A new reign as Glover in clover

PHIL, Tiger, even David, all came calling but Lucas Glover answered all the questions thrown at him by some of golf’s greatest at Bethpage yesterday and still came through to capture the 109th US Open Championship.

The 29 year-old native of Greenville, South Carolina, managed by far the greatest victory of his career – his only win on the US Tour came in the 2005 Funai Classic at Walt Disney in 2005 – in spite of shooting a three over par 73 in yesterday’s delayed final round.

Glover savoured his first few minutes as champion alongside Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods and said he hoped he wouldn’t “downgrade” the title.

While most children dream of a trip to Walt Disney World, Glover said he always wanted to be a US Open champion, joining the likes of Ben Hogan, Nicklaus and Palmer.

“I dreamed about it as a kid and pulled it off. Here I stand,” Glover said.

“I get to be beside them. I don’t know. It’s an honour to be on the trophy with names such as that.

“I hope I don’t downgrade it or anything with my name on there.

“It’s an honour, I’m just excited and happy to be on here.”

Glover finished two shots clear of Phil Mickelson, coming runner-up for the fifth time, the remarkable David Duval, who had to qualify to play the championship in the first place and Ricky Barnes, who went into the final round a stroke ahead of Glover, but could do no better than 76.

Tiger Woods defended his title with his matchless commitment and fighting spirit. At one stage he got to within three of the lead but a cold putter allied to a wayward approach to the 15th that cost him a shot at a crucial time, meant he could not complete his Lazarus-like attempt to recover from some indifferent form through the weather-marred event. A closing 69 for level par put him in a share of 6th, one spot behind the leading European, England’s Ross Fisher.

Glover will not be remembered as one of the most charismatic of champions but he got the job done well in the face of fierce pressure on a breezy but thankfully dry day. Mickelson, especially, Duval and Woods were all coming after him down the stretch and when he bogeyed the difficult 15th, it seemed at least one of them would strike.

But Mickelson and Woods faltered at the same hole and were joined in bogey-land by Duval at the par three 17th. That in turn handed Glover a two-stroke advantage with two to play and to his great credit he hit the green with a fine long iron before also safely negotiating his way through the 18th.

Whereas Mickelson and Duval were able to grin and bear it and indeed produce a smile or two, Woods felt hard done by and while he had a genuine case where being caught at the wrong end of the draw was concerned, he really should learn to take the odd bit of bad luck a little more graciously. God knows, he’s had many good breaks over the years and might do well to remember that the game is all about swings and roundabouts.

“I hit it well all day but missed so many putts just like I’ve missed them all week,” he groaned. “I was surprised the course played this easy. I was hitting a lot of three irons into the greens and they were holding within 10 feet. In some Opens, sand wedges are not holding.”

Woods also tied 6th at the Masters but predictably he takes no solace from a statistic he would regard with disdain. He claimed “without a doubt, this was even more frustrating. I striped it this week. I hit it just like I did at the Memorial and unfortunately I didn’t make anything. I hit so many putts … my good ones aren’t going in and my bad ones aren’t even close.”

Mickelson could have been even more down in himself given that this was his fifth runner-up placing in his national Open at a time when his wife, Amy, is preparing for chemotherapy starting in 10 days’ time to treat her breast cancer. Typical of the man, though, he put as positive a spin as possible on the situation.

“It was a lot of ups and downs for me, a lot of birdies, a lot of bogeys fighting to get into it, back out, back in it again,” he said. “It’s been kind of an emotional five days. I put myself in a great position to close it out but unfortunately didn’t finish it off. I’m disappointed, but now that it’s over, I’ve got more important things going on. We’re not going to have a chance in the next couple of months to have a lot of family time so as a family we need a bit of leisure time before the treatment begins.

“Once we get going with the treatment, it might be a little bit easier because the wait has been difficult. But, you know, I don’t really know where to go with that. Just that there’s some more important things going on. This is my fifth time finishing 2nd in this tournament but maybe it’s more in perspective for me because I feel different this time. I want to win this tournament.”

With the obvious exception of Mickelson – and with due respect to Glover – the most popular winner of all would have been David Duval. He has been in the wilderness for the past six or seven years and came into the week in 882nd position in the world rankings.

Not surprisingly, he commented: “I don’t quit. This is what I want. It may be arrogance but I feel it’s where I belong.