Final Day Sunday at the 2021 US Open

Posted on June 21, 2021
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The sun struggled to come through and burn up Torrey Pines, which would have made it faster and firmer. The day started with the usual Marine Layer which adds the usual moisture into the course, thus slowing it down and making it receptive for the earlier starters. They feasted and the scores started to stack up. However, ultimately it was the real feast on 17 and 18 that separated the champ, Rahmbo, from King Louis. The front 9 was loaded with birdies, at one stage there were 10 players within 1 shot of the lead. It all got bottled up around 5 under and no one could get to 6 under except for 2 players. The challengers came hard early. Rahmbo got out the hammer early - birdies on 1 and 2 to set his stall. Just like that the lead was down to 1. BK came early too, carding a 3 birdie 32 on the front 9 and threatened to post, but got lucky on 14 before capitulating on 16 and 18. Then the Bulk set the tone and charged up, holding onto his bogey free status and adding 3 birdies on the front 9 too until a shank on 11 and then his wheels came off - spiraling on 12 and worse on 13. Finally he settled the ship till he made the big snowman on 17. “I Just hit it far then go find it and hit it again”. Until it's in a ravine. Collin then also came into the mix and posted 32 on the front 9 too and looked sure to mount a challenge before he also had a party on 13, taking a nice double. Amongst the leaders, it was a battle for Hughes from the outset but he got back into things by the 11th tee before he jammed it into a tree off the cart path, such a bad break. King Louis looked solid all day without being overly aggressive. He was calmness personified. As he walked onto the tee at 11, he had a 2 shot lead, after back to back birdies and finally showing some teeth. He made clutch putts throughout and then finally broke down on 17, headed into the The Bulk’s ravine and narrowly missing out on another clutch par save. He looked distraught as he added another 2nd place in the majors. The day belonged to Rahmbo in the end. He got going early, then hung on without making any putts. He took a huge break on 9 with a free drop and capitalized by making birdie there. The back 9 was a ball striking exhibition, again without make any birdies, key misses on 13 and 14, mixed in with solid up and downs on 11. Finally he lipped out on 16 before nailing putts on 17 and 18 for a raw outbreak of emotion - the likes of which we have seen from Rahmbo at Torrey Pines before when winning here in 2017 - then his 1st PGA tour win.

Round of the Day

Players enjoyed a chance to make some birdies, especially as they opened their rounds. Once again the best scores were tied up at 67 with all 3 posting birdies on 17 and 18 to get there. The Feed produced a 6 birdie 67 to be the first man to post, until Gracie matched him later with a bogey free 67. Rahmbo was able to match them too but in a far greater pressure cooker with it all on the line. He made bombs too - both big breaking left-to-righters and big fist punches included in the package as he won his 1st major - likely to be the 1st of many.

Shot of the Day

It was a pressure packed Sunday and some of the best plays came early on as players jostled for position or from players completely out of the mix. With The Feed chasing a personal target, he got hot down the closing stretch and enjoyed a holeout on 17 as part of the package. The Bulk striped one on 8 as he reached his zenith before ultimate collapse. It's amazing that The Bulk has only made 1 career ace (at Augusta) and was begging for this one to drop. Rahmbo produced a stripe show across the whole back 9, you can pick any one of his booming drives or laser irons for a shot of the day. However, his lay up sand shot on 18 to play away from the pin took a huge amount of guts and local knowledge to finish birdie birdie for the win.

The Leaders

Rahmbo winning at Torrey Pines makes complete sense, he won there before, he got engaged there and of course its San Diego, which is Spanish in heritage. On top of this, it was his 1st Father’s Day and his first event after being robbed at the Memorial. majorpunter picked it early in the build-up, the world no 3 has been knocking on the door for a while without competing down the stretch. That's 3 top 10s in the majors this year. Additionally it kept the stats going by being within 2 of the 36 hole lead and inside the top 6 headed into the weekend. King Louis led for most of the day, only to fall short on the 17th. He will feel exhausted from a punishing and attritional 72 holes, taking little solace in having so close, again. So many others can claim to have thrown it away but all of them had lost it before even getting to 17. The doubles and worse started adding up fast with all those in the last 3 pairings (except King Louis) finishing outside the top 5.

The Chasers

As usual, there were sneaky top 10s for players who hardly threatened, but held their nerve down the stretch. Professional golf is 72 holes, not 63 holes. Those back 9s are brutal. The top 10s managed to lock their tickets into next year’s US Open at Brookline and all finished under par on the challenging layout. For a full view of the scores head to the US Open Leaderboard and to the majorpunter leaderboard.