“The guy was trying to dunk on me,” Woodland said, recalling why he defiantly stood his ground.

His windpipe might have been tightening Sunday in the final round of the 119th U.S. Open, but he wasn’t going to choke. He wasn’t going to let anyone dunk on him, not even two-time reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka.

Showing the kind of hard-nosed resolve typical of a U.S. Open champion and putting the right touch on shots both long and short in the closing stretch, Woodland stood up to the charge of the irrepressible Koepka and outplayed his final-round partner Justin Rose, another U.S. Open winner, to capture his first major championship.

In the dank, chilly air hard by the Pacific Ocean, Woodland executed with stone-cold efficiency, carving out a two-under-par 69 at Pebble Beach Golf Links to beat Koepka by three strokes. His 30-foot birdie putt on the iconic 18th hole provided an appropriate conclusion, consistent with the remarkable hole-outs he executed over the final three rounds when he never relinquished the lead.

When his ball disappeared, Woodland raised both arms and then delivered a muscular fist pump, an emphatic release of emotion for a player who had failed repeatedly to close out a tournament and had only recently put himself on the radar in major championships.

“I’ve always believed in myself,” said Woodland, who suffered just four bogeys all week in finishing at 13-under 271, a stroke better than Tiger Woods’ winning total in his record 15-stroke romp at Pebble Beach in 2000. “No matter what I’ve done, from when I was a young kid, I always believed I would be successful. I believed I would play professional sports. I always believed I would be at this moment.

“And the question about if I ever dreamed of making the putt on the last hole of a U.S. Open when I was a kid, no, I didn’t, but I hit a lot of game-winning shots on the basketball court when I was a kid. And that’s what I did.”

A member of two state champion basketball teams, Woodland did it after clanking more than a few shots off the rim—or in this case, the edge of the cup. Woodland entered the final round one stroke ahead of Rose and with a proven record of disappointment with a 54-hole lead. Until Sunday, he had failed to win after each of the seven occasions when he either shared or led outright after three rounds. Until Sunday, he had never finished better than 23rd in eight U.S. Open appearances.

RELATED: The biggest story at Pebble Beach was the one that didn’t happen

Making the victory even sweeter, coming on Father’s Day, was that it provided a reminder of what he had lost. Two years ago, Woodland’s wife Gabby suffered a miscarriage of one of the two twins she had been expecting. The surviving son, Jaxson, who was born 10 weeks premature, turns two next week. And Gabby is expecting identical twin girls in August. So much has changed since what Woodland called “the toughest year of my life.”

He was the toughest golfer at Pebble Beach, the toughest mentally.

Winner in four of his last eight majors, Koepka enjoyed a dream start by one-putting his first five holes for four birdies. He only gained two strokes on Woodland, however, who answered the barrage with a birdie at Nos. 2 and 3. He also answered Rose’s opening birdie that briefly tied things up. But the Englishman, who had been riding a hot putter, couldn’t continue to offset his substandard ball-striking and fell away, slipping to a 74 and ending up in a third-place logjam with three others at seven-under 277.

“He stayed calm all day. He looks calm all the time. You never know what is going on. He was unflappable,” Rose said of the winner.

Woodland celebrates on the 18th green after winning the 2019 U.S. Open. (Ross Kinnaird)

That left the championship to Woodland, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, and Koepka, the major machine, who clawed within a stroke when he birdied the 11th and Woodland bogeyed the par-3 12th after missing the green wide right.

The crucible moment came at the par-5 14th when Woodland struck a powerful tee shot that left him 263 yards to the hole. “It was either we’re going to lay up or we’re going to go for it, and we sat there and thought about it for a while and said, let’s go, we’re out here to win,” Woodland said.

RELATED: The shot that won Gary Woodland the U.S. Open might get you suspended at your club

His towering 3-wood cleared the perilous front bunker by a few feet and settled in the left fringe. A chip and a three-foot putt, and Woodland’s lead were restored to two strokes. Which he maintained expertly at the par-3 17th when he fanned another iron. The ball settled in the lower-right portion of the hourglass-shaped green, some 90 feet from the pin, leaving him no choice but pitch over the tier bisecting the green. Using his 54-degree wedge, Woodland landed the shot just over the hump and the ball checked up two feet from the hole.

