2023 U.S. Open: Extremely wide fairways don’t necessarily make Los Angeles Country Club any easier to navigate

Strategy is key at LACC, as players must aim for precise targets within giant fairways to set up the best angles.

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The fairways at this year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club’s North course will be much wider than normally seen in the national championship. Don’t let that fool you into thinking they necessarily will be easier to hit – at least in the proper spots.

Designed by George C. Thomas Jr. and opened in 1928, LACC’s North Course was restored in 2010 by a team led by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford. They removed stands of trees that lined fairways and reintroduced width as Thomas intended on the rolling property that features several gnarly barrancas near Beverly Hills. The layout ranks No. 2 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in each state, and it is No. 14 among all classic courses in the U.S.

Several of the fairways on the North Course are 50 to 60 yards wide in places, much wider than the normal corridors implemented by the U.S. Golf Association in many past championships. Some past U.S. Open courses have featured fairways an average of about 25 yards wide, often with prime spots less than 20 yards wide and surrounded by thick rough.

Width is a golf architect’s dream, as it promotes strategic play. Golfers must play to certain areas in the fairways to set up the best angles of attack, and the greater the width of the fairway, the more that smart players can take advantage. Such design creates interest and requires thought, tempting players to aim for the edges of wide fairways instead of just carelessly blasting drivers down the middle.

LACC North has plenty of width, to be sure, with some fairways pinching just a bit the farther a player hits a tee ball. But don’t confuse it with mindlessly bashing balls on a driving range. Thomas took advantage of the natural features to make these fairways play much skinnier than they look, and the USGA can’t wait to show off how LACC plays.

“What the architect George C. Thomas intended on this masterpiece, we will leave intact,” John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s chief championship officer, said during a recent media event at LACC. “Sure, we’ll come in and we’ll narrow up a few fairways. We’ll play the greens a little bit more speedier than the members would. And we’ll set a few difficult hole locations. We’ll put a little bit of a U.S. Open feel to it. But we will deliver what George C. Thomas intended to be at Los Angeles Country Club.”

Los Angeles Country Club StrackaLine
The StrackaLine yardage book for Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course shows the fifth hole to be fairly straight in general, but the contour lines and arrows pointing right in the landing zone some 300 yards off the tee indicate the steepness of the landing area. Players must try to keep their tee shots in the left portion of the fairway to set up the best approach to the green. (Courtesy of StrackaLine)

The best areas in the fairways from which to play an approach are often the high spots to one side, nearest thick Bermuda grass that the USGA and the club has allowed to grow to three or four inches in height. Early reports and videos from LACC this week have shown balls being dropped into the rough and almost disappearing – it’s a bit of a cliché to show such videos on social media, but cliché or not, it’s hard to hit long irons out of such salad. Players have had to scramble to find balls in the rough during practice rounds without the help of tournament volunteers.

Bermuda rough, known for its thickness and the difficulty it presents, is rare in a U.S. Open. The last Open course to use Bermuda was Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, but that layout relied on sand and scrubby native areas instead of thick rough. This year the rough is much more in the normal style of a U.S. Open than at Pinehurst. Bodenhamer said succinctly, “The rough will be difficult.”

More: U.S. Open leaderboard, hole-by-hole tour

Throw in the extremely rolling terrain, with tee shots on many holes kicking down large hills, and it will be difficult for players to hit the high spots and keep a ball there. Anything that misses toward the center of the fairway will roll speedily downhill, presenting a less-than-perfect approach angle, often from a blind spot in the fairway. Anything that misses too close to the rough is likely to bounce into tall Bermuda grass. Players must be precise, both in hitting the line and spinning the ball one direction or another to keep it there with a driver or fairway wood.

“If we get the conditions we hope for and the weather cooperates, and we get bounciness and firm and fast conditions, we think the best players in the world will rise to the top,” Bodenhamer said. “Because the greatest players control their golf ball not only when it’s in the air, but also when it hits the ground. And when it hits the ground here on this golf course, it goes all over the place.”

The application of width extends all the way to some green sites that feature chipping areas and runoffs at fairway height. Players will sometimes be forced to blast pitches out of patches of the tall stuff, while other times they will be forced to employ a delicate touch from short grass. It likely will be a common refrain about players in contention that they are missing in the right spots, meaning they retain some control over their recovery shots instead of watching haplessly as balls roll away from greens into the worst of the trouble.

