For the fifth consecutive year, an American golfer has won the United States Open. On Sunday from the prestigious Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, CA, off the coast of the Pacific Ocean, Gary Woodland of Topeka, KS won the third major of the 2019 men’s golf season. He put together a four round score of -13 to beat two-time U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka of West Palm Beach, FL by three strokes.
For Woodland it was his first major title of his career. Heading into the fourth and final round, he was at -11 and only had a one stroke lead on England’s Justin Rose.
However as the fourth round progressed on Sunday, it was Rose who faltered as he shot a final round score of +3 and moved from -10 to -7. The reigning Olympic gold medalist and a favorite for many heading into the final 18 holes, ended up in a four-way tie with Americans Chez Reavie and Xander Schauffele, along with Spain’s Jon Rahm.
Koepka meanwhile got off a sizzling start. He birdied four of his first five holes and went from -7 to -11 very quickly. However a bogey on the eighth hole proved costly as he moved back down to -10. Kopeka birdied the 11th hole and bogeyed the 12th before having a disappointing par on the 18th when he was trying to put added pressure on Woodland.
Woodland played a very steady 18 holes of golf on Sunday and deserved the championship. He got his score to -13 after birdies on the second and third holes. He then bogeyed the ninth and 12th holes before notching a birdie on the 14th hole.
Woodland’s key shot on Sunday came on the par three 17th. His tee shot was not very good, but made up for it with an excellent chip shot that left him a couple of feet from the hole. Woodland then sinked his par putt and entered the 18th hole just needing a bogey to win the title. Well, Woodland did better than that as he recorded a birdie to move to a winning score of -13.
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