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US Open 2022: Here’s the record-breaking prize money payout for each golfer at The Country Club

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 05:14:19 +0000

Andrew Redington

By Ryan Herrington
What is the most important benefit of winning a major championship: Legacy or loot? The romantic in us believes very much in the former. After all, you don’t usually refer to a tour pro as “multi-million-dollar winner John Doe” but rather “major champion John Doe”.

Still, given the current situation in pro golf has been precipitated in large part by money —seven-, eight- and nine-figure contracts from LIV Golf taking players away from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour — it’s no coincidence that the USGA announced that it was raising the prize money payout it is handing out at this year’s US Open.

Suffice it to say, it’s not just a little cash increase we’re talking about, but a sizeable bit of largesse. A year after the USGA handed out $12.5 million at Torrey Pines, the total prize money payout at The Country Club is up to $17.5 million with the winner, Matt Fitzpatrick, earning $3.15 million. That’s a 40 per cent jump in one year.

That increase follows a trend in 2022 from those who run the men’s majors. Augusta National beefed up its prize money payouts to $15 million, $3.5 million more than 2021. The PGA of America followed suit by taking its purse also to $15 million, raising it $3 million from the previous year.

Don’t worry R&A, no pressure on you just when we get to the 150th Open at St Andrews next month to add a little something to the $11.5 million you offered a year ago.

This is when we remind you that back in 1895, Horace Rawlins won the inaugural US Open at Newport Country Club. For his effort, the 21-year-old Englishman claimed a payday of … $150.

And we’ll continue to repeat ourselves but the size of the prize money payouts are put into better context when you break down the amount of money doled out for all the people who make the cut at The Country Club. The golfer who finishes last on Sunday among the 60 professionals who made the cut will earn $36,852. That’s more than 240 times as much as Rawlins made for that first victory.

Ben Hogan

Consider too how much some notable past US Open champions made when they won their titles and then look at what the players will be taking in this week, and the disparity is striking. Since the Second World War, here’s some of those paydays:

1950: Ben Hogan at Merion, $4,000
1960: Arnold Palmer at Cherry Hills, $14,400
1973: Johnny Miller at Oakmont, $35,000
1980: Jack Nicklaus at Baltusrol, $55,000
1982: Tom Watson at Pebble Beach, $60,000
1992: Tom Kite at Pebble Beach, $275,000
2000: Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach, $800,000
2008: Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines, $1.35 million
2011: Rory McIlroy at Congressional, $1.44 million
2015: Jordan Spieth at Chambers Bay, $1.8 million
2017: Brooks Koepka at Erin Hills, $2.16 million

Matt Fitzpatrick with Will Zalatoris. Warren Little

Long story short: They played for a lot of loot this weekend. And here is how much everybody earned.

US Open final standings and earnings

Win: Matt Fitzpatrick, -6, $3,150,000
T-2: Will Zalatoris, -5, $1,557,687
T-2: Scottie Scheffler, -5, $1,557,687
4: Hideki Matsuyama, -3, $859,032
T-5: Collin Morikawa, -2, $674,953
T-5: Rory McIlroy, -2, $674,953
T-7: Denny McCarthy, -1, $515,934
T-7: Adam Hadwin, -1, $515,934
T-7: Keegan Bradley, -1, $515,934
T-10: Gary Woodland, E, $407,220
T-10: Joel Dahmen, E, $407,220
T-12: Seamus Power, +1, $347,058
T-12: Jon Rahm, +1, $347,058
T-14: Guido Migliozzi, +2, $241,302
T-14: Xander Schauffele, +2, $241,302
T-14: Marc Leishman, +2, $241,302
T-14: Adam Scott, +2, $241,302
T-14: Cameron Tringale, +2, $241,302
T-14: Patrick Cantlay, +2, $241,302
T-14: Sebastian Munoz, +2, $241,302
T-14: Hayden Buckley, +2, $241,302
T-14: Nick Hardy, +2, $241,302
23: Joohyung Kim, +3, $171,732
T-24: Mackenzie Hughes, +4, $150,849
T-24: Adam Schenk, +4, $150,849
T-24: Dustin Johnson, +4, $150,849
T-27: Thomas Pieters, +5, $127,002
T-27: Min Woo Lee, +5, $127,002
T-27: Aaron Wise, +5, $127,002
T-27: Sam Burns, +5, $127,002
T-31: MJ Dauffe, +6, $100,331
T-31: Callum Tarren, +6, $100,331
T-31: Todd Sinnott, +6, $100,331
T-31: Andrew Putnam, +6, $100,331
T-31: Davis Riley, +6, $100,331
T-31: Patrick Rodgers, +6, $100,331
T-37: K.H. Lee, +7, $75,916
T-37: Justin Rose, +7, $75,916
T-37: Joseph Bramlett, +7, $75,916
T-37: Justin Thomas, +7, $75,916
T-37: Jordan Spieth, +7, $75,916
T-37: Matthew NeSmith, +7, $75,916
T-43: Chris Gotterup, +8, $59,332
T-43: Richard Bland, +8, $59,332
T-43: Brian Harman, +8, $59,332
T-43: Travis Vick, +8, Amateur
T-47: Joaquin Niemann, +9, $50,672
T-47: Max Homa, +9, $50,672
T-49: Patrick Reed, +10, $44,038
T-49: Samuel Stevens, +10, $44,038
T-49: David Lingmerth, +10, $44,038
T-49: Sam Bennett, +10, Amateur
T-53: Sebastian Soderberg, +11, $40,630
T-53: Beau Hossler, +11, $40,630
55: Brooks Koepka, +12, $39,432
T-56: Tyrrell Hatton, +13, $38,511
T-56: Wil Besseling, +13, $38,511
T-56: Bryson DeChambeau, +13, $38,511
60: Brandon Matthews, +16, $37,589
T-61: Harris English, +17, $37,221
T-61: Austin Greaser, +17, Amateur
63: Grayson Murray, +18, $36,843
64. Stewart Hagestad, +19, Amateur

Note: the 81 professionals who missed the cut each received $10,000

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It’s only June and Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris have already set records for different reasons

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 04:53:43 +0000

Scottie Scheffler. Keyur Khamar

By Jay Coffin
Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris. Both tied for second place at the US Open behind Matt Fitzpatrick and both have made major headlines this year on the PGA Tour, although Scheffler has made them for winning and Zalatoris has made them for only coming painfully close.

The duo each took home $1,557,687 for their consolation prize on Sunday at The Country Club and that total pushed each to different earnings records for a season on the PGA Tour.

