2001 U.S. Open Golf Championship

Infobox_Individual_Golf_Tournament
tournament_name = 2001 U.S. Open


dates = June 14 - 18, 2001
location = Tulsa, Oklahoma
course = Southern Hills Country Club
tour = PGA Tour
PGA European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
par = 70
yardage=6,973
field = 156 players, 79 after cut
cut = 147 (+7)
purse = $5,000,000
winners_share =$900,000
Champion = Retief Goosen
Score = 276 (-4)The 2001 United States Open Golf Championship was the 101st U.S. Open, played from June 14 to June 18, 2001 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The U.S. Open returned to Southern Hills for the first time since 1977, where Hubert Green appeared & won in his first major championship. Players complained that approach shots, landing in the middle of green in the 18th hole, could wind up convert|40|yd away in the fairway after rolling back down the two-tiered putting surface. The USGA and Southern Hills officials raced to rectify the problem by feeding the green fertilizer to spur the growth of more grass, calling off the mowers and hand watering the green during the day.

Mark Brooks three-putted his way out of the lead on the 18th, playing two groups behind Retief Goosen. Goosen blasted his birdie putt within two feet of the 18th hole, but he then missed the putt for par, and ended up in a tie with Brooks. Goosen prevailed the next day in an 18-hole playoff. The purse was $5 million and Goosen earned $900,000. The tournament was also notable for breaking Tiger Woods's "Tiger Slam" run of consecutive major championship wins; Woods finished twelfth.

History of U.S. Open at Southern Hills

The 2001 U.S. Open Golf Championship was the third U.S. Open at Southern Hills and sixth major championship. Former champions were Tommy Bolt in 1958, and Hubert Green in 1977. Southern Hills had a history of hot championships with temperatures soaring above 90 degrees. In the 1977 U.S. Open, Hubert Green led by one shot with four holes to go when he was informed of a death threat against him, received by the FBI. Green decided to continue on and won the title by one stroke.

ummay of rounds of play

First round (Thursday and Friday)

Severe thunderstorms halted play Thursday afternoon with only 66 players completing their rounds. South Africa's Retief Goosen completed an opening round of 66, four-under-par, to lead the way. Goosen resumed his unfinished round on three-under-par and raced to six-under, but bogeys at the 16th and 17th took the edge off his round. However, it was enough to earn him a one-stroke lead over Hale Irwin and Canadian Mike Weir with J. L. Lewis one stroke further back. Irwin, who won the last of his three U.S. Open titles in 1990, capped a three-under 67 with a birdie at the treacherous par-four 18th. Tiger Woods could only manage an opening round of 74, four-over-par, eight shots off the lead. Woods bogeyed the ninth, before recording his first birdie of the round at the 15th. But even that could not spark a revival in his fortunes as he bogeyed the last.

Fourth round (Sunday)

Retief Goosen missed a two-foot par putt at the 72nd hole to fall back into a tie with Mark Brooks, forcing an 18-hole playoff to decide the 101st U.S. Open champion. Brooks was packed and ready to leave the clubhouse when Goosen charged his convert|15|ft|m|sing=on birdie putt to clinch a two-shot victory two feet by the cup. Goosen, who moments earlier watched playing partner Stewart Cink miss an convert|18|in|mm|sing=on putt for bogey, pushed his short par putt by the right edge of the cup. He managed to pull himself together and sink a short bogey putt on the way back to finish regulation alongside Brooks at four-under-par 276. When Goosen and Cink dialed it up to go to five-under, Brooks responded by two-putting for birdie at the par-five 13th. The lead was his after Cink drove into a creek for bogey at 13 and Goosen suffered his first three-putt of the championship at the 14th. Goosen, who stoically battled to hold on to a piece of the top spot all week, knocked his approach at the 15th to the back fringe and rolled in a 12-footer to return to minus-five with Brooks. Brooks' convert|200|yd|sing=on approach to 18 landed convert|40|ft|m left of the right-side pin placement. His first putt was too hard and sped eight feet past the hole, and his par try stopped on the right edge. The bogey gave Brooks an even-par 70 and dropped him to four-under. Back at 17, Cink replaced Brooks as co-leader after a brilliant wedge approach over the flag landed past the pin before spinning back to two feet for birdie.

