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The final leaderboard for the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania is in. Dustin Johnson, who turns 32 next week, overcame a rules controversy to win his first major championship by three strokes (four without the penalty) over runners-up Jim Furyk, Scott Piercy and Shane Lowry. Below is the truncated top-10 leaderboard:
(1) Dustin Johnson (-4)
(T2) Jim Furyk (-1)
(T2) Scott Piercy (-1)
(T2) Shane Lowry (-1)
(T5) Sergio Garcia (E)
(T5) Branden Grace (E)
(7) Kevin Na (+1)
(T8) Jason Dufner (+2)
(T8) Zach Johnson (+2)
(T8) Jason Day (+2)
(T8) Daniel Summerhays (+2)
Here are some statistics on the champion and the runners-up:
Winner: Dustin Johnson (-4) – This is Johnson’s 10th win on the PGA Tour and first major win coming off a bitterly disappointing second-place finish last year at Chambers Bay. This also marks his third-straight top-10 finish following the St. Jude Classic (solo fifth) and Memorial Tournament (solo third). Including this week he has a total of 9 top-10s (and zero missed cuts) in the 2015-2016 season. I’m sure a lot of us will be watching closely to see what he does in the coming weeks and in the final two majors of the year.
Final round: 3 birdies and 2 bogeys for a 1-under 69. On the fifth green, Johnson’s ball moved as as he was standing over it and before he had putted. Although Johnson believed he did not cause the ball to move, he was notified later in the round by rules officials that the video footage would be reviewed and a decision would be made after the round as to whether or not he would be assessed a one stroke penalty. USGA officials later decided to do so and Johnson moved from -5 to -4, still good for a 3-shot win. Scores in regulation: 67, 69, 71, 69 (276).
Jim Furyk (-1) – I don’t think many would have predicted this good a finish by Furyk. A win this week would have been his 17th on Tour; this would have also been his second major win thirteen years after his first at the 2003 U.S. Open. Furyk’s last Tour win remains the 2015 RBC Heritage. He has only played five tournaments this season — two missed cuts, a T35 and T52 (at the Memorial) — due to a wrist injury.
Final round: 5 birdies and 1 bogey for a 4-under 66. Furyk reached the clubhouse relatively early in the round and let everyone but Johnson fall back towards him. His lone bogey of the round came on the 18th immediately after a birdie on 17. Scores in regulation: 71, 68, 74, 66 (279).
Scott Piercy (-1) – Final round: 3 birdies and 2 bogeys for a 1-under 69. A pair of bogeys on holes 16 and 18 kept him from a solo second finish. This is Piercy’s second top-10 finish this season. Scores in regulation: 68, 70, 72, 69 (279).
Shane Lowry (-1) – Final round: 1 birdie and 7 bogeys for a 6-over 76. He was leading by 4 shots at 7-under after the end of the third round but fell by the wayside in the fourth round after a scatter of bogeys. Scores in regulation: 68, 70, 65, 76 (279).
Hi Paul,
Watching the entire coverage on Fox yesterday of the final round of the U.S. Open, I was quite happy for Dustin Johnson as he finally won his first major. The USGA looked like a bunch of amateurs, and received much deserved criticism in the media and from some very well-known pros named McIlroy, Spieth, Fowler and Woods for the idiotic manner in which they handled that incident with Johnson possibly causing his ball to move on the 5th green while lining up for a putt. The two clown USGA officials who decided to enforce the penalty appearing afterwards on the Golf Channel, gave very weak explanations on what they THOUGHT they saw.
To keep Johnson in suspense for 12 holes was complete garbage. Some in the media can’t understand why with the most important tournament held yearly in the U.S. am amateur organization which makes up the USGA is in charge of the tournament and not the PGA itself.
I’m glad that Dustin was able to hold it together and not allow the possible ruling of his being assessed a 1 stroke penalty (which actually did happen at the end of his round) affect him psychologically. In fact Dustin on the final hole hit a fantastic second shot into the green, the ball close enough for him to nail a birdie.
Sorry for what happened to Shane Lowry, (Ireland) over the last 5 or so holes. But, not having contended in a big-time tournament before in his life, (the big 4 tournaments) I think that the weight of the moment overwhelmed him.
Jeff
Great insight Jeff. It seems the agreement is universal that the USGA handled the situation poorly; they think it was more likely than not that Dustin caused the ball to move, but I think it’s a huge stretch to conclude that given all the evidence plus Johnson’s word which is pretty powerful. Instead of just letting it go they had to be a wet blanket. Fortunately the penalty wasn’t a factor in the win — if it was I’m sure the level of outrage would have been off the charts.
Congratulations to Dustin, and good luck to the top 4 players for this upcoming british open. I haven’t been keeping track lately on my golf game but looks like this year is going to be a really good one. What ever happened to Tiger? He fell off right! Who knows, I hope Dustin can go all the way this year! I will be watching so it’s going to be a close one I’m sure.
Yep, Tiger’s back surgery has put him out for a really long time now, longer than I think any of us expected back in late 2015. I did think we might see him at the U.S. Open, but it would be nice if he could make the British or PGA. As for Johnson, it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep the consistency going into the rest of the year.