2022 Tournaments We'll Remember: U.S. Open
Through the end of the year, the SI Golf team will look back at 10 memorable tournaments from 2022.
More Tournaments We'll Remember: RBC Canadian Open | LIV Golf's London Debut | PGA Championship | The Masters | Augusta National Women's Am | Chevron Championship
The Event: U.S. Open
Site: The Country Club, Brookline, Mass.
Dates: June 16-19
Result: Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick wins by one shot over Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris
Why We’ll Remember It: The Country Club was unfamiliar to most of the field since it hadn’t held a major championship since the 1988 U.S. Open, when Curtis Strange defeated Nick Faldo in a playoff.
In 2013, the USGA returned to Brookline and conducted the U.S. Amateur championship, which was won by a then-18-year-old unknown, Matt Fitzpatrick.
That knowledge of the home course of Francis Ouimet, who won the U.S. Open in 1913, and the fact that the now-27-year-old had grown into a professional game that included newfound length to go with his superior short game, made each of his four rounds compelling and included three rounds in the 60s.
Most majors aren’t memorable until Saturday's third round and that was the case in Massachusetts with Fitzpatrick and Zalatoris on top of the leaderboard after shooting under-par scores (a 67 for Zalatoris and 68 for Fitzpatrick), but the board also included Jon Rahm, Keegan Bradley, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, all major winners and all breathing down the leaders' necks.
When Scheffler started strong in the final round with consecutive birdies to tie Fitzpatrick, it was clear the reigning Masters Champion and the favorite coming into the week after winning four times in a two-month period was on the move.
The question became if Scheffler was going to win his second major in two attempts or could Fitzpatrick hang in there?
Ultimately, Fitzpatrick would be the steadier over the back nine and then, with the whole world watching, stood on the 18th tee with a one-shot lead over Scheffler, who had just birdied the 17th hole.
Fitzpatrick found the left fairway bunker and had a shot from 155 yards to an elevated green with a Sunday pin, over a bunker that sat on the front third of the green.
When the shot found the green, it didn’t end the dramatics as Zalatoris had a look at birdie for a playoff, but when that putt slid by, Fitzpatrick—with veteran caddie Billy Foster—celebrated a U.S. Open victory, the first for an Englishman since Justin Rose at Merion in 2013.