Final US Open Thoughts

Not since Gil Morgan in 1992 has there been a final day collapse of the type experienced by Retief Goosen (+11) and Jason Gore (+14). It was ugly to watch.

It was Goosen’s Open to lose, and he did. The growing legend of the unflappable South African has been shattered.

But that’s not to take anything away from New Zealand’s Michael Campbell, who shot one of just four rounds under par for the day. Campbell, if you will remember, was once considered one of the top up-and-coming players when he just missed out on a playoff at the 1995 British Open.

His career has been less than spectacular since then (he has won six times on the European Tour, but this was his first US victory), but at 36, he is still young enough to make a go of it.

Aside from the Goosen collapse, I think that the most interesting thing about the day was that Tiger finished second. Why is that interesting?

Its only his second, second place finish.

Consider this: While Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors, he also finished second 19 times. Tiger has nine majors and just two second place finishes.

In my mind, even if Tiger wins 19 or more majors, he won’t be considreed Jack’s equal until he also matches those seconds.

It sounds petty, but all of those seconds show that Jack was grinding it out and staying in contention. My perception (wrong or right) of Tiger has been that if he’s not in the lead, he’s not contending.

So I really enjoyed hte way he fought from the pack to get himself into second. That shows real character.

Anyhow, here are the top ten finishers at the US Open: