Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell has won the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach. The 30-year-old shot a three over par 74 to finish on level par, one shot ahead of France's Gregory Havret. McDowell joins famous names Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tom Kite and Tiger Woods on the list of US Open champions at the Californian links.
The drama started early in his round when playing partner and overnight leader, Dustin Johnson squandered his three shot lead at the second hole, to open the door for the Irishman. Johnson never recovered from his horrendous start and finished with an 82, to go from 6 under at the start of his round to finish on 5 over.
Havret finished second, shooting a final round 72 for a one over par total of 285. Els was third on two over after scoring a 73, and the world's top two ranked golfers finished tied for fourth, Woods scoring 75 and Mickelson 73.
McDowell, starting the tournament as world number 37 but now up to number 13 thanks to his victory, follows fellow Portrush golfer Fred Daly, winner of the 1947 Open, as a major winner. He almost didn't make the field though, after his tie for 28th place at the BMW PGA Championships opened the door for US Tour players Brian Gay, Scott Verplank and Michael Sim to knock him out of the world's top 50 if they could finish high enough in the Byron Nelson Championship. They didn't manage it though, and McDowell was in. He went on to win the Celtic Manor Wales Open two weeks ago, and brought that form in to Pebble Beach.
American Johnson, who up until the last day had shown an unflappable manner, had outscored him in the third round to take a three-shot lead into the final. But that manner didn't last long with the pressure of a Sunday lead at the majors. He walked off the par-four second hole in a tie with McDowell after a terrible triple-bogey seven and then proceeded to lose his ball off the third tee, which led to a double bogey. lost his ball off the third tee en route to a double bogey. Having to wait for the hapless Johnson, McDowell did well to sink a far from easy par putt, and the Portrush man went to the fourth having taken over the lead again at three under as Johnson slipped to one under.
Johnson was all over the place and after dropping another shot at the fourth, his day was effectively over. But while the American faltered, McDowell did not drop a shot until the par-four ninth, the last player in the field to bogey on the final day. And although he dropped a couple of shots on the back nine, none of his challengers could make any headway, and so the famous trophy was his.
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