Scheffler has now collected $12,869,894, which is a new record for earnings in a PGA Tour season. He’s won four times — Phoenix, Bay Hill, Match Play, Masters — and also has second-place finishes at the Charles Schwab Challenge and the Houston Open to go along with the performance in Brookline. Jordan Spieth held the previous mark in earnings with $12,030,465 in the 2014-15 season when he won two majors and five times overall.

And it’s only June, with several big events remaining, including the Open Championship and the three FedEx Cup Playoff events.

As for Zalatoris, he’s earned $6,441,437, which is the most money ever earned in a PGA Tour season without winning. He’s now up to 12th in the World Ranking and has seven top-six finishes just this year. Among those, of course, is the second-place tie at the US Open, the playoff loss to Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship, a second-place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and a sixth-place tie at the Masters.

Last season Louis Oosthuizen earned $6,306,679 and did not win. Jim Furyk earned $5,987,395 in 2014 and Tony Finau collected $5,620,138 in 2018 each without winning.

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Fitzy’s major moment, The Country Club shines and a little-known player perk: 18 US Open parting thoughts

Matt Smith — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 04:00:41 +0000

By Dan Rapaport
Matt Fitzpatrick is a major champion, winning the US Open with a legendary ball-striking performance — and doing it at The Country Club, where it all started. There is so, so much to discuss. Here are 18 parting thoughts from Brookline.

1: We start, as always, with the winner. This was the second consecutive major championship that Matt Fitzpatrick found himself in the final pairing on Sunday. His first tee shots in each help illustrate the different mindsets he was in.

When Fitzpatrick gets nervous, his tempo gets even quicker than it normally is, and his miss is a low pull. When he hit that shot on the first tee on Sunday at Southern Hills, you knew it was going to be a long day. He fought it all afternoon and had to play defensively the entire day. His first tee shot at The Country Club on Sunday was a tight draw down the centre. He had a different look about him the entire day. At the PGA, it seemed as if he was hoping to play well, and when he didn’t early, he spiraled. At the US Open, he expected to play well, and even when he wavered in the middle of the round — a missed five-footer for par at 10, and a three-putt from 20 feet at 11 — he steadied himself, buoyed by the belief that he was swinging the club as well as he ever has, and that two hiccups on the green wouldn’t change that fact. Hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation in the final round of the US Open, at a course with famously small greens, well, that’s among the best ball-striking rounds in major championship history. And the shot that sealed the deal, a sky-high cut from the fairway bunker that had to get up quickly to clear the lip … well, just let Will Zalatoris provide the context.

“I thought even going for it was going to be ballsy,” Zalatoris said. “It’s probably 1 in 20 … at best … to pull it off.” Fitzpatrick never considered laying up. Experience in high-leverage moments is invaluable, as is belief.

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2: This one hit Will Zalatoris hard. When it’s your first chance at winning a major and you don’t, you chalk it up as a learning experience. He had that at the 2021 Masters. When you get beat by a guy playing perfect golf, as he did in the playoff to Justin Thomas at last month’s PGA Championship, you can rest easy at night. This one? There’s no easy way to get over it … except, and it’s a big except, for the way he putted on Sunday. Zalatoris’ stroke has been an easy target; at times, on the short ones, it downright difficult to watch. But he putted beautifully throughout the week, and he is genuinely one of the better mid-range putters on the PGA Tour. How solid he looked on the shorties on Sunday should go a long way towards his confidence moving forward, for if he continues that work with the flatstick, he is a top-five player in the world. He now has seven top-eight finishes in nine major starts as a professional. He has major championships in his future. Multiple.

Matt Fitzpatrick with Will Zalatoris. Warren Little

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3: It’s amazing Billy Foster had managed not to be on the bag for a major championship given the list of guy’s he’s looped for full-time: Seve Ballesteros, Darren Clarke, Thomas Bjorn and Lee Westwood. Early in the week he told The Caddie Network that if Fitzpatrick had putted for Westwood, he might’ve won six or seven majors. Clearly, the near-misses stayed with him — none more so than the 2003 Open Championship, when Bjorn held a one-shot lead heading into 16 on Sunday before leaving two shots in a bunker and throwing it away. Foster can hardly tell that story without breaking into tears. Now, more than 30 years after he began his caddieing journey, he fills the lone hole in his resume. He was more emotional than his boss on the 18th green.

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4: Golf needed a week like this. The last fortnight has been dominated by rumours, drama and existential crises. This was the perfect chaser for all the conjecture, and all the discussion of “growing the game.” The US Open is the purist golf tournament in the world, with nearly half the field earning their place through World Ranking qualifiers. This week’s field featured a high school senior, college kids, a mid-amateur, mini-tour players, Korn Ferry Tour players, PGA Tour superstars, legends of days past and a 57-year-old journeyman.

The best players gravitated toward the top of the leaderboard throughout the course of 72 holes — funny how that happened — and Sunday was positively buzzy … until Mexican television reminded us that the rumours, drama and existential crises aren’t going anywhere. They reported that Abraham Ancer would be the next to make the jump to LIV. The news dropped just as the leaders were making the turn at the US Open.

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Collin Morikawa. Patrick Smith

5: Collin Morikawa will be thinking about that third-round 77 for a long time. Despite not having his patented cut to rely on — he said he played a draw all week for the first time since his freshman year of college — Morikawa shot three rounds in the 60s, including a final-round 66, at the US Open. His stuff was good enough to win, and he wasn’t far off notching the third leg of the career Grand Slam … at 25 years old.

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6: In non-Masters major championship golf, coverage complaints are a rinse, repeat situation. The consensus: too many commercials, not enough golf shots. This week, however, the outrage reached an all–time high — so much so that Mike Whan, CEO of the USGA, responded on Twitter to assure fans that his organisation is listening and working with broadcast partners to address the problem.

That response was significant for a few reasons. The first: Whan is a new type of leader for an organisation that, historically, has been a caricature of golf’s stuffiness. He is not a golf lifer or purist, he is a new-age executive who knows the value of positive PR. It’s hard, maybe impossible, to imagine Mike Davis or any of his predecessors responding to public criticism. It also struck a note given recent happenings in the golf world. The whole LIV situation has shined a light on the professional game’s shortcomings, and the emergence of a worthy competitor to the PGA Tour has certainly heated the seats of the sport’s decision-makers. Yes, this was not a PGA Tour event, but the ever-shifting landscape is forcing all executives off their metaphorical high-horse to re-examine their product and find ways to improve it. If nothing else, let’s hope that’ll lead to some lasting positives.

