US Open: Final round updates from Chambers Bay
The latest from the U.S. Open (all times local):
7:30 p.m.
Jordan Spieth’s birdie put him in position to win the U.S. Open.
Dustin Johnson’s three-putt on the 18th hole handed Spieth the trophy.
The Pacific Northwest’s first U.S. Open championship finished in spectacularly dramatic fashion, as Spieth, the 21-year-old whose status as golf’s biggest superstar is only growing, survived Chambers Bay and won his second major with a score of 5-under par.
7:15 p.m.
Dustin Johnson three-putts on No. 18, missing chances at eagle and birdie to hand the U.S. Open to Jordan Spieth.
More to come.
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6:40 p.m.
Branden Grace may have given Jordan Spieth a clear path to the U.S. Open championship with one disastrous swing three holes from the finish Sunday.
Grace and Spieth were both at 5 under heading to the reachable par-4 16th. One of the most accurate players off the tee all week, Grace sent his tee shot so far right that it cleared the black chain-link fence denoting out of bounds, bounced down an asphalt path and came to rest against another chain-link fence that separates pedestrians from the train tracks.
The two-shot penalty meant Grace was hitting his third shot from the tee.
Spieth rolled in a 25-footer for birdie moments later to reach 6 under for the championship, and only needed to play two trouble-free holes to win his second straight major.
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6:25 p.m.
Chants from the crowd as the leaders walk up the 16th fairway, “Spieeeeeth!”
“Jordan, let me buy you a beer!”
Spieth still in front by two strokes over the field as the tournament nears its end.
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6:05 p.m.
Dustin Johnson three-putted on hole No. 13 for his third bogey in four holes. He drops back to plus-1 on the day and minus-3 for the tournament.
Jordan Spieth and Branden Grace make pars on No. 14 and are out in front of the field by two strokes at minus-5.
Johnson’s playing partner Jason Day double-bogeyed No. 13, falling to even for the tournament. He turns and looks at the leaderboard and rubs his face.
It’s been a long day.
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5:44 p.m.
Amid cheers to “Get ‘er done!” plus a missed par putt on 11 from 10 feet, Texan Dustin Johnson surrenders the lead with seven holes to play in the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.
Jordan Spieth and Branden Grace are now tied for the lead at 5 under, one shot ahead of Johnson and three strokes ahead of his playing partner, Australian Jason Day.
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5:25 p.m.
Adam Scott matched the second-best final round in U.S. Open history on Sunday, a bogey-free 64 that allowed him to claw his way into the fray at rugged Chambers Bay.
The lowest score remains Johnny Miller’s memorable 63 at Oakmont in 1973. Peter Jacobson shot 64 at The Country Club in 1988, and Tom Kite and Vijay Singh did it at Southern Hills in 2001.
Jacobsen’s round of 64 came on a course that was a par-71. Like Chambers Bay, Southern Hills played to par 70.
Scott shot 70-71 over the first two rounds to make the cut, but was 2 over on Saturday as others made their moves. He was never in trouble Sunday, making birdie on his final hole as the 6,000 fans in the grandstand roared.
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5:10 p.m.
Rory McIlroy says he would endorse Chambers Bay hosting another U.S. Open.
In about 20 years.
Add him to the list of players who did not exactly champion the 8-year-old course that was supposed to be tailor-made to host the USGA’s marquee event. McIlroy struggled on the barren, bumpy greens all week, right up until his final holes on Sunday.
Still, McIlroy feels good about his game heading to the British Open at St. Andrews next month. He says he’s “not sure if I’ve ever hit the ball that well in a major championship.”
McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011. He finished at even-par this year.
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4:45 p.m.
Rory McIlroy is the leader in the clubhouse at even-par for the championship, but the No. 1 player in the world will no doubt leave Chambers Bay wondering what might have been.
McIlroy had it to 2 under for the championship with five holes to play Sunday, none of them overly difficult. But he missed a perfect approach at the par-3 15th by about 2 feet and wound up making bogey, then made another bogey at the par-4 17th.
He also failed to take advantage of the par-5 finishing hole, settling for par.
Putting was a struggle for McIlroy all week. He shot even-par 70 in the third round and said afterward he thought he could have gone much lower.
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4:25 p.m.
Brandt Snedeker has replaced Rory McIlroy as the man on the move at the U.S. Open.
While the world’s top-ranked player had two bogeys in a three-hole span late in his round, Snedeker was busy stringing together four straight birdies to finish off his front nine in style.
He had an early bogey but still went out in 3-under 32, leaving him 2 under for the championship and three shots back of leader Dustin Johnson.
McIlroy has struggled on the closing holes at Chambers Bay all week. His hopes of a memorable Sunday comeback were dashed when he missed a pair of short par putts.
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4:10 p.m.
Dustin Johnson always has been among the PGA Tour leaders in driving distance. Accuracy has sometimes been another matter.
He has put both together quite nicely in this year’s U.S. Open.
While still pounding drives an average of 320 yards at Chambers Bay, Johnson also has been able to keep them out of the long fescue. He said hitting every fairway in regulation during the third round Saturday was the first time he had accomplished the feat in a tournament.
Johnson hit his first four Sunday to run his streak to 18 straight fairways in regulation, and was 1 under for his round. He was 5 under for the championship and alone in first.
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3 p.m.
The People’s Choice is off in the final round of the U.S. Open.
Entering the first tee box like a prizefighter along a cordon of screaming fans, some of whom carried signs proclaiming “We love you, Jason,” Australia’s Jason Day teed off with co-leader Dustin Johnson at 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon to huge roars. It’s another perfect, sun-drenched day at Chambers Bay.
The 27-year-old Day looked much stronger and alert on the course today than he did before Saturday. For the third round the world’s 10th-ranked player was heavily medicated and still feeling the vertigo that caused him to collapse and need medics’ aid on the ninth green Friday.
Day has finished second in the U.S. Open twice, and third in a Masters. He birdied five of his final nine holes Saturday to tie Johnson, Masters champion Jordan Spieth and South Africa’s Branden Grace at 4 under. That was despite him feeling exhausted on the front nine and nauseous over the final five holes Saturday.
He appears much surer so far today.
Spieth and Grace are playing in the group immediately before Day and Johnson.
Stay here on thenewstribune.com for updates throughout the final regulation day of the 115th U.S. Open.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
This story was originally published June 21, 2015 at 3:29 PM with the headline "US Open: Final round updates from Chambers Bay."