The U.S. Open

FITZPATRICK WINS 122ND U.S. OPEN, PULLS OFF HISTORIC DOUBLE

Hats off to soon to be Champion Matt Fitzpatrick (above right) and his caddie Billy Foster (above left) for having a good laugh while waiting to see if they would win the 2022 U.S. Open. They seem pretty happy!

Matt Fitzpatrick of England made two clutch birdies on the back nine and hit a brilliant fairway bunker shot to within 18 feet on the final hole to give him his first PGA Tour victory and first major title in the 122nd United States Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. The 27-year-old Fitzpatrick, who has won seven times on what is now the DP World Tour, closed with a 2-under-par 68 to win by one stroke on the course made famous by amateur Francis Ouimet more than a century ago. Ouimet, who lived in a house across the street from the 17th green, upset English superstars Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in an 18-hole playoff at the 1913 U.S. Open. Fitzpatrick is now making his own history at The Country Club by winning both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open on the same course.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER

Rising star Scottie Scheffler finished second three times this season, including one stroke behind champion Matt Fitzpatrick. Scheffler has won four times this season, including the first major title of his career in the Masters, and leads the FedEx Cup standings by a mile. Scheffler, who hadn’t won on the PGA Tour before this season, also captured the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, and has finished in the top 10 nine times this season.

Third-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain, who claimed his only major victory in the 2021 U.S. Open on the South Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla. Rahm held the lead going into the last hole on Saturday, but faltered with a double bogey and never regained the lead.

Hideki Matsuyama, who captured the 2021 Masters by one stroke over Will Zalatoris for his first major closed Sunday with a spectacular bogey-free 65 to finish fourth. Hideki is consistently contending for major championships and has won 17 professional titles around the world.

WILL ZALATORIS

2021 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Will Zalatoris had a 14-foot birdie opportunity barely miss on the final hole of regulation which would have forced a playoff. Zalatoris, whose only professional victory came in the 2020 TPC Colorado Championship on the Korn Ferry Tour, also lost to Justin Thomas in a three-hole playoff at the 104th PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., in May. Zalatoris, who was born in San Francisco and played college golf at Wake Forest, has finished in the top 10 of six major championships during the last three seasons, including another runner-up result in the 2021 Masters at Augusta National, one stroke behind Hideki Matsuyama.

Second-ranked and four-time major champion Rory McIlroy hasn’t won a Grand Slam event since the 2014 PGA Championship. Rory had a disappointing tie for fifth finish in the year’s U.S. Open, but now has finished in the top 10 in major championships 26 times.

Fourth-ranked Collin Morikawa of La Canada Flintridge and the University of California captured his second major title by winning the 149th Open Championship last year at Royal St. George’s Golf Club in Sandwich, Kent, England, after also winning the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. Morikawa has not won this season, with his best finishes solo second in the CJ Cup at the Summit and a tie for second in the Genesis Invitational. He finished tied for fifth in this year’s U.S. Open and solo fifth in the Masters.