Newsy: McDowell Beats Big Names at U.S. Open

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell outplayed golf's household names to win the U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach.

“A mistake he would not make. Every player dreams two putts to win the open. Northern Ireland for the first time, and Europe for the first time in 40 years.”(The Golf Channel)

Graeme McDowell held off the world's best players on Sunday to win the US Open Championship. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Ernie Els were all in contention but couldn’t generate a Sunday charge.

We're monitoring reaction to the Open from ESPN, The Golf Channel, Sky News and The Irish Independent

The Golf Channel spoke with McDowell who described what an extraordinary fathers day it was for him.

“ANCHOR: What’s it feel like to have your father Kenny here and to get that big hug on the 18th green?

“MCDOWELL: That was awesome, you know, on Father's Day to have him out here. He has been talking about Pebble Beach all year, can’t wait to go there. He said to me, ‘There’s only one thing I want from fathers day this year and that’s for you to pick this trophy up’, and that’s a special feeling. I think it’s only the second time I’ve won with him in the crowd, and this is a pretty special one.”

After Dustin Johnson, the 54-hole leader, collapsed under the pressure of the Open, the tournament was wide open for the taking. But ESPN’s Rick Reilly says seemingly, nobody wanted it: “The best players in the world came to the best golf course in the world and played everywhere but the golf course. The played out of junk, they played out of rocks, they played out of beaches. ... It was the open they really should have closed. It was the open nobody seemed to want to win. ... Pebble Beach seemed to be a mountain nobody could climb. I’m just happy nobody hurt themselves, or got electrocuted.”

The biggest surprise of the tournament was the performance of an unknown qualifier: Frenchman Gregory Havret. He came within one stroke of forcing a playoff with McDowell for the championship. Sky News interviews him on his life changing experience: “I’m probably in between the best surprise of my life, and the best disappointment too. I’m second which is probably the worst place, but in another hand it's such a dream.”

Dublin's The Irish Independent says McDowell was built to handle the incredible mental grind of golf’s toughest test: “McDowell's a phenomenal warrior, one of that special sporting breed who can turn butterflies into bullets.”

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