PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) Very soon, Gary Woodland will be a father of three, and odds are hell answer the same way about the kids as he will about the three shots that cemented him in as a U.S. Open champion.
Which is his favorite? Theyre all perfect in their own, special way.
Woodlands Fathers Day at Pebble Beach included a flushed 3-wood that set up birdie to give him a two-shot cushion, a wedge clipped off the 17th green that helped him preserve it, then a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 18 that ended the tournament with a flourish and put him in the record book, to boot.
My whole life, Ive been able to compete and win at everything Ive done, he said. Its taken a while, but its trending in the right direction.
Straight past Tiger Woods in the record book, in fact.
Woodland, whose wife, Gabby, is expecting twins in a couple of months to join their soon-to-be-2-year-old son, Jaxson, got to 13-under-par 271 with that closing birdie, beating by one the record Woods set for a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach during his 15-shot romp to victory in 2000.
Pebble Beach played tougher that year.
But to say Woodland took the easy way to his first major title would be missing the point.
He spent the entire day holding off Brooks Koepka, who himself was shooting for history trying to become the first player since 1905 to complete a U.S. Open three-peat.
Koepka made clear early that he was up for the challenge. He opened with four birdies over the first five holes to pull within a shot of Woodland, who was playing one hole behind.
I thought, Yeah, weve got a ballgame now, Koepka said.
They did, except it wasnt a back-and-forth ballgame. Woodland never surrendered the lead.
When I started to transition into golf, the short game was what was really bad, to be honest, Woodland said. And so my whole deal was, I had to hit chips off putting greens all the time, and there were some times where superintendents werent a huge fan of me.
Hes not bad with the putter on those greens, either.
After Koepkas birdie putt on No. 18 slid just past to close his tournament at 10 under, Woodland carried a two-shot lead onto the 18th green and only needed to get down in three from 30 feet to secure the trophy.
He got down in one instead, raised his hands to the heavens then finished with a huge fist pump.