“You will see a U.S. Open that is wider than most U.S. Opens. What I mean by that, you will see 50- and 60-yard-wide fairways, George Thomas style. … You’ll see balls bouncing around greens and fairways, getting caught up in rough. You’ll see it all here at LACC. And we will stay true to what the architect intended.”

Bodenhamer, who joined the USGA in 2011 and has played high-level amateur golf, gave several examples of holes where wide fairways don’t necessarily mean large targets.

“You’ll see No. 5 will be about 50 yards wide, but with the (left-to-right) cant of the fairway, you better hit a right-to-left shot into it or it won’t stay in the fairway,” he said. “No. 13 may be one of the widest fairways in U.S. Open history, but if you don’t hit it into a little 20-yard swath up the left side, you’re going to be down below on the right side, blind up to the 524-yard par 4. It will be difficult.”

Los Angeles Country Club StrackaLine
The StrackaLine yardage book for No. 13 at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course utilizes contour lines and arrows pointing to the right to indicate the steepness of the fairway in the landing area. Players who manage to hit the fairway only to see it roll down the hill will face a long, uphill and blind shot to a difficult green. The hole is marked as 507 yards for the U.S. Open, but the USGA can stretch it even longer than that.  (Courtesy of StrackaLine)

Another note on the rough this year: It will all be nasty. In recent years the USGA has frequently employed a strip of less-tall intermediate rough between the fairway cut and the thickest grass, allowing some measure of relief for players who barely miss or land a ball in a fairway only to see it trickle into the rough. Bodenhamer said that at LACC, there will be no intermediate cut. When it comes to hitting the fairways, it will be all or nothing.

“We want players to get every club in their bag dirty, to hit it high, to hit it low,” Bodenhamer said. “Work it left to right, right to left. Bunkers, pitch shots, mental and physical resolve. And yes it’s tough. We will set it up tough. But when you get to the mountaintop of winning a U.S. Open, you will have achieved something special.”

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‘I let out a loud roar’: Caddie Billy Foster admits he got carried away after Matt Fitzpatrick’s monster putt at 2022 U.S. Open

“He rolled in a 50-footer or 60-footer or whatever it was on 13 and I even actually got quite carried away myself.”

“Conversations with Champions, presented by Sentry” is a weekly series from Golfweek in collaboration with The Caddie Network, where we take you behind the scenes for a chat with the winning caddie from the most recent PGA Tour event. This week: Billy Foster, caddie for Matt Fitzpatrick at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Billy Foster has been a caddie for 40 years, and has worked for the likes Seve Ballesteros, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood. Along the way he collected 45 victories but never bagged the big one.

But at the 2022 U.S. Open, it was 27-year-old Matt Fitzpatrick who finally brought Foster, 59, to the winner’s circle at one of golf’s major championships.

After many close calls over the years, Sunday’s final round started to look like another oh-so-close major for Foster. That is, until Fitzpatrick drained a long putt on the 13th hole that realigned the stars.

“He missed a four-footer on 10 for bogey and then he three-putted 11 from like 15-18 feet, roughly five-foot putts and he missed it. And I just thought, ‘Here we go again. It’s not going to happen again,'” Foster told John Rathouz from The Caddie Network.

“And then he rolled in a 50-footer or 60-footer or whatever it was on 13 and I even actually got quite carried away myself, which I never do. I never get carried away but I let out a loud roar and that got him right back in the tournament again. Yea, it was a massive putt, just at the right time.”

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Fitzpatrick has worked hard to get his game major-championship worthy. He added length off the tee and kept his short game in order. Foster said there’s also mental hurdles that need to be conquered as well.

“You have to learn to lose to win. I think it was a big learning curve for him,” Foster said. “I always thought that coming to the U.S. Open, if he’s going to win a major, that’d be up there with his best chance, with how straight he is and he’s put on 25 yards the last 18 months, I don’t know what’s going on there but he’s turning into a bit of a beast. We played with DJ [Dustin Johnson] the first two days and he bombed a couple past DJ by 30-40 yards and I’m like ‘My God, he’s getting the attention.’

“But yea, his all-around game, his chipping has improved immensely. … Seve [Ballesteros] would be spinning his grave watching. I think he’s in the top 20 of every stat category on the tour so he’s a very consistent player.”

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Dressed for Success: Matt Fitzpatrick at the 2022 U.S. Open

Check out Matt Fitzpatrick’s apparel worn during his win at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Who says course history isn’t important?

