With his hands shaking and heart racing 29-year-old Lucas Glover sank a short par putt, which was anything but routine, considering the circumstances, to become the champion of the 109th U.S. Open contested over the waterlogged links of Bethpage Black. When Glover’s ball banked off the bottom of the cup just after 1 p.m. Monday it signaled an end to what will most likely go down as one of the oddest weeks of major championship golf ever played.
Patience was at a premium at Bethpage for players, tournament officials and spectators, who all waited out multiple weather delays throughout the week and did the best they could despite a rather ramshackle schedule. In the end, it was Glover’s patience that propelled him to a victory likely to define his career.
“I doubled the first hole this week,” Glover said Monday. “Didn’t slam a club. Didn’t do anything. Just walked over to the second tee and said: Hey, it’s the U.S. Open, it’s going to be a very long week. I wouldn’t have done that a couple years ago.”
It’s naïve to think that anyone will recall this U.S. Open with the same reverence they reserve for memories of Tiger’s triumph at Pebble Beach or Torrey Pines. It’s unlikely that Glover will be forgotten, but his win will be an afterthought when compared to the stories of the weather that turned Bethpage State Park into a mangled scene of mud and madness more in tune with Woodstock than a golf tournament. We’ll be asking ourselves what could have been if Tiger had made a few more putts or Phil had hung on after his eagle on No. 13 set off raucous cheers that reverberated from one end of the Black Course to the other.
Heading into the weekend, it was obvious that a significant advantage belonged to players who had missed the Thursday deluge and bombed away at the Black, which was as susceptible to scoring as we’d ever witnessed early Friday morning and well on into the evening, once the rain relented.
Even though Glover was among the afternoon group that benefitted from favorable tee times and conditions, his win shouldn’t be branded with an asterisk. In the end, the field wound up on equal footing, regardless of the weather, and the world’s best players had every opportunity to make up ground over the final 36 holes.
Tiger Woods couldn’t get a putt to drop and was absolutely shredded by the par-4 15th hole; Woods was +5 on No. 4 for the week. If he plays the hole at even par over five days, he wins the tournament.
Phil Mickelson too was right there in the end, but also fell victim to the 15th and then failed to put pressure on Glover when his tee shot landed well short on No. 17, and he failed to get up and down for par. Almost everyone in attendance expected the two untested players atop the leader board to falter during the final round, but Glover held steady and subdued a gallery that roared louder when red numbers were posted for Mickelson on the board than they did when the champion rolled in his final putt on 18.
When asked whether or not he belonged on top as the final round began, Glover said: “I didn't. I've never been there. I've never been there in a major. And maybe that was motivation for me to prove it to myself that I did belong. But I played well under pressure, and I'm happy with myself.”
As I walked past a practice putting green in front of the clubhouse Monday morning at Bethpage Black there was Glover finishing up his preparation in front of a sparse gathering because the big crowd was with Tiger on the range, when one less than tactful individual yelled, “Hey Lucas I’ve got 100 bucks on you today, don’t let me down.”
Glover looked up and acknowledged one of New York’s finest with a cold glance. It was that calm, steely demeanor that won him the U.S. Open five hours later.
While one fan went home happy, a large majority of the 24,000 or so in attendance were openly disappointed with the outcome. The excitement peaked with Mickelson’s eagle on the par-5 13th. The people’s champion wouldn’t be able to take that big silver trophy to his ailing wife’s bedside. David Duval wouldn’t cap his resurgence with a remarkable victory. There would be no magic from Woods this time around. Fifty-four-hole leader Ricky Barnes couldn’t birdie the final two holes to force a playoff.
The second edition of the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black will be remembered for what might have been, and for a champion that was barely noticed until he held the trophy high for everyone to see on the 18th green.
“He played some incredible golf,” said Mickelson. “I never saw him hit a shot. I was always out on the course the same time he was. All I know is he shot 4-under par on a very difficult golf course and closed it out in the end.”