It was a valiant effort put on by Cleveland's Jason Dufner in the U.S. Open. On a weekend at a course where anything looked like it could happen -- and in the end, anything did as an underdog raced to the finish to win it -- Dufner put on a solid performance and ended up finishing in a several way tie for fourth place.
Dufner was one of the favorites for the tournament at the start, though all of the press was covering the 'superstar' trio that would be golfing together the first two rounds. Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson were together and were all expected to put on a show at the Olympic Club, but the grueling course had other ideas. Both Watson and Mickelson had horrific first rounds, knocking Watson out early and Mickelson by the time Sunday had arrived.
Tiger Woods managed to hold on until Sunday, but his solid numbers never turned into outright dominance and he was never able to pull away completely from Michael Thompson, Jim Furyk, Graeme McDowell and others who ended up near the top as the rounds went along. Webb Simpson was never in contention through the first three holes, though his numbers stayed low enough to keep him solidly rolling along.
Sunday was the important day, and Webb Simpson was the one who took the most advantage. A fantastic -2 final round was enough to put him at the top, and though guys like Furyk and Dufner made great efforts, they all fell just short. Tiger Woods had a terrible final day and didn't challenge much, never coming close to the +1 scoreline that won the Open for Simpson, his first ever Major victory.
They promised excitement at the Olympic Club and that's exactly what we got.
You can find the final leaderboard here at USOpen.com.
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