Matt Fitzpatrick won for the first time as a professional on U.S. soil this weekend and picked a good time to do it, taking home the U.S. Open title and a casual $3.15 million in prize money.

Though this was his first professional win in the U.S., Fitzpatrick continued his past success at The Country Club, where he also won the 2013 U.S. Amateur.

We’ve already taken a deep dive inside Fitzpatrick’s Winner’s Bag but now we get to open up the champion’s closet and see how Matt Fitzpatrick dressed for success at the 2022 U.S. Open.

More Dressed for Success: Billy HorschelSam Burns | Jordan Spieth

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After 40 years as a caddie, Billy Foster gets ‘the gorilla’ off his back at the U.S. Open and finally loops for a major winner

“I had a gorilla jump off me back. Not a monkey, but a gorilla,” Foster said.

In March at the Valspar Championship, Billy Foster boasted that he had caddied for 45 winners during his 40 years on the bag. It’s quite a victory total but it didn’t include a single major. Asked by a reporter about his victory flags, the unofficial trophy for the winning looper, Foster barked, “I don’t collect them. Never kept one. I have no interest in it.”

Ah, but that was before Foster finally had the bag of a major champion at the 122nd U.S. Open in Brookline, Massachusetts. When Will Zalatoris narrowly missed his birdie putt at 18, Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick became U.S. Open champion at The Country Club. With watery eyes, Foster approached the pin and kissed the lower right corner of the flag at 18. This one was different. This one meant everything.

“I had a gorilla jump off me back. Not a monkey, but a gorilla,” he told Golf Channel shortly after his back became a lot lighter.

There’s a fairly good chance that the flag from his 46th career victory may be buried with him when the 59-year-old Englishman takes his final breath.

“It means the world to Billy,” Fitzpatrick said. “I know it’s something he’s wanted for a long, long, long time. To do it today is incredible.”

At last. Just think about 40 years, in the neighborhood of 160 majors working for the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Thomas Bjorn, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood before him. So many close calls. Bjorn, the Great Dane, should have won the 2003 British Open at Sandwich but needed three whacks from a greenside bunker at the 16th hole, made double bogey and gift-wrapped the Claret Jug to surprise winner Ben Curtis.

“I thought about that every day for six months,” Foster said in a recent interview with the Caddie Network.

With Foster on the bag, Westwood achieved World No. 1, but Foster figures that there were at least three or four golden opportunities at the majors squandered – from taking three putts at the last at the 2009 British at Turnberry to Phil Mickelson’s magical shot from the pine straw at 13 at the 2010 Masters and letting Danny Willett sprint past him at the 2016 Masters. There was also the heartache of being T-4 heading into the final round of the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont and having to watch Westwood spit the bit and close in 80. Had Fitzpatrick been able to putt for Westwood, Foster guesses they would have won six or seven majors.

“He putted like Edward Scissorhands,” Foster said.

Foster and Westwood parted ways in 2018 and Fitzpatrick happened to be in between caddies.

“It’s so funny,” Fitzpatrick said. “He kept telling me the first time on the job, ‘I’ll just do 25 weeks and maybe get a fill-in for the others.’ I think he’s had about two weeks off in four years.”

Foster is a legend in the caddie ranks, a master storyteller who can imitate Ballesteros to perfection. He’s caddied in a record 14 Ryder Cups – it would’ve been 15 but he missed 2012 with an injury – dating to 1987 at Muirfield Village, the first time Europe won on American soil. He worked that week for Gordon Brand Jr. He even caddied at a Presidents Cup in 2005 for Tiger Woods, subbing for Steve Williams, whose fiancée at the time was expecting their first child. Foster arguably is Europe’s most respected caddie and all that was missing from his resume was caddying for a major winner. He knows his job and he knows his place.

“The caddie is the jockey, and every now and then he needs to pull the reigns or crack the whip,” he told Todays Golfer in 2021. “There are times when you need to fire a player up, times you need to know what to say and times you need to shut up.”

In Fitzpatrick, he was convinced he had a player with all the attributes to become a major winner. Despite another close call at the PGA Championship last month when Fitzpatrick finished T-3, Foster’s resolve was never shaken that his boss was ready to claim one of golf’s biggest titles.

“I knew he was good enough to win a major and this week he has played unbelievable,” Foster said. “This has put a lot of bad memories to bed. It means everything.”

