Can the U.S. Open eclipse Women’s PGA’s dramatic finish?

Yes, it’s U.S. Open week, and Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, a stellar supporting cast and a strapping beast of a track are about to take center stage. But before moving on to the ball-gobbling rough and greased-pig greens at Oakmont, I’d like to take a moment to savor what was likely the most thrilling major championship joust of this — or any — season, between two players who are on their way to becoming this generation’s Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa.

Brooke Henderson and Lydia Ko put on such a show in Sunday’s finale of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship that 72 holes were just not enough. The burgeoning rivalry between the two teenagers — along with Ariya Jutanugarn, 20, who was in it almost to the end as she vied for her fourth straight LPGA Tour win — treated fans to a finish for the ages, as the trio (move over, Jason, Jordan and Rory; we have a new “Big 3”) played bogey-free golf in the final 56 holes of the women’s second major of 2016.

Consider that for a moment: Jutanugarn and Ko had not a blemish on their scorecards in the final round of a grand slam event, and neither walked away with the trophy. Because Henderson, who began the tourney with a hole-in-one on the fourth hole of her opening round, closed with a spectacular 6-under 65 and capped it with a kick-in birdie on the first frame of overtime to outlast the world No. 1.

“I’m happy with the way I played. I just got outplayed,” said Ko, 19, who was going for her third consecutive major title. “For Brooke to shoot 65 on the final day at a major, at a course like this is very impressive.’’

Henderson, who moved from fourth to second in the Rolex Rankings, came from two down to start the day and three back with nine to play to win her first major. And while her play down the stretch provided a career’s worth of highlights, it was her 90-foot putt from off the green at the par-5 11th that sent roars cascading across Sahalee Country Club and her up the leaderboard to within one of the 54-hole leader.

“To have it go in was incredible,” Henderson recounted. “I was just trying to nestle it up and make sure I made birdie. That was huge momentum changer for me.”

Par saves in majors are like birdies in regular events, and the 18-year-old Canadian had a slew of them, none more critical than the 12-foot putt on the 72nd hole that topped off an incoming-nine score of 31.

Birdies, and the lack thereof, though, decided the contest. Had Jutanugarn not come up just shy of burying her third consecutive birdie, on 18, she would have made it a three-way playoff.

Henderson birdies at 13 and 17 — the latter thanks to a huge 35-foot putt that gave her a share of the lead at 6-under — as Ko parred her last seven holes ensured at least a tie for the ardent hockey fan, who marked her victory accordingly.

When Ko, whom Hall-of-Famer-turned-NBC-analyst Sorenstam called “a machine,” failed to convert a four-footer for birdie on the 17th, she sealed her fate. Henderson then stiffed a 7-iron from 155 yards to three feet on the first extra hole, No. 18, and knocked it in after Ko failed to drain her 15-footer.

An incredible end to an amazing day of golf, and Ko, as always, was as magnanimous in defeat (an unfamiliar position for the two-time major champion and 12-time tour winner) as she is gracious in victory.

“She’s been playing really solid all year, a bunch of top-10s [10 in 15 events in her first full year on tour],” Ko said. “And for her to win this and for her to win her first major, it’s amazing. And when she’s doing it at her age, she’s still only 18, I think it’s great. I think it’s great for the tour, and it’s good for the women’s game.”

Henderson proved as humble a winner as Ko has been throughout her incredible run.

“It’s pretty cool that we’re both kind of coming on to the stage,” said Henderson. “Looks like our careers will probably start pretty much close to the same time and probably end at the same time. I’m sure -- I hope we have lots of extra holes like that or lots of times where we’re contending for the championship.”

Women’s golf — golf — could not ask for much more than that.

Gentlemen, take it away.