“The 3-wood at 14 was, I think, what gave me the confidence to even execute the shot on 17,” said Woodland, who came into the championship ranked 25th in the world. “There’s a lot that could have gone wrong. To execute that shot under the pressure, under the situation, that shot gave me the confidence. Really going in I felt better after hitting that shot on the golf course today than I had in a long, long time.”

“I gave it my all. I give it my all every time and sometimes, like this week—it happened at Augusta [in the Masters]— it’s not meant to be,” said Koepka, who closed with a 68 for his second runner-up finish this year to go with his second straight win at the PGA last month. “Gary played a great four days. That’s what you’ve got to do if you want to win a U.S. Open, win a major championship, and hats off to him.”

For Woodland, who said his mental approach “was as good as I’ve ever been,” it appeared it was meant to be when he capped a second-round 65 on Friday, tying the low round in a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, by dropping an excuse-me 50-footer on the par-4 ninth, his final hole of the day.

His nine-under 133 through two rounds bettered Tiger Woods’ 36-hole score from 2000, and when he followed with a 69 on Saturday, his 11-under 202 total through three rounds tied the third-lowest 54-hole score in U.S. Open history. During that third round, Woodland performed more magic, chipping in for par from 35 feet at the 12th after half-shanking a recovery from deep grass just outside the front bunker, and then sinking a 40-foot par putt on 14 after four hacks getting to the green.

“I never let myself get ahead of myself. I never thought about what would happen if I won, what comes with it,” Woodland said. “I wanted to execute every shot. I wanted to stay in the moment. I wanted to stay within myself. I knew I was playing good going in, but I’ve been playing good going into a lot of tournaments before and haven’t had the results I’d like.”

Last August Woodland set the 36-hole scoring record in the PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. He got outplayed by Koepka in the third round, but he did finally secure a top-10 finish in a major—his first in 28 tries. Now in his 31st major, he’s a champion.

The only thing that means more to him is fatherhood. “Being a father now puts life in perspective,” he said. “My whole life it’s all been about trying to win. And now I’m trying to make a better life for my son than I’ve had. Today is so special from that standpoint of being a father and, hopefully, someday he can even see this and realize that anything is possible.”

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It called for temerity and required fortitude, facilitated bravado and exposed pretenders. Brooks Koepka, that cross-breed of man and cyborg, further cemented his status as an era-defining player, while Gary Woodland exorcised his 54-hole demons in a declarative fashion. There were bids by Rory and Rahm and Xander, victory laps for Tiger and Phil, the arrival of Viktor Hovland. There was even a Bo Jackson club snap, all unfolding above seaside cliffs against an endless blue backdrop.

“It’s been an absolutely fantastic week, from start to finish,” John Bodenhamer, USGA senior managing director of championship, told Golf Digest. “We wanted to make sure we showed the best Pebble Beach had to offer, and it led to some exciting golf.”

But the biggest story at the 2019 U.S. Open was what didn’t happen.

The USGA, the governing body that runs this shindig, has been the prominent, if not the singular storyline in three of the past four U.S. Opens—from toasted greens to self-inflicted rules snafus. Last year’s gaffe at Shinnecock was particularly troubling, as a mistake the organization made in 2004 at the Long Island links, spent years profusely apologizing for and promising wouldn’t happen again … happened again.

Preparing a course for the world’s best is far from an enviable task and one easy to criticize, and in themselves, those incidents could be chalked as happenstance or aberration. In the aggregate, not so much. Messing up the 2019 national championship, at the most iconic American golf venue outside Augusta National? No walking back around that corner.

A fate the USGA took to heart.

“I think it’s critical,” Bodenhamer said, in regards to operating a smooth week. “We needed a great U.S. Open, not just a good U.S. Open. Anything less would be unacceptable.”