“He’s a voice of reason and a voice of authority among the caddie authority,” said Golf Channel’s Paul McGinley. “I’m really happy for him because he’s had an unbelievable career. … He hadn’t been with a player that won a major. That’s no longer. That’s why we’re all happy for him.”

The gorilla is off the back and Foster is ready to celebrate.

“Tonight and next week, I’ll probably have a liver like a football,” he said.

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Scottie Scheffler sets PGA Tour record for most money earned in a single season

Hard work pays off, quite literally for Scheffler.

Hard work pays off, quite literally for Scottie Scheffler.

After finishing T-2 alongside Will Zalatoris at the 2022 U.S. Open, one shot behind champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Scheffler earned $1,557,687 to bring his total earnings on the season to a whopping $12,896,849 (not including bonuses), which set a new record for most official money earned in a PGA Tour season. Jordan Spieth had the previous record after earning $12,030,465 in the 2014-15 season.

As if that sum of money isn’t impressive enough on its own, think about this: there are still 10 events left on this season’s PGA Tour schedule.

Scheffler has four wins this season, his most recent coming at the Masters, which capped a run of four wins in six starts. According to the PGA Tour, Scheffler is the fourth player to earn 4-plus wins and 3-plus runner-up finishes in a single season since 200, joining the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth. His third runner-up of the season ties Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris for the most on Tour.

U.S. Open: Prize moneyWinner’s bag

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U.S. Open: 5 things we learned Sunday, from Matt Fitzpatrick’s work ethic and LIV Golf prep to the USGA’s set up

Here’s what we learned from Sunday’s final round at The Country Club.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — On a chilly, overcast New England day, the lead at the 122nd U.S. Open went back and forth throughout the afternoon. Matt Fitzpatrick, Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler all reached 6 under during their rounds at The Country Club on Sunday, but only one of them, the Englishman who won the 2013 U.S. Amateur at this course, was able to finish there.

Fitzpatrick becomes the third golfer to win a U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open on the same course, joining Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach and Juli Inkster at Prairie Dunes.

Here are five things we learned on Sunday at The Country Club.

U.S. Open: Scores | Winner’s bag | Prize money

U.S. Open: Rory McIlroy adamant his ‘game is there,’ and ‘sooner or later it’s going to be my day’

After another top 10 in a major championship, Rory McIlroy remains confident his time is coming.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — For the third time this season, Rory McIlroy finished inside the top 10 at a major championship. But for the third time this season, McIlroy left a major championship empty handed.

A dramatic finish at Augusta National was good enough for solo 2nd. A squandered opportunity at Southern Hills ended with a T-8. And this week, well this week was a result of inconsistency.

He got off to a great start Sunday, holing a 26-footer for birdie at the first to get to 2 under for the tournament and two back of the lead. But the roller coaster began two holes later.

A bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey stretch from Nos. 3-7 put McIlroy back to even for the day, 1 under for the tournament. He was quickly running out of holes.

A flared wedge on 11 resulted in another dropped shot, and it was officially late early for the four-time major champion.

2022 U.S. Open
Rory McIlroy lines up a putt on the fifth green during the final round of the 2022 U.S. Open in Brookline, Massachusetts. (Photo: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports)

He made back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15 before playing the remaining three holes at even par.

“Yeah, the game’s there. Another top five in a major,” McIlroy said after his T-5 finish. “I guess (it) doesn’t really mean anything. Yeah, the game’s there. The game’s there.”

Despite the disappointing result, being in the mix is better than going home early.

“I’ll look back at this as another missed opportunity just as Southern Hills was, but missed opportunities are better than not contending at all. So that is a positive. I have to stay patient at this point because if I just keep putting myself in position, sooner or later it’s going to be my day and I’m going to get one.”

Next up for McIlroy is Hartford, Connecticut, for the Travelers Championship. His last trip to TPC River Highlands ended with a tie for 11th.

Then, it’s time to rest.

“I’ve got one more start next week in Hartford before I go to the Open Championship. I’ll get two weeks of good rest before the Open and play some links golf and prepare and look forward to that. Again, my game’s in good shape. I’ve got one more chance this year to try to get that major.”

The last time the Open went to St. Andrews, McIlroy wasn’t in the field.

On Sunday, he hung around long enough to congratulate Matt Fitzpatrick, and their embrace just off the 18th green was as good as it gets.