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7: Gripes about non-Masters major championship apps are also a rinse, repeat situation. The USGA’s offering functioned better than the PGA of America’s, for sure, and was just a hair behind the PGA Tour’s in terms of performance. The Masters? That’s in a different category. You know it, and so does the USGA. One USGA official offered this, early in the week: “The Masters app just ruins it for all of us.” They’re trying; they’re just a bit outgunned resources-wise.

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8: This could well be the last time we see Stewart Hagestad in a major championship. The 31-year-old was playing in his fourth US Open and sixth major overall by way of his second US Mid-Amateur title last summer. He’s been the lone mid-am on three straight US Walker Cup teams. He lives a charmed life, bouncing around finance jobs over the last half-decade while also having time to keep his game in good enough shape to compete with the college kids all summer long. He’s an easy target for criticism, given the financial safety net that provides scheduling flexibility. But before you send a mean tweet in his direction, ask yourself: If given the opportunity, and if you had the game, would you not do the exact same thing?

Stewart Hagestad. Patrick Smith

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I don't understand how both these men are 25 years old. pic.twitter.com/tZISSGvcnO

— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) June 18, 2022

9: It is legitimately astounding that Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa are both 25 years old. You show these two pictures to a non-golf fan and they’d swear these men must be at least 15 years apart.

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10: Consider this an official motion to give The Country Club a place in the US Open rotation, which currently includes Pebble Beach, Oakmont, Pinehurst and Shinnecock Hills. TCC matches up to each of those as a pure golf course — Will Zalatoris called it the hardest he’s ever played, and the general consensus among players was that it offered a varied test and forced players to plot their way around more than US Opens of recent vintage. Length is always an advantage, of course, but it was a prerequisite at Winged Foot and Torrey Pines; this week, guys like Adam Hadwin and Joel Dahmen were able to hang. Add in the history attached to this place and the tremendous Boston sports fans and you’ve got a recipe for one hell of a major championship. It’d be a damn shame if we have to wait another 34 years to come back here.

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11: There are moments in every major that remind us of one golf’s chief charms: that you, watching at home, can relate to the emotions that they, the best players in the world, are feeling.

The best example from this week came on Friday, when Collin Morikawa was playing the driveable par-4 fifth. His tee shot found a bunker short and right of the green, and the pin was cut just a few paces over a false front. Morikawa caught his bunker shot a tad heavy, and the ball rolled to the top of the ridge and, mercifully, stopped. Morikawa leapt out of the bunker and knocked the sand off his feet as he jogged to mark his ball, terrified that the slightest breeze would send it tumbling down the slope. He got there in the time, the crowd loved it, and he thanked the crowd for appreciating his stunning display of athleticism. All of us have been in that situation before. It was hard not to smile.

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12: I always like to pass along the funniest (family-friendly) line I heard from every major. This week, there was a runaway champ. During Thursday’s first round, Dustin Johnson was sauntering up to a tee box when a fan asked him a LIV-inspired question: “Hey, DJ! How big is your bank account?!”

His response, without missing a beat, dripping in swagger and in a Southern drawl: “Bigger’n yours.”

Not much else to say, is there?

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13: A drivable par 4 is a welcome change-of-pace every week, but especially so at a US Open. It throws the guys a bone of sorts, a lone birdie opportunity interspersed between 500-yard, hold-on-for-dear-life beasts. Why, then, did the fifth at The Country Club fail to scratch that itch?

The great drivable par 4s have greens surrounded by vortexes of trouble. This presents the player with options: lay up with an iron to the fairway and give yourself a flip wedge into the green … or take on the trouble for a chance at glory. Thread the needle and an eagle becomes a distinct possibility; hit a foul ball and you could leave with 6. The hole should make you question yourself. It serves as a litmus test for a guy’s confidence level.

The fifth did none of that. Almost no one laid up off the tee, even when the wind was blowing into them during Sunday’s final round. And that’s fine. That alone doesn’t make it a terrible hole — almost no one lays up on the par-4 10th at Riviera, for example — but the reason for it does: there was just no trouble up by the green. Miss left and you were in some trampled down rough with a green that slopes back to front, so even mis-hit shots from the rough stopped on the fringe. Miss to the right and you had a great angle to the middle of the green and a little runway of fairway before the green to run the ball up. The Country Club charmed players, fans and media alike all week. But the fifth stood out as the lone weak hole.

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14: Conversely, the short par-3 11th was just a delight all week. The hole is part of the Primrose nine at TCC and hadn’t been used in championship play since Francis Ouimet’s victory in the 1913 US Open. It must be a part of any The Country Club layout moving forward. A short, treacherous par 3 that demands precise distance and spin control weeds out those who cannot control their nerves.

Will Zalatoris. Patrick Smith

It played a pivotal role on Sunday. Will Zalatoris played first in the final group on Sunday and hit a wedge that dug into the centre of the green and spun back to pin high. Matt Fitzpatrick followed with a much lower-flighted shot that plopped down and stuck just inside Zalatoris’ ball. Zalatoris would be giving Fitzpatrick a read. Advantage, Fitzpatrick … until Zalatoris poured his birdie putt right in the centre, his fourth in his last six holes. Fitzpatrick, surely eager to answer with a birdie of his own, gunned his five feet past the green and yanked the comebacker. Length is not necessary to challenge the best.

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15: Perhaps you noticed that a bunch of the guys were sporting fresh cuts this week. Like, really fresh. Turns out there is an “Official US Open Barber” who, it would seem, provided haircuts free of charge for any participant. Perks, man. Perks. I managed to snap a photo of this guy, and some pointed out the irony of a bald guy giving haircuts. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s not bald, he’s just got a higher and tighter haircut than 99 per cent of humans on this planet.

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16: Brooks Koepka and Joel Dahmen couldn’t be more different — in their games, their CVs, their bank accounts and the way they carry themselves. Koepka gives off textbook alpha-male energy: I’m cooler than you, and I don’t care what you think. “I mean, I’m pretty confident,” Koepka said on Friday, “but I feel like everybody should be confident in themselves, and if you’re not — people hate confidence. That’s why people aren’t a big fan of me.”

