ALMOST always, the final nine holes decide the winner of a golf major.
It happened again in the just-ended US Open.
Gary Woodland won because he steadied himself at the right moment.
His closest pursuers either self-destructed or simply missed golden opportunities.
The most notable challengers going to the last round were Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose.
Both faltered—Rose at barely the start of play and Koepka in the closing holes.
The last hole, specifically for Koepka, which was very uncharacteristic of him to miss chance-giving shots in succession.
In fairness, Rose gave himself a shot when he birdied No. 1 to catch Woodland. But Rose quickly threw that away with a bogey from the bunker of No. 2.
Unable to gain ground from there, Rose totally fell out of the race with three bogeys in a four-hole stretch coming home.
Rose ripped himself apart with a 74 and was lucky to share third with Xander Schauffele (67), Jon Rahm (68) and Chez Reavie (71) despite calm conditions at Pebble Beach.
When it was Koepka’s turn to turn the tables on Woodland, he could only threaten by inching to within a shot with three straight birdies.
But despite being at 11 under to trail by one, Koepka just could either not catch or overtake Woodland.
In fact, Woodland, a virtual unknown at 169th overall in the rankings, answered back with the boldest bomb anyone could unload while under tremendous pressure: Firing a 3-wood from the par-5 14th.
The salvo nearly caught the cavernous bunker and, as fate would have it, Woodland went on to birdie the hole for a two-shot cushion with four holes to go.
Koepka, a flight head of Woodland, summoned his last ounce of courage with his 3-iron from 227 yards on the par-5 18th.
But this time, even the hottest golfer on the planet today (four wins in his last eight majors), came down to Earth as the bark refused to bite.
Next wedging it from the thick grass behind the 18th green, Koepka would still have had a crack at the crown with an eagle.
But, as I said, even the best could suddenly transform from superman to human. He stubbed it, the ball landing 10 feet short.
A birdie and a 67 might still revive his flickering hopes. But Koepka missed it from there.
Woodland had heard of Koepka’s chances dimming, if not evaporating completely.
Standing on the 18th tee, he pulled out a 5-iron: Better be safe than sorry.
A fairway landing prodded him on to hit another iron, giving him an approach shot from 146 yards that he planted neatly 30 feet off the hole.
Needing three putts to win, what in the world would Woodland do? Play safe by just putting the ball close to the hole?
Of course, not.
Time now to unleash some show time stuff and so, he charged the hole and banged home the birdie for a terrific 69 and a three-shot victory in the 119th US Open.
It was a fitting Father’s Day drama, made all the more historic as it came just weeks before his wife would deliver their twin girls.
For Woodland, a 35-year-old journeyman almost his entire career, from Topeka, Kansas, it can’t get any sweeter than this.
THAT’S IT Better late than never and so, my warm congratulations to the Toronto Raptors for winning last week the NBA crown via a 4-2 victory over the two-time defending champions Golden State Warriors. I had actually predicted a 4-2 ending, but with the Warriors winning. Too late when I realized that a depleted Golden State (Kevin Durant and soon, Klay Thompson, were out on injuries) was no match against Toronto. But this does not detract from the fact that the Raptors, led by the super-talented Kawhi Leonard, were deserving of the crown—having worked for it agonizingly hard behind the expert guidance of Coach Nick Nurse. Cheers!