If all goes to plan, McIlroy will be the one receiving the love at St. Andrews in a month’s time.

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Check out the record prize money payout for each player at the 2022 U.S. Open

It pays to play well, especially in major championships.

It pays to play well folks, especially in major championships. Just ask this week’s winner, Matt Fitzpatrick.

The 27-year-old Englishman shot a 2-under 68 to hold on for a narrow victory at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Fitzpatrick won by just one shot over World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris to become the 13th player to win both the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open. For his efforts, Fitzpatrick will take home a record $3.15 million, $925,000 more than Jon Rahm last year. Scheffler and Zalatoris each earned $1,557,687 for finishing T-2 at 5 under.

Check out how much money each player earned this week at the 2022 U.S. Amateur.

U.S. Open: Scores | Winner’s bag

2022 U.S. Open prize money payout

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Matt Fitzpatrick -6 $3,150,000
T2 Scottie Scheffler -5 $1,557,687
T2 Will Zalatoris -5 $1,557,687
4 Hideki Matsuyama -3 $859,032
T5 Collin Morikawa -2 $674,953
T5 Rory McIlroy -2 $674,953
T7 Denny McCarthy -1 $515,934
T7 Adam Hadwin -1 $515,934
T7 Keegan Bradley -1 $515,934
T10 Gary Woodland E $407,219
T10 Joel Dahmen E $407,219
T12 Séamus Power 1 $347,058
T12 Jon Rahm 1 $347,058
T14 Guido Migliozzi 2 $241,302
T14 Xander Schauffele 2 $241,302
T14 Marc Leishman 2 $241,302
T14 Adam Scott 2 $241,302
T14 Cameron Tringale 2 $241,302
T14 Patrick Cantlay 2 $241,302
T14 Sebastián Muñoz 2 $241,302
T14 Hayden Buckley 2 $241,302
T14 Nick Hardy 2 $241,302
23 Joohyung Kim 3 $171,732
T24 Mackenzie Hughes 4 $150,849
T24 Adam Schenk 4 $150,849
T24 Dustin Johnson 4 $150,849
T27 Thomas Pieters 5 $127,002
T27 Min Woo Lee 5 $127,002
T27 Aaron Wise 5 $127,002
T27 Sam Burns 5 $127,002
T31 MJ Daffue 6 $100,330
T31 Callum Tarren 6 $100,330
T31 Todd Sinnott 6 $100,330
T31 Andrew Putnam 6 $100,330
T31 Patrick Rodgers 6 $100,330
T31 Davis Riley 6 $100,330
T37 K.H. Lee 7 $75,916
T37 Justin Rose 7 $75,916
T37 Joseph Bramlett 7 $75,916
T37 Justin Thomas 7 $75,916
T37 Jordan Spieth 7 $75,916
T37 Matthew NeSmith 7 $75,916
T43 Chris Gotterup 8 $59,332
T43 Travis Vick (a) 8
T43 Richard Bland 8 $59,332
T43 Brian Harman 8 $59,332
T47 Joaquin Niemann 9 $50,671
T47 Max Homa 9 $50,671
T49 Sam Bennett (a) 10
T49 Patrick Reed 10 $44,038
T49 Sam Stevens 10 $44,038
T49 David Lingmerth 10 $44,038
T53 Sebastian Söderberg 11 $40,629
T53 Beau Hossler 11 $40,629
55 Brooks Koepka 12 $39,432
T56 Wil Besseling 13 $38,510
T56 Chris Naegel 13 $38,510
T56 Tyrrell Hatton 13 $38,510
T56 Bryson DeChambeau 13 $38,510
60 Brandon Matthews 16 $37,589
T61 Harris English 17 $37,221
T61 Austin Greaser (a) 17
63 Grayson Murray 18 $36,852
64 Stewart Hagestad (a) 19

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Lynch: A standout U.S. Open steels us for turbulent days ahead

The 2022 U.S. Open might be recalled as one of the last majors of “before times.”

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Given the times, there could have been no more fitting venue for the 122nd U.S. Open than The Country Club, one of American golf’s five foundational pillars, associated in perpetuity with a man who did actually grow the game despite never competing for a nickel, and all during these waning weeks of golf as we’ve known it. Appropriate too that the championship was held 10 miles from the site of the Boston Tea Party, when aggrieved merchants rose against an imperial power, though Samuel Adams didn’t require guarantees from a foreign power before signing on to his rebellion.