Dahmen, on the other hand, has said numerous times that he doesn’t think he’ll ever win a major. He debated not even trying to qualify for the US Open because, he told The Athletic, “If I qualify, I’m just signing up to get my ass kicked.” Back in November, he told me: “Look, I’m not selling a single ticket. Maybe to a couple buddies, but I probably gave them free tickets anyway. I’m not bringing anyone here. I’m not adding a ton of value outside of maybe some Twitter stuff.” You get the sense both men lean into their personas a bit, that the way they truly feel is probably a bit less extreme than they let on. Still, it’s fascinating the wide range of attitudes across professional sports. Golf is no different.

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17: It’s not the most glamorous part of the gig, but part of being a golf journalist is trying to eavesdrop on conversations between famous golfers. As such, during a practice round on Monday, I noticed Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy having an animated exchange, and I did my best to hustle over and see if I might be able to catch the drift. Turns out they were discussing a new special-edition watch that surely costs half my yearly salary. The Morikawa anecdote stood out for its relatability; this one, then, was a reminder that while we share a passion for golf, their toys are a bit shinier than ours.

I did not know this was a thing. pic.twitter.com/rDXKBvmFUv

— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) June 17, 2022

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18: The NIL era has officially hit golf. In years past, the amateurs always stick out on the driving range, their stand bags and logo-less (or college-issued) shirts contrasting the pros’ staff bags and NASCAR driver-like shirts that serve as mobile billboards. This week? Not so noticeable. Michael Thorbjornsen of Stanford and Charlie Reiter of the University of San Diego were both head-to-toe in TaylorMade, including the same staff bag that Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa had. Keita Nakajima, the World No. 1 amateur from Japan, had four different logos on his shirt. Nick Dunlap, the reigning US Junior Amateur champion, had a logo on his right sleeve and a different one on the right side of his hat. We’re all for people making money, but the line between amateur and professional continues to grow more faint.

Next up in this triple-crown like major cadence: St. Andrews. It’ll be here before we know it.

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U.S. Open 2022: Caddie Billy Foster gets ‘gorilla’ off his back after years of major championship anguish

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 06:18:50 +0000

Warren Little

By Christopher Powers
BROOKLINE, Mass. — Billy Foster’s heart sank.

On the 72nd tee, where Matt Fitzpatrick (the boss man) arrived with a one-shot lead over Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler, who was already in the clubhouse at five under, Foster and Fitzpatrick decided on 3-wood. It was a debate the two had been having throughout the week at The Country Club, Fitzpatrick leaning toward driver each day. Anytime the Englishman has a chance to let the big dog eat, the big dog is gonna eat.

But this was the final hole of the United States Open. With a one-shot lead. Allowing Fitzpatrick to bring trouble into play in that situation would be borderline caddie malpractice. So 3-wood it was.

“We had a difference of opinion there all week,” Foster said afterward. “Today we said if you drive it straight down the middle [with a driver] it’s going to run out into the rough—just hit the 3-wood. It’s one of those where if you hit the fairway, you know it’s going to be a 9-iron.”

Fitzpatrick, however, did not hit the fairway. As his ball sailed directly toward one of the bunkers down the left side of the hole, Foster, already in a helpless position just by the nature of the job, was just about ready to vomit on Brookline’s hallowed ground.

“It’s in the air turning toward the trap and I’m just like …,” said Foster, who then made the face-palm motion.

Surely, ghosts of majors past crept into Foster’s brain, and he’s got more than a few that have kept him up nights. This is a man who was on the bag for Thomas Bjorn at the 2003 Open Championship at Royal St. George’s, where Bjorn took a two-shot lead to the 16th hole when catastrophe struck, with Bjorn leaving two shots in a greenside bunker. He made double bogey and lost by one to Ben Curtis.

Foster was on the bag of Lee Westwood for 10 years, a relationship that featured nine top-three finishes in majors, including three runners-up. The 2010 loss to Phil Mickelson at the Masters was among the most painful, but none surpassed the anguish of Westwood’s three-putt on the 72nd green at the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, knocking him out of a playoff for the claret jug with Tom Watson and Stewart Cink.

“I’ve probably had six or seven really close calls, a couple heartbreaking losses,” Foster said. “It was tough to stomach sometimes.”

An 18th hole Fitzpatrick collapse would have ranked right up there on the sick-to-the-stomach list, another unfortunate what-if in a caddieing career full of them. When the duo arrived to find the ball in the bunker with Zalatoris safely 30 yards ahead in the middle of the fairway, Foster had his doubts.

“”It was sort of like, behind a steep lip, so he couldn’t go at the flag,” Foster said, “but he could just go to the left edge of the green. And he sort of plum-bobbed the ball at a tree at the back of the green that was probably like three or four yards inside the left edge of the green. Hit a good solid cut-off that. What a golf shot. The weakness in his game this season has been his fairway bunker play, which has been about as good as mine, and I’m rubbish. But if you’re going to hit a good one, it might as well be the last hole of a U.S. Open.”

Fitzpatrick’s shot, which has already become the stuff of U.S. Open legend, led to a two-putt par. That wound up being enough to clip Zalatoris, whose birdie effort slipped by the left edge of the cup and somehow didn’t fall. Knowing he still had to tap in for par, Foster and Fitzpatrick couldn’t quite start celebrating, but the tears were already flowing down the longtime looper’s weathered face.

“Just pure, utter relief,” Foster said. “I have the monkey off my back, but it feels more like a gorilla.”

Making this one that much sweeter was that it came in the major after Foster’s (and Fitzpatrick’s) latest close call a month ago in the PGA Championship. Fitzpatrick entered the final round at Southern Hills three shots off the lead, with a even-par final round good enough to have won it, and one over getting him in a playoff. It was not to be that day, and “not to be that day” is something Foster has gotten a little too used to on Sundays at majors over the years.

“I ain’t got many more years left in the game,” Foster said when asked if he thought the major may never come. “The disappointing thing about the PGA was that it was there to win. We didn’t have to do anything special at all. He just didn’t quite perform on Sunday, didn’t have his ‘A’ game and he missed too many fairways. Yeah, it’s disappointing, but through the experience of losing, you knew it was coming. He obviously won the amateur here, I just thought there was every chance he could compete again, and sure enough he did.”

Even after a lifetime of near-misses, Foster did allow himself to wonder if today was finally the day.

“Two or three times it flashes in front of your eyes and you have a little tear filling up and you say ‘stop that, stop that. Don’t even go there, just get on with it,” Foster said. “But I’d be lying if it didn’t cross my mind two or three times out there today. You just want it so badly you can’t help but think about it. But we both did very well, we worked well out there today. There was no mistakes, not one. Everything was perfect.”

