Lucas Glover?
Yeah. This is the guy who denied us a potential epic playoff involving David Duval and Phil Mickelson. The Clemson Tiger was able to quietly grind through an unspectacular final round of 73 to secure a two stroke victory. As seemingly boring as this conclusion to the US Open was, Glover deserves a lot of credit for outplaying the field this week.
With three fantastic story lines (Tiger’s potential first comeback to win a major; fan favorite Phil Mickelson rallying in the wake of his wife’s recent breast cancer diagnosis; David Duval rising from the ashes to reclaim professional glory) threatening to overshadow him, and his consistent accuracy failing, Glover was able to scramble all day and walk away with the victory. Did Ricky Barnes choke? Sure. Is Tiger looking at 4 under on the leaderboard and kicking himself? No doubt. Did Phil and Duval let a couple easy putts get away from them? Definitley. These things may all be true, but Glover made his pars and came though with a huge birdie when he needed it the most. Sometimes shooting a 73 on an insanely hard course in the final round of the US Open is all one needs to do.
Glover’s victory was only his second career PGA Tour Win (that number being three less than Phil’s runner ups in US Opens alone), and despite the inevitable disapointment Mickelson and Duval must be feeling right now, both of their stories are hardly diminished. Phil performed more than admirably under extraordinary circumstances, and while a victory would have had him flirting with golf immortality, the excitement and emotion he brought to Bethpage Black won’t soon be forgotten.
For David Duval, this is a huge step towards the redemption he’s been after for so many years. The former #1 golfer in the world is now #882 (a rank that we can asume will now jump up a few spots, yes?), and before this finish, his PGA Tour status was more than in question. Duval has stuggled so mightily for such a long time, that even after his runner up finish this week (and $559,830 paycheck) he will still have to earn about another quarter million dollars this season to crack the top 125 earners and retain his card, as estimated by ESPN’s Jason Sobel. At the very least Duval will be around for each of the next four majors, and if this weeks performance is any indication, we’ll be seeing him on a lot more leader boards in the weeks to come.
While most of us might have rather seen an epic playoff, or a Tiger victory, or a birdie on 18 to win the whole thing, it’s hard to deny that this rainy week in New York only disapointed when the weather halted play. Constant drama and compelling storylines dominated this week at Bethpage, and Lucas Glover (yes, Lucas Glover) is now the US Open’s deserving champion.