This Open deserves to be remembered for all the right reasons: the transcendent performance of Matt Fitzpatrick, the magnificent old architecture holding its own against modern power, the enthusiasm of fans in a sports town that had been too long deprived of a major. That’s what it will be remembered for, in time. But it might also be recalled as one of the last majors of “before times,” when the structure of the professional game still resembled what it had been for a half-century or so.

The coming days and weeks threaten a radical upheaval in golf as more players opt for money and comfort over morals and competition, as the PGA and DP World tours scramble to align schedules, purses and priorities to retain the most elite talent, and as the major championships mull their power and how it might be best deployed, if at all. Careers and legacies were shaped at The Country Club. The shape of golf going forward will be molded in nondescript conference rooms and lawyers’ offices, beginning Tuesday morning 96 miles southwest of Brookline in Hartford, Connecticut.

More than 100 players will attend a meeting at which the PGA Tour will share more details on its plans to ring-fence assets (commercial and human) from the Saudis’ fragrant embrace. It won’t be marketed as such—there’ll be talk of upgrading products, growing opportunities, and the like—but that’s what it is. Among the audience will be some Benedict Arnolds who have already chosen to ply their trade for royalty. At 2 p.m. ET, the Tour’s board will be gaveled in to debate and potentially ratify changes that commissioner Jay Monahan hopes will begin guiding his organization out of a perilous situation.

Monahan’s team is still working on and closely guarding the specifics to be presented Tuesday. Likely included is increased cooperation with the DP World Tour (though shy of a merger) and details on three highly lucrative, limited-field tournaments that will eventually anchor a new-look Fall (which Fall, is TBD). The events will be staged in Europe, the Middle East and Asia with purses to rival the LIV Golf riches. One is likely to be held in the Emirates, a development sure to have whatabouters hurdling furniture to tweet claims that it mirrors LIV Golf’s relationship with the Saudi regime. It doesn’t. The Emirates are no one’s idea of democratic beacons, but there’s a difference between working in a country and working for a country, though that’s assuredly a nuance too complex for some.

The PGA Tour isn’t the only party to this conflict we’ll hear from. LIV Golf is expected to announce more player defections ahead of its second event, scheduled for July 1-3 in Portland, Oregon. And higher pitch whining should be expected from players who’ve already bolted, who after years of being lauded now feel unfairly maligned for laundering a butcher’s bloodied bonesaw. Graeme McDowell got a head start on that, bemoaning a “smear campaign” by critics, whose ranks include Jamal Khashoggi’s widow, September 11 families, Amnesty International and many players he once shared a locker room with.

All of this will take place amid the prevailing miasma of rumor and innuendo about who’s jumping and for how much, who’s double-dealing and why, and on whose turf the chief executive of the DP World Tour lays his flaxen head at night. As ever, it will be difficult to discern business from bluster.

In most respects, it has been a very traditional U.S. Open: 156 competitors arrived at a celebrated course in varying states of optimism, all but one of them were ground down to the nubbin, and not one of those contending Sunday afternoon spared a thought or word for the number on the check (it was $3,150,000, enough to impress everyone bar Greg Norman, but then he never cashed a dollar check for finishing first in a major).

This Boston tee party showcased much of what has bound players and fans alike to this game: competition with meaning, championships with stature, and yes, money. But never in the reverse order of importance. In 25 days, we’ll do it again, as golf’s oldest major championship is contested over its oldest course. Given the times, that kind of permanence is something to be grateful for.

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Matt Fitzpatrick carves out unique piece of USGA history with dramatic 2022 U.S. Open win

Fitzpatrick earned his first major championship with a Sunday 68 to win by one.

The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, provided a challenging but fair test for the field at this week’s 2022 U.S. Open, setting up for a thrilling finish on Father’s Day.

Just how good was the Sunday’s final-round action? When the leaders in the last group were on the 15th hole, each of the top six players on the leaderboard was ranked inside the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

The last three U.S. Opens held at The Country Club all went to a playoff but that trend was bucked this year as Matt Fitzpatrick claimed the win at 6 under, one shot ahead of world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris. The win is Fitzpatrick’s first major title and made him just the 13th player to win the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open, and the first to accomplish the feat at the same golf course since Jack Nicklaus won his second U.S. Amateur and third U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Fitzpatrick shot a 2-under 68 in the final round for his first win since the 2021 Andalucía Masters on the DP World Tour.

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