Europe’s finest Fisher looks to future after finishing fifth

ENGLAND’S Ross Fisher maintained his challenge to the end in highly admirable fashion before eventually settling for 5th place at Bethpage.

And with Soren Hansen, Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia all making their way into the top 10, it was a decent enough week for the Europeans.

However, with the honourable exception of Fisher, who performed superbly throughout the 72 holes and was the highest finishing European, none ever looked capable of going all the way with the result that Tony Jacklin at Hazeltine in 1970 remains the last winner of the title from this side of the Atlantic.

Fisher was playing in his second US Open having missed the cut 12 months previously at Torrey Pines. The 28-year-old from Chigwell has only been a member of the European Tour since 2006 but his powerful striking off the tee has enabled him to cope with a course of the length and innate difficulty of Bethpage.

“I’ll never forget this week”, he said. “What an experience. It’s all new to me. Coming to New York, hearing the crowd; I mean, you know, just can’t say enough for the crowd. Obviously they’re cheering for Phil (Mickelson) and all the other guys, but, you know, I felt like I had a bit of support out there. They were a little loud at times but they were just tremendous. I think they kept me going, they kept everyone going because it’s been a long week.

“And it was tough. You are looking at the leaderboard. You’ve got Lucas Glover and Phil Mickelson and you see a certain Mr Woods name on there as well. So there are some good names on the leaderboard. And to see my name up there towards the top was unbelievable and hopefully there will be more to come after this. I’ll have a lot more US Opens and majors to play in.”

Graeme McDowell needed to birdie the 18th to get round in 74 having failed to live up to the fine form of the previous rounds which he had played in 69, 72 and 69.

This is the latest occasion on which he has failed to build on a promising start to a major championship but he is still confident he is headed in the right direction and can discover the necessary combination of staying power and ball striking required in the near future.

“I was never really on top of my game the whole week and in the middle of the round hit a lot of loose shots,” he admitted. “I was never really in control of my golf swing and I guess it caught up with me today. I felt 69 flattered me on the first day, I dug in well over Friday and Saturday and was only average today.

“Taking positives out of it, I’m happy that not being 100% on top of my game this week, I was still competing. I had two or three great chances last night and didn’t take them and my putter was cold out there again today. You’ve got to take your chances on this golf course because it doesn’t present you with many. I can rue a few missed putts on the first nine and a few missed fairways on the back nine. End of story, really. But I’ve learned that I can hang in there on a big, long championship golf course without having my best swing with me. My iron play was good but my driving and my fairway wood play wasn’t even close to how I can play. I’ve got a bit of work to do on my technique.”

Peter Hanson, who performed outstandingly well over the opening three rounds, tied for 18th on four over with McDowell joined in 23rd spot by Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter on four over. Poulter shot a best of the final round 67.