2010 U.S. Open: Graeme McDowell Holds Off Gregory Havret To Capture First Major

Until this past weekend Graeme McDowell lived in relative obscurity. Having never finished higher than tenth in a major PGA championship and having notched six European Tour wins. Now, with a US Open win under his belt and the Ryder Cup approaching, SkyBet has released a number of very high odds for the rest of McDowell’s 2010:

NBC’s John Miller put it succinctly: “I don’t know who’s leaking more oil, this field or British Petroleum.” Topical, Mr. Miller! But it’s slathered in truth, because nobody is putting together a great Sunday--especially lately.

Dustin Johnson has righted the ship, but perhaps too late; he’s still +7 on the day and three strokes back.

Let’s sum up where Dustin Johnson, who led the U.S. Open after Round 3 by three strokes, stands early in his Round 4 play.

Bad: Dustin Johnson triple-bogeyed the second hole.

SB Nation’s golf expert, Ryan Ballengee, has been covering the U.S. Open live from Pebble Beach. He sat in as Tiger spoke to the media about his exceptional Round 3 performance.

He didn’t. He curled in a putt with six feet of break to get back to even par.Woods also felt that he psyched himself out of an eagle, which could have given him a 6-under round -- the best of this year’s tournament.

Tiger Woods entered Saturday shooting 4-over -- seven shots behind the U.S. Open lead. In Round 3, he’s matching his bogeys with birdies to remain at par for the day, and as a result, he’s moving up the leaderboard.

Through the front nine, Woods has advanced from a tie for 25th to a tie for 19th. We’ll know whether he can pose a serious threat to win this tournament once he shoots his back nine.

The U.S. Open, of course, is a very difficult tournament, as it’s meant to be. The golfers at Pebble Beach this weekend would agree -- the leader, Graeme McDowell, enters Round 3 with only a 3-under score, and the cut line stood at 5-over.

Each U.S. Open tournament features an especially difficult hole. In 2010, it’s the 14th at Pebble Beach. Ryan Ballengee from SB Nation’s golf blog, Waggle Room, explains why:

After Round 2 of the U.S. Open, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell holds sole possession of the lead after shooting 3-under on Saturday. He compensated for three bogeys with six birdies after shooting par in Round 1. McDowell has never won a PGA Tour event, but he did finish in the top ten at the PGA Championship in 2009.

The biggest story of the day, though, was provided by Phil Mickelson. He suffered through a difficult Round 1, ending up 4-over, but completely turned his game around on Friday. Mickelson shot 5-under in Round 2, putting him in a tie for second place at Pebble Beach. Mickelson has yet to win the U.S. Open, but he has designs on following up his Masters victory with his second consecutive major win.

Entering Round 2’s action, Waggle Room’s Ryan Ballengee wondered whether Phil Mickelson would be able to “get his act together.” Well, through the first nine holes on Friday, Mickelson is answering with an emphatic, “yes.”

Mickelson has scored five birdies in the front nine alone to bring him back to par for the tournament. With the back nine left to play in Round 2, he’s now tied for fifth overall, jumping up the leaderboard by 61 spots.

It hasn’t exactly been a triumphant return to Pebble Beach for noted golf enthusiast Tiger Woods, who made history at this very course in 2000, when he annihilated the field to the tune of a 15-stroke victory. Pebble Beach is playing much tougher this time around, with Northern Irish journeyman Grame McDowell, whose previous best finish at a major was his tenth-place showing at last year’s PGA Championship, leading the way at 4-under through 16 holes of his second round. McDowell has recorded six birdies and two bogeys on the day, after finishing his first round on Thursday at even.

Dustin Johnson, Brendon de Jonge and Alex Cejka make up a troika of golfers who have begun their second rounds who are currently tied for second at 1-under, with K.J. Choi, Mike Weir, Ian Poulter and Rafael Cabrera-Bello also knotted at 1-under, though they have yet to tee off for their second rounds.

The top two ranked golfers in the world arrived at Pebble Beach and neither came away with a birdie. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it is the first time ever that Woods and Mickelson have played a round together on the same course with neither of them having a birdie.

It’s ever more disconcerting for Woods given that he made the first 10 greens in regulation. On No. 17, he landed his tee shot on a 222-yard Par 3 nine feet from the hole, but then pulled his birdie shot left.

With the morning groups halfway through their opening rounds at Pebble Beach, a quartet of golfers have moved into the early lead at the 2010 U.S. Open. K.J. Choi, Edoardo Molinari, Soren Kjeldsen and David Toms all sit at 2-under, through 13, 13, 13 and 8 holes respectively. Choi started off his round disastrously, bogeying and double-bogeying the first two holes, before bouncing back with five birdies to jump into a share of the lead. Toms and Kjeldsen have both recorded three birdies and a bogey thus far in their rounds, while Molinari has rung up four birdies, to go with two bogeys.

Mike Weir and Ian Poulter lead a pack of golfers a shot back at 1-under, with Jim Furyk, who’s been something of a darkhorse pick to win the Open, behind them at even through 12 holes. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson has struggled on his first day, sitting at 3-under through 11 holes after finding the drink on the 18th hole.

With the morning groups just teeing off at Pebble Beach, where are the best places to follow the action at the 2010 U.S. Open live? Glad you asked, because we’re here with all your productivity-killing needs.

You can watch on-demand video of highlights and shot packs, as well as a real-time scoreboard from the USGA here, as well as a live-blog of the goings-on at Pebble Beach at Golf.com here. And, off course, our own indomitable Ryan Ballengee of Waggle Room will be at the course, updating throughout the day as the first round unfolds.

Noted golf enthusiast Tiger Woods may be a bit of an enigma off the tees right now, spraying drives right and left since his return from his self-imposed post-Thanksgiving crash exile, but Vegas has still installed him as the favorite to take home the 2010 U.S. Open, according to Golf.com.

Woods leads the field with 4-1 odds to win the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, with the preferred choice of most experts, Phil Mickelson, coming in at 5-1, and Woods’ opening round playing partner Lee Westwood the third choice at 10-1.

With the U.S. Open set to tee off on Thursday at Pebble Beach, the USGA has released the pairings and tee times for the first two rounds.

Among the notables, Tiger Woods will headline a star-studded group, along with two-time U.S. Open champ Ernie Els and Lee Westwood, possibly the best player not to have won a major. The aforementioned trio will tee off at 4:36 PM ET on Thursday from the first hole, while they’ll start their day on the back nine on Friday at 11:06 AM ET. Phil Mickelson -- who can overtake Woods for the top spot in the golf world rankings with a win at Pebble Beach (or at least a tie for third if Tiger misses the cut) -- will be part of another powerhouse opening group, with two-time British Open champ Padraig Harrington and defending PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang. They’ll begin their day at 11:06 AM ET on Thursday, and get going at 4:36 PM ET on Friday.

Noted golf enthusiast Tiger Woods will face the media at 3PM ET on Tuesday, after completing his practice round at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, according to the LA Times.

Woods played his first practice round at Pebble Beach on Monday, back at the site of his record-setting U.S. Open triumph back in 2000, when he ran away from the field to the tune of a 15-stroke margin. Coming back from his self-imposed exile from the game following the revelation of his multitude of affairs last Thanksgiving, Woods has struggled a bit, particularly off the tees. While he managed an impressive fourth-place finish in his first tournament back at the Masters, his results have been more or less mediocre since then: Woods missed the cut at Quail Hollow, withdrew from the TPC Championship due to a neck injury (after falling out of contention) and a 19th-place showing at the Memorial.