GOLFINGTEE BOX
Woodland Wins With
Pebble Beach Heroics
Koepka Denied Third Straight US Open Victory
G
ary Woodland stared down
the top player in the world
to win the 119th US Open
as a kinder, gentler Pebble Beach
produced yet another classic major
championship.
Don't let Woodland's 13-under
par total fool you, the 35-year-old
American needed shot-making skill
and intestinal fortitude to come
through on Sunday for his firstmajor title, a triumph that denied
Brooks Koepka's bid for an historic
third straight US Open victory.
Koepka, winner of the last two
PGA Championships as well as
the prior two US Opens and a
runner-up in April at the Masters,
was breathing down his neck
when Woodland produced a pair
of shots that will live on in US
Open history. "The idea was toplay to win," Woodland said of his
three-wood second shot to set up a
birdie at 14.
But his signature moment came
at 17, the same hole where Jack
Nicklaus set up a tap-in birdie with
a stinging one-iron in 1972, and
where Tom Watson chipped in 10
years later to deny Nicklaus a fifth
US Open title.
Woodland, up by two withIMAGE © SKYSPORTS