Bodenhamer, who grabbed the setup reins from USGA CEO Mike Davis this year, has been true to his word.

Christian Petersen

Pebble’s fairway dimensions at this U.S. Open were demanding yet allowed for breathing room. The rough was gnarly and brutal and punishing, but far from unfair. Despite the bumpy reputation of Poa annua grass, the putting surfaces rolled true. Unlike years past, where approaches were rejected without prejudice, well-struck shots were received by the greens.

An observation seconded by the field. If players had any qualms with the setup this week, they didn’t share them. Quite the opposite, delivering glowing praise for the test they faced.

“It’s fantastic,” Zach Johnson, who fired the first round of USGA jabs last year, said on Saturday. “Whatever they’re doing it’s great. You play quality golf you get rewarded.”

Tiger Woods shared a similar outlook, remarking the USGA did a “great job” of rewarding good shots with birdie opportunities. Compared to other sites in the U.S. Open rota, Justin Rose said the layout catered to a variety of skills and profiles. Koepka believed the greens were some of the best he’s seen.

It wasn’t just those who played well that echoed such sentiments. Justin Thomas, who missed the cut, wrote on Twitter that “Pebble is perfect and has been such a great set up thus far. Getting firm and will show the best players come weeks end. Well done USGA.” Added Billy Horschel: “Course was great. Setup was awesome. Fans were amazing.”

Even Phil Mickelson, the man driven to insanity at Shinnecock and who’s treated the USGA with the friendliness of a TSA screener, was effusive in praise.

“It’s perfect. It’s a perfect hard test,” Mickelson said after a Sunday 72. “The guys that are playing well it gives them a chance to separate and make some birdies and reward great shots. It was perfectly done.”

The traditionalists that like their U.S. Opens painted black will correlate these points to the lower-than-usual scoring. Perhaps there’s a bit of truth to that; it certainly doesn’t hurt. The players beg to differ. Koepka and Mickelson said missing the fairway was death. A number of competitors declared the greens firmer than they appear. Oosthuizen mentioned any shot less than ideal was punished.

But the best description goes to Rory McIlroy, who articulated the specifics of what made Pebble a challenge.

“I think the greens are so small, and when it gets a little firm like this and they start to tuck pins in little corners, it’s angles, it’s all angles,” McIlroy said. “You’re trying to think and move ahead. It’s a little bit like chess where you’re crossing paths.

“It just takes a little bit of concentration because there are some shots where you need to land the ball 10 yards short of the pin and some holes, like back into the wind, it might only be three or four yards. But you can’t go firing at pins because you’re going to one-hop it over the back all day. … Hitting the right trajectory, so the ball does what you think it’s going to do when it hits the ground, basically.”

In short, Pebble Beach achieved that often chased but rarely captured ideal: a “proper” setup. A setup, more importantly, that was controversy free.

Warren Little

So what was different in 2019? According to Bodenhamer, discipline.

“The main takeaway from this week was sticking to our game plan and not panicking,” he said. “We let the golf course play as it was.”

It wasn’t perfect. Tournaments that annually rotate courses never are. Moreover, unlike other majors, what constitutes a bona fide U.S. Open setup is a request that can never be totally satisfied. One contingent disappointed if players reach red figures, players upset when the layout makes them the fool.

The USGA erred, rightfully so, on the side of caution, with a handful of players—chief among them Jon Rahm and Graeme McDowell—wishing the gauntlet was tougher. Benign conditions prevented Pebble from having its full bark, a lack of wind off the Pacific and an ever-present marine layer lowering the course’s defences. In the four previous Opens at Pebble, a total of 12 players were under par. This week there were 31. Woodland’s 271 was the second-lowest score in U.S. Open history.

Not that the USGA seems to mind.

“I know people don’t believe this, but we don’t set up a course with a score in mind,” Bodenhamer said. “We are not chasing par, or to keep scores around it. Obviously, the course was wet at times, which led to some of the scores you see, and we are more than happy with that.”