By now, Foster’s well-earned celebration has already begun. He had a flight out of Boston Sunday night that he happily missed, and his next one, scheduled for 2 p.m. on Monday, might leave without him, too. Who knows where the night will take him.

“I’ll start with a beer in the caddie shack,” Foster said while standing in the 18th fairway. “Followed by another 20.”

After 30 long, major-less years, Foster has earned all 21 of those beers. Hell, if he wanted to polish off a whole 30 rack himself, nobody would blame him.

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U.S. Open 2022: Matt Fitzpatrick became a major champion by turning his shortcomings into strengths

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 06:04:53 +0000

By John Huggan
BROOKLINE, Mass. — Englishmen don’t win U.S. Opens too often, only three times in the last century to be exact. And they certainly don’t win America’s national championship on the same course where they had previously claimed the U.S. Amateur title, a feat achieved only once, by a guy named Jack Nicklaus (at Pebble Beach). But the time has come to forget all of that near futility. Nine years after he won the U.S. Amateur title at The Country Club, Matt Fitzpatrick’s six-under 274, good enough for a one-stroke win over Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris, means he is U.S. Open champion.

Move over Jack.

Fitzpatrick’s historic breakthrough at the highest level—achieved while staying with the same family and sleeping in the same room he did back in August 2013—is hardly the biggest surprise, of course. Just last month, only a poorly played final round of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills prevented the 27-year from pre-empting this, the biggest win of his professional career. He has, however, always been a man on the rise. British Boys champion in 2012, he picked up the silver medal as low amateur at the 2013 Open Championship before moving smoothly on to that Country Club win that saw him ranked the world’s No. 1 amateur.

Not for nothing does Fitzpatrick’s swing coach, Mike Walker, variously describe his charge as a “baby-faced assassin,” “ruthless,” “one-track minded,” “hell-bent on getting to the very top” and possessed of “an innate confidence, that is hard to see. It is within him.”

Fitzpatrick celebrates making a long putt for birdie on the 13th green during the final round of the 122nd U.S. Open. Jared C. Tilton

All of the above were on display over the course of a pulsating final round in which the lead was passed between Scheffler, the Masters champion and World No. 1, and Zalatoris, who now has three runner-up finishes in majors at age 25.

As ever, there were key moments during Fitzpatrick’s closing two-under 68, none more so than the 50-foot birdie putt the seven-time winner on the DP World Tour rolled in across the 13th green. But the 19-footer that disappeared into the cup two holes later for what turned out to be the decisive birdie is surely a close second.

“The feeling is out of this world,” was Fitzpatrick’s instant reaction to claiming the first of what he hopes will be at least six major titles.

“Six is the number,” he says. “That’s the number that we all agreed on. I’ve got a bit of a way to go, but this is a good start. It is so cliché, but it’s stuff you dream of as a kid. I can retire a happy man tomorrow. The expectations were for me to play well. Having won the U.S. Amateur, I just felt so comfortable around this place. I know where to hit it; I know where to miss it. Because of my success here before, it felt like this was the time. I’m just happy to be unbeaten around this place.”

Nine years earlier, Fitzpatrick claimed another USGA title by winning the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club. Boston Globe

The holing of putts has always been a strength of the Fitzpatrick game, alongside his metronomic ability to find fairways from the tee. But the knock on him—a reason perhaps why he had yet to win as a professional in the U.S.—was always that he lacked the length to compete at the elite level. Well, forget that. As a result of his work with bio-mechanist Sasho Mackenzie and a Speedstick called “The Stack,” Fitzpatrick is now much longer off the tee. Among the contending group, he was the only man who found the green with his drive at the 310-yard fifth hole, a feat he followed up by flying his second shot at the 557-yard par-5 eighth onto the distant putting surface.

All of which came as no surprise to Walker, who followed the final round by phone while driving north up the M6 motorway from Heathrow Airport. The pair have done much work so far this year, making changes that mean fresh analysis of the Fitzpatrick technique is required. Gone is the short-hitting but accurate short-game specialist, replaced by the owner of a strong all-round game.

“The main thing has been Matt’s change to [cross]-handed chipping,” Walker said. “He’d been doing it in practice as a drill. Then we discovered that he was better out of rough that way, so he started chipping from rough with left-hand below right. But it became obvious that his chipping from short grass wasn’t as good a people thought it was.

“Anyway, we met at the Bear’s Club in Florida and studied the full list of notes we had on his chipping,” Walker continued. “I laid it all out to him. And his reaction was to say he didn’t have to think about his cross-handed action. So it was obvious what we should do. But before we came to a final decision, in typical Matt-fashion he collected a month’s worth of data comparing the two actions. And the rest is history.”

Fitzpatrick wasn’t the only one to become a new major champion on Sunday, as veteran caddie Billy Foster also grabbed his first win in one of golf’s biggest events. Patrick Smith

Other than that, the pair worked on taking a lot of “set” out of Fitzpatrick’s left wrist, a move that has revolutionized his iron play. His driving meanwhile has retained its consistency and accuracy, even as he has gained yardage through the speed work he has done.

“It has made him a world player and he just proved it,” says Walker. “With Matt’s game is it almost like spinning plates. Last year he played OK, driving it great and putting really well. But his iron play wasn’t very good. Nor was his chipping. This year he’s been a bit more streaky with this putter. He’s had bad weeks and good weeks. But his approach play and chipping are now on a level with the rest of his game. He’s strong through the bag now, after plugging the two gaps in his game.”

Still, another factor in Fitzpatrick’s success is caddie Billy Foster, yet another Yorkshireman. Like his boss, this was Foster’s first major championship victory after a string of near things alongside the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke. But his biggest disappointment came alongside Thomas Bjorn in the 2003 Open at Royal St. George’s. Three shots clear with three holes to play, the Dane needed three attempts to escape a greenside bunker at the 16th and contrived to lose by a shot to Ben Curtis.

“It was heartbreaking to lose that day,” Foster says. “I cried in the car on the way home.”

The only tears this time, of course, will be those of joy.

