.
WINNER: Bryson DeChambeau’s bunker shot
There were hundreds of other things DeChambeau did this week that allowed him to emerge the U.S. Open champ, but by far his most spectacular was his second-to-last stroke. Sure, he had been gifted a one-stroke lead heading to 18 — but that suddenly looked uncertain as he stood over a 55-yarder from the sand, arguably the most awkward shot in golf. He hit it inside four feet; the rest is history.
Additional winner: Johnson Wagner, recreating that shot!
LOSER: Rory McIlroy’s missed two-footer
We could make a list of the things that cost McIlroy the U.S. Open trophy, beginning with the brutal break at the par-5 5th that turned what was nearly a 20-footer for eagle into bogey. His missed four-footer at No. 18 will get the most replays, too, thanks to its finality. But the most costly miss came at No. 16, where he missed a relatively straightforward putt from 2 feet, 6 inches. It was the shortest putt he’s missed this year. It yielded his lead. It was a shocking gaffe from arguably the greatest player of the post-Tiger generation. And it changed the course of the tournament.
McIlroy made everything on Sunday. A 15-footer at No. 9, a 27-footer at No. 10, a 22-footer at No. 12 and a five-footer at No. 13. Right until he didn’t. But the putt at 18 was nasty, slippery, nearly four feet. The one on 16 was the one that hurts the most.
WINNER: No-stress T3
Sure, Patrick Cantlay lost to Rory McIlroy head-to-head on Sunday; McIlroy shot 1-under 69 while Cantlay shot 70. But who would you rather be leaving the course? Cantlay must be kicking himself about what could have been, but he was never really in position to win and wound up T3, two shots back, matching the best finish of his major championship career. That’s something to build on.
“The fans were great this week,” Cantlay said. “I thought the venue was great. The golf course was in perfect U.S. Open shape. I’m sure looking forward to the next time it’s here.”
Then there’s Tony Finau, who finished T3 alongside him after a final-round 67 that matched the low round of the day. Will Finau leave thinking about the devastating triple bogey he made on Saturday afternoon? And the bogeys he made on 2 and 4 to begin Sunday’s final round? For sure. But he played the final 14 holes in a ridiculously impressive 5 under par; he was just one make (from him on 18) and one miss (from DeChambeau on 18) from a playoff. This marks his first major top-10 since 2021; that’s something to build on, too.
“I was really proud of the way I hung in there all week, especially the way I played today,” Finau said. “I thought that back nine was awesome.”
LOSER: Ludvig Aberg’s triple bogeys
I’m more than happy to cut Ludvig Aberg some slack. It’s his first full season on the PGA Tour, after all. It’s his first U.S. Open. Last year this time he’d just finished up college. It’ll be years before we start getting truly disappointed by the Swede underperforming.
Still, when he jumped out to the 36-hole lead we started to dream. Would this be the week he roared to a first major? Then came a Saturday afternoon triple bogey and then came a Sunday afternoon triple bogey and suddenly Aberg’s chances had vanished.
He finished 1 over par, T12, seven shots off the winning score. That’s nothing to scoff at. But Aberg has elevated our expectations damn fast; he’ll be among the favorites the next time we hold a major.
“I guess the thing is it doesn’t really get harder than this, and it’s quite nice to know that, what’s needed to perform on this difficult level in terms of the golf course,” Aberg said post-round. “Although I’m experiencing these things for the first time, I’m still enjoying it, learning from them, and obviously wanting to do well.”
WINNER: Xander Schauffele, major champ
Schauffele is very literally a winner thanks to his victory at last month’s PGA Championship; that removes some of the pressure for the rest of his career. But he also threw down a low-key T7 at this week’s U.S. Open thanks to a birdie at the last for a Sunday 68.
Schauffele’s major championship consistency is something to marvel at; he’s now finished top 20 in 10 consecutive majors. His U.S. Open record is even more absurd; he’s played in eight of them and finished top 10 seven times — and his other result was T14. He’s built for these.
LOSER: Tyrrell Hatton’s Sunday
After a terrific week both on the course and at the microphone, Tyrrell Hatton left with a whimper. He was on the edge of contention at 1 under par going to Sunday but started bogey-double-bogey, added bogeys at 6-7-8 and was suddenly six over par. Hatton slipped to T26, particularly disappointing given how much he was counting on this week for OWGR points and potential future major championship eligibility.
WINNER: The USGA
The USGA’s goal these last few years has been to present a tough-test tournament without becoming the story. Their team mentioned early in the week the desire to get 72 out of 72 pin positions correct so there were no accusations of unfairness or ridiculousness. They accomplished that to near-perfection. And Pinehurst was terrific.
LOSER: Carnage
There wasn’t a single score in the 80s on Sunday. Not a single one! Sure, the course was fair and it was fun and provided a pretty ideal canvas for a ridiculously dramatic golf tournament and only eight guys finished under par and it was still really, really tough. But for those of us who look to the U.S. Open to dial up the absolute chaos there was some slight sense of disappointment at week’s end that we didn’t get just a bit more bloodshed.
WINNER: Collin Morikawa, U.S. Olympian
This week marked the close of qualification for the Olympic golf field, which meant that Collin Morikawa needed to hold off Patrick Cantlay (and a handful of other Americans) in the world ranking to book his ticket to Paris. He had an excellent weekend, shooting 66-72 to climb the leaderboard. And Cantlay didn’t do quite enough to pass him; with his T3 Cantlay will move to No. 8 in the world while Morikawa’s No. 7.
We still haven’t had golf in the Olympics around long enough to know exactly what it means to these guys, but one thing’s for sure: these don’t come around very often. Every four years, to be specific, half as often as a Ryder Cup. Qualifying is a heck of an accomplishment.
LOSER: Scottie Scheffler’s top-10 streak
Entering this event Scottie Scheffler was on this run of finishes:
WIN
WIN
T2
WIN
WIN
T8
T2
WIN
So it was somewhat jarring to see him shoot four rounds over par at Pinehurst and finish the week in T41, his highest finish since [scrolls] the 2022 CJ Cup.
Good news for Scheffler: He’s still the World No. 1 by a ton. He has a happy, healthy young family. His wife got him a New York bagel on Sunday morning to celebrate his first Father’s Day. It’s the little things and it’s the big things and if you add ’em up you’ll find that like the rest of this list, he’s not much of a loser at all.
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