My Five Takeaways from the 2016 U.S. Open

"Nobody ever wins an Open. Everyone else just loses it." - Bobby Jones

It's annually the toughest test in golf.  The best players in the world playing under the hardest conditions in the world.  There are always so many storylines surrounding this tournament each year, and just as many when its over.  This year's event proved to be great TV, especially on Sunday.  Here are my five takeaways from the 2016 Open.

5. Jason Day is made for the U.S. Open.

(Golf Digest)

The Aussie was the pick for many, including myself, to win this week.  It wasn’t just his recent success over the last year, but more specifically his success in this tournament that led a lot of people to side with him.  Day’s opening round 76 seemingly took him out of contention, but he battled back very nicely with a 69 on Friday and 66 on Saturday.  Unfortunately he just couldn’t get anything going on Sunday and fired a 71 to finish +2.  Remarkably though, the world #1 collected his FOURTH STRAIGHT Top-10 U.S. Open finish, his 5th in just 6 career tries.  Day has never won a U.S. Open, but it is arguably his best major. He has the mentality, and he certainly has the game, to be able to win one of these real soon. 

4. More disappointment for Sergio.

(Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

I’m honestly torn on Sergio Garcia.  I don’t know whether to root for him or not.  I guess I don’t really have a reason not to? Anyways, it’s starting to look pretty gray for the Spaniard.  This week brought Sergio to a career 0-72 record in major championships.  That being said, he may arguably be the best player in the world to have never won a major.  He has certainly contended in many, but has never been able to close the deal, and you really have to wonder how much each near-miss continues to weigh on him.  He’s still just 36 with plenty of talent in the tank, and there have been older major champions, but you really do have to wonder if he will ever actually finish the job one of these times.

3. Oakmont looked IMPOSSIBLE.

 

(Fred Vuich/Getty Images)

Wow. Oakmont Country Club.  While watching the Open I was caught somewhere between “I’d kill to play Oakmont” and “Oakmont would literally kill me.” Sure, the rain on Day 1 made the course a bit easier than anticipated, but by Sunday everything was as firm as could possibly be.  We saw chip shots from inches off the green end up 20 yards back down the fairway.  We saw four-putts.  We saw balls literally disappearing in the rough.  And best of all, we saw a lot of shocked faces.  The course played as a U.S. Open caliber course should, and was visually the exact opposite of that disgusting track last year called Chambers Bay. Personally I thought the winning score would be over par this week, and it very well may have been had there not been any rain to soften things up a bit.  Bottom line, the best in the world were visibly struggling at times to work their way around Oakmont.

P.S.—No chance I break 100 from the ladies tees under U.S. Open conditions.  Five-putts like you read about.

2. The USGA took an L this week.

As with any USGA sanctioned event, particularly a U.S. Open, there are players that sound off about course setup, rules, etc.  That comes standard, and we saw it from a few guys who missed the cut this week.  But the big story was obviously centered around Dustin Johnson’s 5^th hole on Sunday afternoon.  Johnson walked up to his ball on the green and took a few practice strokes.  He DID NOT address the ball (addressing the ball means grounding the putter behind the ball, which he did not do) but the ball still moved probably a millimeter as seen on camera.  An official was called over who told Johnson to play the ball without penalty, but Johnson was notified 7 holes later that there may in fact be a penalty.

Simply put, the entire handling of the situation was inexcusable.  I didn’t think Johnson moved the ball, and I completely disagreed with telling Johnson not only while his round was still in progress, but also waiting 7 holes to do so.  Additionally, the ball moved backwards which would be physically impossible to do by touching it with a putter.  The USGA eventually slapped him with a one-stroke penalty though, which caused a lot of uproar from many tour players and fans.  There were no winners in this situation, but DJ's multiple shot victory saved a lot of stress on many people. Crisis "averted."

1. Dustin Johnson is finally a major champion.

(Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

It finally happened.  After A LOT of major championship heartbreak over the years, Dustin Johnson has finally captured his first victory.  He becomes the third straight first-time major winner dating back to Jason Day's victory last August.  Coming into this week, I firmly believed Johnson was currently the best player in the world to not have a major victory.  He has the most raw talent of anybody in the world, but could never make putts when they counted the most.  He overpowered Oakmont this week though, striping fairways with obscene length off the tee and executing approach shots the way they needed to be played.  He made clutch putts on the back nine on Sunday, with his biggest two putts coming on 16 and 17 to save par twice.  His final hole was classic DJ, bombing a drive down the middle and firing right at the flagstick.  He finished in style with a birdie, and basically gave the finger to the USGA by going out and doing it on his own.  This is his first, but it definitely won’t be his last.  The first major is seemingly the hardest to win for these guys, and now that he has one, he has the talent to keep them coming.  Congrats DJ.