Matt Fitzpatrick lifted the US Open - but so much else happened. George Cooper wraps up an exhilarating final day from The Country Club
Wow. What a day. The UK has its newest major champion after Matt Fitzpatrick lifted the US Open to reign supreme at Brookline once again. So what did you miss as the carnage unfolded on a nail-biting Sunday? Let’s wrap up the talking points from a thrilling final round in Boston…
‘Here comes the putter throw’
Grayson Murray got a lot of airtime on Sunday at the US Open – and for all the wrong reasons. Taking a page out of Happy Gilmore’s book, Murray lost the plot during round four, first hurling his putter across the 7th green after making a catastrophic quadruple bogey…
And Murray wasn’t finished there. Not content with harming just one club, the American then completed the meltdown of all meltdowns when he snapped his iron after an errant approach shot on the 10th…
Clearly in need of a happy place, Murray ended up shooting 80 in the calamitous round. Somewhere, we’re sure Kevin Na is smiling.
Scheffler shows us how it’s done
Ball in a divot? No problem for the World Number 1. Twitter erupted into its usual turmoil on Sunday when Scottie Scheffler’s tee shot rolled into a divot on the 1st hole.
‘Totally unfair’, ‘this needs to change’, ‘stupid rule’ said the whiners as Scheffler approached the tough break. But rather than moan, the Masters champ stepped up and showed us exactly how it’s done…
Fitz hits BOMBS
Matt Fitzpatrick’s long drives put everyone on notice this week as he hit a series of bombs en route to a creating history again at Brookline.
Having quietly made big gains in speed over the last year, Fitzpatrick has now added long drives to his repertoire of weapons – and it was on full display during day four when he drove the green on the par 4-5th.
Twitter loved it too.
What a man, what a performance. Fitzpatrick is officially blockbuster.
Magnificent Matsuyama
It might have been too late, but boy was it great from Hideki Matsuyama on day four as he soared up the the leaderboard with a sensational bogey free 65 – the lowest score of the week.
Reminiscent of the form which earned him a coveted Green Jacket, Matsuyama started the day at T17, but five birdies including a meandering 28-footer on the 12th saw him make a late charge to finish 4th.
Vick joins elite company
Attention was on the amateurs this week as the US Open returned to the site of Francis Ouimet’s historic 1913 win. After Stewart Hagestad’s early heroics on Thursday, four amateurs made the cut for the weekend – four more than 2020 and 2021!
Despite a disastrous quadruple-bogey nine on day three, Travis Vick eventually took home the low amateur medal with a score of eight-over par, joining the likes of Phil Mickelson, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick as winners of the honour. No pressure, kid.
‘That’s how you make a three’
We saw some pretty unconventional scoring strategies this week as Brookline’s fescue caused havoc with the world’s best. On Sunday, Andrew Putnam then showed us exactly how to make a par when he produced the greatest up and down of the week. The first was horrid, but then feast your eyes on the bunker shot.
Not to be outdone, Matsuyama got in on the action with an equally as outlandish three on the 2nd.
Putting is so overrated.
Bryson’s caddie stinks out the place
The less said about this look the better, but it’s still one that needs to be seen to be believed. Another “business decision” in the DeChambeu camp?
What a day. What a tournament. Next stop, St Andrews.
- RELATED: The big talking points from day one
- RELATED: All the memorable moments from day two
- RELATED: The things you (maybe) missed on day three
Visit our dedicated US Open website for news, features, tee times, TV schedules and much, much more
Subscribe to NCG