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US Open 2022 Day 2 wrap: Rory McIlroy’s running birdie, Matt Fitzpatrick’s long drive conquest, and four other surprises at The Country Club

Golf Digest Middle East — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 09:54:35 +0000

Matthew Fitzpatrick. Patrick Smith

By Alex Myers
Day 2 at the US Open has come to an end, and there were plenty of things that left us scratching our heads. Here are eight surprises from the second round at The Country Club:

Matt Fitzpatrick’s bombs

The tales of Fitzpatrick’s increased pop off the tee have not been exaggerated. And on Friday, Dustin Johnson found that out in person. We’re pretty sure DJ knew who Fitzpatrick was before this week — unlike his (lack of) knowledge of MJ Daffue — but we’re guessing he was surprised to be hitting his approach shots before the Brit all day. Even Fitzpatrick, who has made huge gains in distance in the past year-plus thanks to a new fitness routine and speed-training sessions, was even surprised that he was out-driving one of the longest hitters in pro golf.

Ball speed on 15, both with driver:

Matt Fitzpatrick: 176 MPH
Dustin Johnson: 174 MPH

— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 17, 2022

“Yeah, hitting the drives I hit this week so far and seeing where he’s hit his has been quite eye-opening for me,” Fitzpatrick said after.

“For me, I’ve just got to try and hopefully just take advantage more of it,” he added. “If now on paper I’m hitting it past DJ, you look at the success he’s had, if I can emulate that, then I’ll be a very happy man.”

He’s also got to be pretty happy to be two-under through 36 holes and in contention at a second consecutive major.

Rory’s running birdie

Wanna see a golfer move fast? Watch when their golf ball settles precariously close to a false front. Such was the case of Rory McIlroy’s approach shot on No. 17 that came close to spinning off the front. As fans yelled variations of, “You better mark that quick!” that’s exactly what Rory did, sprinting up to the green to put a coin on his ball.

Rory McIlroy runs at US Open. Ross Kinnaird

What an athlete. Seriously, the dude was moving. Turns out, he also did it in part because he didn’t want playing partner Xander Schauffele to hit it with his approach on the short par 4. Either way, Rory was proud of his wheels after and said he’s capable of running a 100-yard dash even faster.

“I’ve got more than that in the tank,” McIlroy said with a smile.

I don’t doubt it. The best part? McIlroy wound up draining the birdie to move to within one of the lead heading into the weekend. The lesson? Stay in shape, folks.

Viktor Hovland’s bogey party

The Norwegian star’s name was near the top of the leaderboard early Friday morning, but a stunning turn of events had him leaving Brookline before the weekend. His mode of transportation? The bogey train. A long, long bogey train.

After birdieing two of his first seven holes, Hovland looked like he was going to put himself in great position heading into the weekend. Heck, the guy known for struggling with his short game even chipped in for birdie on No. 2. But then he turned into an 18-handicapper, making six consecutive bogeys on holes 8-13. Pretty crazy for the eighth-ranked player on the planet. And he wasn’t done! Bogeys on 6, 8 and 9 gave him a crazy nine blemishes over his final 11 holes, resulting in a 77. Of course, it doesn’t help when you end up in spots like this:

Viktor Hovland. David Cannon

Last year Hovland had a disappointing early finish to this tournament when he withdrew due to a fluke eye injury suffered in a bunker at Torrey Pines. Incredibly, this may have been a more painful exit.

Joel Dahmen is your leader

Dahmen took in a Ben Rector concert on Thursday night. On Friday evening, he took the lead at the US Open. Well, a share of the lead, that is.

Dahmen missed birdie putts of inside 10 feet on his final two holes, but that didn’t keep him from grabbing a spot in Saturday’s final pairing with Collin Morikawa. Not bad for someone who had failed to make the cut in two previous US Open starts.

Joel Dahmen. Andrew Redington

So more golf history can be made at Brookline this weekend. Because we’re pretty sure Dahmen would be the first US Open champ to rock a bucket hat.

Justin Thomas goes in reverse

It wasn’t nearly as bad as Hovland backing up, but we didn’t expect the reigning PGA champ to start his second round with a double-bogey — especially after he piped his opening tee shot 320 yards down the middle on No. 10. But after airmailing the green, Thomas left his first chip in the rough and was unable to get up and down from there.

Justin Thomas. Patrick Smith

He then missed a four-footer for par on the next hole to tumble farther down the leader board. On the bright side, JT clawed his way to shoot one under the rest of the way, and at one over through two days, he’s certainly not out of it.

The cut line at The Country Club

Let’s just say they’re not going to call this US Open “The Massacre in Massachusetts.” As expected, the cut line wound up being over par, but not as over as most predicted.

In the end, you needed to be three-over or better to be one of the 60 and ties to make it to the weekend. See, this place isn’t so tough, after all! Of course, if players are thinking that, they should probably keep it to themselves. The USGA has two more days to wreak havoc.

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US Open 2022: Phil Mickelson laments poor play, early exit: ‘I thought I was more prepared than I was’

Golf Digest Middle East — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 07:00:15 +0000

By Ryan Herrington
Friday wasn’t as bad as Thursday at The Country Club for Phil Mickelson, but it also wasn’t good. A three-over 73 included two birdies, one more than he posted a day earlier en route to a 78, but more struggles on the greens did little to turn the story of his week at the US Open into anything close to inspiring.

“I thought I was more prepared than I was,” Mickelson told Golfweek in the player parking lot as he prepared to leave the course on Friday. “The US Open is the ultimate test. And you don’t really know where your game is until you get tested, and I thought I was little bit closer than I was.”

Of 78 players who finished in the morning on Friday, Mickelson beat just eight with his 11-over total, two of them amateurs. There was no facet that seemed to be clicking, no matter how many thumbs up he flashed to a mostly positive crowd after playing in just his second event since a four-month break from the game.

“I really struggled with putting,” said Mickelson, who will miss the cut for the fifth time in 31 US Open starts. “I’m struggling with the putter, last week and this week”

Mickelson did just celebrate his 52nd birthday on Thursday, and few that age find themselves regularly in contention in events outside the PGA Tour Champions. And even before his self-imposed exile, he hadn’t finished better than T-17 in 12 PGA Tour starts since his 2021 PGA Championship victory.

It’s hard to get rid of competitive rust when you’re not playing that much. He’ll have the benefit of having gotten through the extremely awkward initial press conferences from the past two weeks, which no doubt were a distraction for his play.

Phil Mickelson. Rob Carr

What’s next for Mickelson? Of course, he won’t play any PGA Tour events any time soon, given the suspension he received for competing in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational outside of London, Presumably he’ll play in the next LIV event at Pumpkin Ridge outside of Portland, Ore., in two weeks, followed by a start in the 150th Open at St Andrews.

“I feel I’m certainly playing better than I’m scoring,” Mickelson said, “and I look forward to working on it.”