Two top-class players who had been expected to make a charge in the final round - Phil Mickelson and Sergio García - blew their chances with poor displays. The most eye-catching performances of the day came from Fiji's Vijay Singh and U.S. veteran Tom Kite, who both stormed to six-under par 64 - the best rounds of the week - and Olin Browne, who sank a hole-in-one at the 11th. Tiger Woods, who had won the last four major championships, failed to make a charge on Sunday and saw his run come to an end. He turned in his second straight 69 to finish tied for 12th at three-over-par 283, snapping streaks of eight straight top-10s in majors and 40 consecutive events under par.

Playoff (Monday)

Retief Goosen captured the 101st U.S. Open Championship Monday, posting a two-shot victory over Mark Brooks in an 18-hole playoff at Southern Hills Country Club. The seemingly stoic 32-year-old became the third South African to win the title, joining countrymen Gary Player and Ernie Els as champions of the USGA's premier event. A two-shot swing in Brooks' favor at the 17th cut Goosen's lead to three shots with one hole to play. But Brooks, who struggled off the tee all day, sent his most important drive into the right-hand rough. He chose a fairway wood for his approach and did well to run his ball into the bunker short and left of the final green. Goosen found the 18th fairway with his drive, then hit a five-iron that landed short of the green and rolled convert|20|yd back down the slope. Taking no chances with his tight uphill lie, Goosen used a putter to knock his ball onto the putting surface, but was left staring at a 25-footer for his par. Brooks blasted out of the trap to three feet to set up a closing par for a two-over 72. Goosen left his bid for par five feet short, but this time rolled in the clinching putt for an even-par 70 that saw him become just the sixth foreign-born winner of the U.S. Open in the last 70 years.

Quotes

"It's amazing and I don't want to consider what it would have felt like if I had lost but I played solid and my putter was warm in places - except yesterday." - Retief Goosen

"It's been a long week, it feels like a year out here." - Retief Goosen

"When I got up this morning, I was more comfortable than I was Sunday morning. I knew I had a 50 percent chance of winning." - Retief Goosen

"I got punished severely in the rough today and that was kind of the difference," - Mark Brooks after his playoff loss.

"I started hitting the ball a lot better a few weeks ago, and just the putter wasn't working. And putting a new putter in the bag last week, it just helped." - Retief Goosen "To be honest with you I played as hard as I could, I tried on every shot, and there's no regrets." - Tiger Woods after failing to win his fifth straight major championship

"I don't think people really understand how difficult it is on you to keep putting yourself there and the stress it puts on you coming down the back nine on Sunday with a chance to win. More times than not it wears you out." - Tiger Woods

"It's certainly not the finish I would have liked, but out of playing (36) majors now, and not winning any, I'm tired of beating myself up time after time," - Phil Mickelson.

"It was really tough to dig in and concentrate on that second putt because I really didn't think it was really all that important," - Stewart Cink after missing a two-foot putt to join Goosen and Brooks in the playoff.

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/in_depth/2001/us_open/1395706.stm Goosen Takes US Open Title] - BBC Sports
* [http://www.golftoday.co.uk/tours/2001/usopen/round4report4.html Goosen wins the US Open in playoff] - Golf Today
* [http://www.europeantour.com/publish.sps?syndicatorguid=&rmasiteinstanceguid=&pagegid=%7BAEFB93B0-EFF5-4C05-AB0F-FD08D947D944%7D&infosid=1&eventid=2001034&roundno=2 2001 US Open Official Scores and Prize Money] - European Tour
* [http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0882221.html 2001 U.S. Open Results] - Infoplease