Just as critical, the week proved a detente between the players and governing body, providing hope their internecine battle may be coming to an end.

It’s worth noting that, though reputations can be ruined in a day, it takes more than a week to repair them. The USGA is well aware, putting an emphasis on communication and transparency with the sport going forward.

“There are a lot of different opinions out there,” Bodenhamer conceded earlier this week. “We are better from listening to those perspectives. And we’ve engaged them.”

Pebble Beach won’t change the past. It did go ways in stopping the bleeding. In its biggest platform of the year, the USGA was an ancillary character, rightfully letting the golf steal the show.

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By Brian Wacker
In Matt Kuchar’s nearly two decades on the PGA Tour he has racked up nine victories and nearly $50 million in career earnings—all while steering clear of controversy.

Until this year.

It started in January when it was revealed that Kuchar lowballed his local caddie, David (El Tucan) Ortiz, with only $5,000 after winning $1.29 million at the Mayakoba Golf Classic last fall.

(Kuchar defended himself by saying it “wasn’t a story” and that “making $5,000 is a great week,” before eventually relenting, apologizing and making El Tucan whole with an additional $45,000.)

Then came the quarterfinals of the WGC-Dell Match Play, where his opponent Sergio Garcia raked a tap-in before Kuchar had conceded it. Garcia’s fault, yes, but Kuchar only muddied things by saying at the time, “‘Sergio, I didn’t say anything. I’m not sure how this works out. I didn’t want that to be an issue,’” then tracking down an official.

(Garcia lost the hole, and incredibly suggested Kuchar could make things even by conceding a hole, to which Kuchar declined. Eventually, the two kissed and made up in an awkward video in which they said they were “all good” with each other.)

It didn’t end there, with Kuchar next embroiled in an odd rules snafu at the Memorial, where he tried to get a free drop from a pitch mark that he claimed had come from his tee shot, despite a video replay and laws of physics proving otherwise.

(Two rules officials and a TV replay were needed to sort it out but even then Kuchar tried to seek a third opinion.)

J.D. Cuban

Despite all of that, Kuchar managed to add a second win to his season—at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where the caddie controversy first reared its head mid-tournament—and had a chance for a third after being tied for the lead through 54 holes at last week’s RBC Canadian Open. He also has six other top-10 finishes, and leads the FedEx Cup standings.

“It’s definitely been a tougher year than most,” Kuchar conceded Tuesday at the U.S. Open. “I’ve never been in any sort of controversy before.”

Known for the bulk of his career for his “aw-shucks” demeanor and harmless pranks, Kuchar was suddenly coming across—particularly to the social media mob—as everything from a cheapskate, to classless, to tone deaf.

Judging by his play, however, perhaps another word should come to mind: Ruthless. Or at the very least skilled enough to endure in the face of obstacles that would easily derail plenty of other players’ seasons.

“I don’t know if it’s compartmentalizing or I don’t know if it’s just I believe in what I’m doing with my golf game,” Kuchar said. “I’m doing a lot of things to keep me playing well.

“And it probably helps I don’t do social media. It helps I don’t look at any of these things. But I think a lot of it is what I’m doing with my game has been really good.”

Among those things is improved driving—Kuchar ranks 54th in strokes gained/off-the-tee this year, compared to 150th last season—and sharpening the other parts of his game that were already good; specifically his iron play, short game and putting. All of which should come in handy at Pebble Beach, where he tied for sixth the last time the U.S. Open was played here.

Which brings us to the other thing Kuchar has steered clear of in his career: Win a major.

A dozen times, he has finished in the top 10, which included a runner-up at the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale two years ago. There have been other opportunities, too.

At age 40, however, those chances figure to be dwindling. But if Kuchar can not just persist but thrive the way he has in a year filled with controversies and personal travails, who knows.

“I’d rather not have a countdown clock on the amount of chances I have left,” Kuchar said. “I feel good about the state of my game and the state of my health. You need all those working together to pull off a major championship.”

Thick skin helps, too.

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