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US Open 2022: All your second round tee times and pairings

Matt Smith — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 11:28:17 +0000

By Matt Smith
With the first round safely completed and surprise leader Adam Hadwin one ahead of the likes of Rory McIlroy, here are all your tee times and pairings for Friday’s second round at The Country Club in Brookline for the 2022 US Open.

1st hole

6.45am – Jed Morgan, Australia; Taylor Montgomery, US; Sean Crocker, US
6.56am – (a) Maxwell Moldovan, US; Yannik Paul, Germany; MJ Daffue, South Africa
7.07am – Talor Gooch, US; Adri Arnaus, Spain; Tom Hoge, US
7.18am – Kevin Na, US; Sergio Garcia, Spain; Tyrrell Hatton, England
7.29am – Sam Burns, US; Patton Kizzire. US; Thomas Pieters, Belgium
7.40am – Brooks Koepka, US; Cameron Smith, Australia; Scottie Scheffler, US
7.51am – Luke List, US; (a) Austin Greaser, US; Corey Conners, Canada
8.02am – Gary Woodland, US; Justin Rose, England; Bryson DeChambeau, US
8.13am – KH Lee, South Korea; Tommy Fleetwood, England; Patrick Reed, US
8.24am – Jason Kokrak, US; Harris English, US; Lucas Herbert, Australia
8.35am – Sam Stevens, US; (a) Ben Lorenz, US; Davis Shore, US
8.46am – Daijiro Izumida, Japan; (a) Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Belgium; Sebastian Söderberg, Sweden
8.57am – Ryan Gerard, US; Brady Calkins, US; Jesse Mueller, US
12.30pm – Fran Quinn, US; Callum Tarren, England; Hayden Buckley, US
12.41pm – Kurt Kitayama, US; Denny McCarthy, US; (a) Sam Bennett, US
12.52pm – Wyndham Clark, US; Brandon Matthews, US; Wil Besseling, Netherlands
1.03pm – David Lingmerth, Sweden; Sepp Straka, Austria; Si Woo Kim, Soth Korea
1.14pm – Scott Stallings, US; Davis Riley, US; Victor Perez, France
1.25pm – Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland; Hideki Matsuyama, Japan; Xander Schauffele, US
1.36pm – Kevin Kisner, US; Russell Henley, US; Brian Harman, US
1.47pm – Keegan Bradley, US; Marc Leishman, Australia; Aaron Wise, US
1.58pm – Francesco Molinari, Italy; (a) Laird Shepherd, England; Stewart Cink, US
2.09pm – Marcel Schneider, Germany; Chan Kim, US; Joseph Bramlett, US
2.20pm – Lanto Griffin, US; Joel Dahmen, US; Jinichiro Kozuma, Japan
2.31pm – Chris Gotterup, US; (a) Fred Biondi, Brazil; Harry Hall, England
2.42pm – Chris Naegel, US; Andrew Beckler, US; Luke Gannon, US

MORE: US Open Day 1 wrap

10th hole

6.45am – Kevin Chappell, US; Chase Seiffert, US; Andrew Novak, US
6.56am – Thorbjørn Olesen, Denmark; Brian Stuard, US; Nick Hardy, US
7.07am – Sam Horsfield, England; Cameron Tringale, US; Shaun Norris, South Africa
7.18am – Sungjae Im, Soth Korea; Mito Pereira, Chile; Erik van Rooyen, South Africa
7.29am – Justin Thomas, US; Viktor Hovland, Norway; Tony Finau, US
7.40am – Joohyung Kim, South Korea; Séamus Power, Republic of Ireland; Min Woo Lee, Australia
7.51am – Matt Fitzpatrick, England; Webb Simpson, US; Dustin Johnson, US
8.02am – Phil Mickelson, US; Shane Lowry, Republic of Ireland; Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa
8.13am – Danny Lee, New Zealand; (a) Keita Nakajima, Japan; Nick Taylor, Canada
8.24am – Jim Furyk, US; (a) Nick Dunlap, US; Adam Hadwin, Canada
8.35am – Richard Bland, England; Rikuya Hoshino, Japan; Ryan Fox, New Zealand
8.46am – Jonas Blixt, Sweden; Bo Hoag, US; Todd Sinnott, Australia
8.57am – Isaiah Salinda, US; Sean Jacklin, Scotland; (a) Charles Reiter, US
12.30pm – (a) Michael Thorbjornsen, US; Erik Barnes, US; Matt McCarty, US
12.41pm – Matthew NeSmith, US; Patrick Rodgers, US; (a) Travis Vick, US
12.52pm – Troy Merritt, US; (a) William Mouw, US; Andrew Putnam, US
1.03pm – Collin Morikawa, US; James Piot, US; Jon Rahm, Spain
1.14pm – Jordan Spieth, US; Adam Scott, Australia; Max Homa, US
1.25pm – Billy Horschel, US; Patrick Cantlay, US; Daniel Berger, US
1.36pm – Harold Varner III, US; Sebastián Muñoz, Colombia; Alex Norén, Sweden
1.47pm – Joaquin Niemann, Chile; Cameron Young, US; Will Zalatoris, US
1.58pm – Adam Schenk, US; (a) Stewart Hagestad, US; Grayson Murray, US
2.09pm – Guido Migliozzi, Italy; Branden Grace, South Africa; Mackenzie Hughes, Canada
2.20pm – Beau Hossler, US; Kalle Samooja, Finland; Satoshi Kodaira, Japan

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US Open 2022: Think your airline losing your clubs during a major week is rough? Try having it happen twice

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 10:13:37 +0000

Callum Tarren waves on the ninth green during Round 1 of the 122nd US Open. Warren Little

By Ryan Herrington
PGA Tour rookie Callum Tarren would like to make playing in the US Open a habit. Same with appearing on the leaderboard, which the 31-year-old from England did on Thursday after teeing it up in the first group off the 10th hole in the opening round and shooting a three-under 67 for a share of the morning lead.

What Tarren would like not to repeat again is losing his golf clubs during the US Open. Unfortunately, he’s gone 2-for-2 in that department.

Tarren played last week at the RBC Canadian Open but missed the cut, so he flew on Saturday from Toronto to Boston. Fearing a difficult check-in process for the international flight, he got to the airport four hours ahead but cruised through. Too quickly perhaps.

Sure enough, when Tarren landed, his clubs were nowhere to be found. “There was five other players on my flight,” he said. “They all got golf clubs.”

