Woodland secures Major #1

The U.S. Open has had its fair share of talking points in recent years but the 2019 tournament was quite simply about the quality of golf on show.

With both Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy nicely placed going into the final round at Pebble Beach, there was much hope for a British winner come Sunday morning. Unfortunately, a closing 74 (three-over-par) left Rose in T3 for the week, whilst McIlroy mixed two double-bogeys with three bogeys and six birdies – par golf is clearly overrated – for a closing 71 and a T9 finish.

Not even serial Major winner Brooks Koepka could do anything about Gary Woodland’s brilliance over the four days in California, with the world’s best golfer having to settle for second place – bringing his stranglehold of the U.S. Open to an end.

Records tumble at Pebble Beach

Although Woodland will capture all the headlines from Pebble Beach – and rightly so – there were two other records that were broken on Sunday afternoon.

First of all, Brooks Koepka – yes, that name again – became the first golfer in U.S. Open history to card four sub-70 rounds and not go on to lift the trophy at the end. In addition, Viktor Hovland won the lowest Amateur honour at Pebble with a four-round total of 280, which is the lowest score ever recorded by an amateur in U.S. Open history.

Having reached the number one spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Hovland is turning professional this week and is a name that will certainly be popping up in future years.