What is the fastest way to get from the first tee to the 18th green at Olympia Fields Country Club?
Take about a hundred giant steps. Fans made that trip thousands of times Thursday through Sunday at the U.S. Open.
But Jim Furyk found the most rewarding way. Taking the long way from 1 to 18, he made the 4-miles-plus a walk in the park Sunday. Despite a bogey on the final hole, Furyk finished at 8-under-par 272 to win by three strokes over his closest competitor and Sunday playing partner, Stephen Leaney.
And though the grandstand crowd at the 18th had settled in early and chattered excitedly over the prospects of someone putting pressure on Furyk, they greeted him enthusiastically as he approached the final hole with the issue far beyond doubt. Leaney patted him on the shoulder in an early congratulatory gesture as they stepped onto the green.
“Way to go, Jimmy!” someone in the crowd shouted over the standing ovation.
Earlier in the day, one after another of Furyk’s closest competitors after Saturday’s third round–Vijay Singh, Nick Price, Dicky Pride, Mike Weir–arrived at the 18th green having lost ground not only to Furyk but also to par.
With only two birdies all day, by Kirk Triplett and Steve Lowery, the walk down the 460-yard 18th fairway became a bogey parade. Twenty-one players bogeyed the par-4 hole. Even Furyk joined the parade. Lee Janzen double-bogeyed and Dan Forsman triple-bogeyed.
Fans at 18 watched one of their favorites after another struggle: There was an incredible array of approach shots hit out of bad lies in bunkers. There were frequent chip shots at the pin that looked good until they caught and rolled back as far as 50 feet away.
There were putts that looked even better before making similar rolls down the green’s sloped right side.
After groaning, the fans nonetheless applauded their fallen heroes.
One of the longest and loudest ovations went to Tom Watson, the 53-year-old former Open champ who led after Thursday’s first round, and to his longtime caddie, Bruce Edwards, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Chants of “Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!” punctuated the applause. Watson’s playing partner, Triplett, soon shared the spotlight by curling in a long birdie putt.
The fans were similarly warm in greeting Justin Leonard, singing “Happy Birthday.” The 18th wasn’t so kind, presenting yet another bogey to Leonard, who finished the tournament 3 over on his 31st birthday.
Despite his lackluster 2-over-par day and 3-over par finish, Tiger Woods made a splashy entrance on the 18th, belting a drive some 350 yards down the middle of the fairway as the crowd ooohed in appreciation.
But Woods settled for par and an ovation.
The 68 elite players in the final day’s field played in twosomes, walking down the 18th fairway’s tiered approach like a slow march of seniors on graduation day. But when their scores through 17 were flashed on the board, it looked as if they had flunked the course final.
Singh had gone from 5 under on the first tee to 2 over after 17 holes, Price from 5 under to 1 under, Mark O’Meara from 3 under to 4 over, Pride from 4 under to 4 over.
To add insult, Singh, Price and O’Meara bogeyed the final hole as well.
All in all, it made for a relatively unharried day for Furyk. The biggest distraction between his opening drive on the first tee and the happy reunion with his wife, Tabitha, 1-year-old daughter Caleigh Lynn and his parents after finishing the 18th came at the 11th hole.
There, greeting him briefly in time and attire, was a topless woman.
But Furyk would say later she did not break his concentration as much as the thought that a par on 18 would break the U.S. Open record. He knocked his birdie putt 10 feet past the hole and had to two-putt from there.
“I lost a little concentration,” he said.
By then it was of no consequence to the rest of the field.