MORE: US Open Day 1 wrap

Tarren came out to The Country Club on Sunday and walked with a wedge in hand. Thankfully that afternoon he got a call that his clubs had found their way to Boston.

“Luckily, there was somebody in Canada who went to the airport and gave the airport staff a little kick,” he said. “This time I got them a little bit faster than last. I didn’t actually get them until Wednesday in Pebble Beach a few years ago, so that was a nightmare.”

Indeed, in his first US Open appearance in 2019 at Pebble Beach, Tarren flew from Atlanta to San Francisco and was then supposed to go to Monterey, but the last leg got cancelled due to a bizarre mechanical failure (the cabin door broke when it was closed with a phone charger in the doorway). Tarren paid $450 to take a taxi from San Francisco to Pebble and was told his clubs would be there the next day. But they didn’t make it, the clubs somehow were rerouted to New Orleans and on to Denver.

It led to a few days of panic as Tarren attempted to prepare for the first major championship of his career while practising with borrowed clubs. Not surprisingly, he ended up missing the cut.

With clubs in hand in Brookline, Tarren seemed to get off to a so-so start on Thursday, sitting one-over through his opening nine holes. He then went four-under over his final nine, including a chip-in eagle on the par-5 eighth, his second to last hole.

“I’m kind of pinching myself … I didn’t realize it was on the top of the leaderboard until I pulled that final put on the ninth hole,” Tarren said.

To say Tarren’s spot on the leaderboard is a suprise is an understatement. After earning his tour card by graduating from the Korn Ferry Tour last fall, Tarren missed the cut in seven of his first eight starts. And in the other, he was disqualified. He’s subsequently earned enough FedEx Cup points to sit 107th on the points list entering the week while ranking 444th in the world.

“Just excited with my start, and let’s see what the next few days holds,” he said.

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US Open 2022: Tantrums aside, Rory McIlroy produces the strong start he needed

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 17 Jun 2022 04:56:25 +0000

By John Huggan
More than half a century has passed since Lee Trevino completed a remarkable sequence of play and claimed what quickly became known as golf’s ‘Triple Crown’.

Over the course of just 30 days during June/July 1971, the then 31-year old ball-striking genius won three national championships in succession: the Canadian Open, the US Open and the Open Championship.

No one has repeated that extraordinary feat since. But it could happen this year. Following his successful defence of the Canadian Open at St. George’s last weekend, Rory McIlroy kicked off his 14th US Open campaign with a rather nifty 67 at The Country Club. It is just the sort of solid platform that could see the Northern Irishman heading to St Andrews for next month’s 150th Open with Trevino and triple on his mind.

More immediately, McIlroy’s three-under-par total represents further evidence that he is finally cresting a hill of his own making. At least for the moment — and just as he was at Southern Hills in last month’s PGA Championship — he is more clear-headed “morning person” than fuzzy-headed and slow to rise from his slumbers. This four-birdie, one-bogey performance immediately places the four-time major champion front and centre on the leaderboard. Perhaps more importantly, he will also be occupying a similarly prominent place in the hearts and minds of his fellow competitors.

All alone at the top ? @McIlroyRory is making everything @USOpenGolf. pic.twitter.com/KFiY2GmAAG

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 16, 2022

Still, for all that the end result was so obviously pleasing — even with that lone bogey on the ninth, McIlroy’s final hole — it wasn’t all straightforward. In many ways, in fact, this was a typical US Open round. McIlroy hit only 57 per cent of the fairways he aimed at and missed five greens in regulation. But he used his putter only 28 times.

Indeed, as has been the case so often in the recent past, the four-time major champion appeared ill at ease between tee and green over his opening holes. Fairways were being missed, as were putting surfaces. The difference here was that his early putts — the eight-to-10-footers for struggling pars — disappeared into cups rather than sliding disappointingly by. This was McIlroy scoring, not squandering. More of the same over the next couple days will spare us the familiar rampage through the field in tepid weekend pursuit of yet another relatively meaningless “back door top-10”.

All in all, then, McIlroy was happy, even if he was quick to express a lingering frustration over the seemingly straightforward approach he pushed right of the ninth green. “I missed it where you can’t miss it,” was his rueful verdict. Overall, though, he was “pleased”.

“It’s a great start to the tournament,” he confirmed. “You’d take 67 around this golf course any day. I felt like I did most things well. I certainly putted well. And I hit the ball in the right spots. I hit a lot of greens and gave myself plenty of chances. Just basically did everything that you need to do at a US Open. That’s now two majors in a row that I’ve started well. Hopefully I can just keep going from here.”

Significantly, when asked for the highlights of his round, McIlroy pointed directly at the par saves he pulled off at the second and fifth holes. On the former he contrived an unlikely up-and-down from long grass well right of the putting surface. And on the latter -— all while displaying a full range of emotion — the 2011 US Open champion made a 13-footer for a par on the drivable par-4.

Which demands an explanation. McIlroy’s pushed tee shot found an ugly spot in long grass on the edge of a bunker, maybe 70 yards from the flag. If the lie was awkward, his stance was even more so, the ball above his feet. Forced to hold his club on the shaft rather than the grip, McIlroy could only prod the ball into another bunker no more than 15 yards ahead. That depressing outcome provoked a minor tantrum, McIlroy pounding the sand in a manner more usually associated with an irate Sergio Garcia.

“You’re going to encounter things at a US Open that you don’t really encounter any other week,” said McIlroy. “It’s hard not to get frustrated because I’m walking up there going like, ‘just come back into the bunker.’ The thickest rough is around the edges of the bunkers. So I was cursing the USGA going up to the ball. The margins are just so fine in this tournament, and I think you can sort of see that out there with some of the reactions. But you just have to accept it. I gave the sand a couple of whacks because I’d already messed it up. It wasn’t like it was much more work for [caddie] Harry [Diamond]. Then I reset and played a decent bunker shot. It was really nice to hole that putt.”

And shoot a 67 that clearly left him more than satisfied. This was the start McIlroy was looking for, no matter the brief moments of madness — there was also a club toss on the 9th — along the way. More than perhaps anyone else in the field, he had a pressing need for at least a solid beginning. Already there have been too many “over by Friday morning” majors in his career.

“I feel like I’m right in the tournament, which is nice,” he said. “I’m going into tomorrow with the mindset of ‘let’s keep it going,’ rather than ‘where is the cut line?’ If you don’t get off to a great start those thoughts start to creep in. It’s certainly a different mindset when you get off to a good start. I’ve just got to keep it going.”

For only seven more rounds.

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