2016 US Open results: Shane Lowry on the short end of Dustin Johnson’s victory

OAKMONT, Penn. -- Dustin Johnson’s done it, and it happened at Shane Lowry’s expense.

After Johnson lost last year’s US Open with a 72nd-hole three-putt, he stormed back from a four-shot deficit on Sunday at Oakmont Country Club to win the 116th national championship. Johnson took command as his round wore on and overcame some rules-related mental trickery to put away the field.

Johnson hit a brilliant approach shot on the 18th hole Sunday that served as an exclamation point on his first major victory, setting up a closing birdie. He shot a final-round 69 after a late penalty stroke assessment that, fortunately, didn’t matter at all.

His comeback came at the expense of Irishman Shane Lowry, the golfer who entered the round up four strokes. It has to be a devastating blow for Lowry, who’d made himself into the clear-cut favorite after Saturday. Lowry shot his worst round of the tournament, a 6-over 76, and finished three strokes behind the man he’d led by four.

USGA indecision over the status of Johnson’s par putt on the 5th green marred the end of the tournament. Johnson’s ball moved slightly while he prepared to sink his putt, but he didn’t face any penalty at the time and was only told on the 12th green that the USGA was weighing – but hadn’t decided on – adding a stroke to his score. Other top professionals ripped the governing body for what they perceived as unfair treatment of Johnson.

All weekend, Oakmont laid low some of the world’s best players. Jason Day struggled badly in the first round, and his late charge on Sunday ended when he required three shots to get from a bunker to the green on No. 17 and made double-bogey. Rory McIlroy missed the cut at 8-over, and Rickie Fowler missed it at 11-over. Phil Mickelson’s US Open futility rolled on with a 7-over missed cut. Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Patrick Reed all missed out, too.

Oakmont was often torturous. The course played softly and receptively on Friday, after rain soaked the grounds overnight Wednesday and then for most of the day Thursday. That allowed players to score low in the second and third rounds on Friday, but the course firmed up and got harder on Sunday.

Long-shot Andrew Landry played in the final group on Sunday with Lowry and fell out of contention immediately, shooting a brutal front-nine 42. Lee Westwood did roughly the same, shooting 80 and wrapping the championship at 8-over. Sergio Garcia was in the hunt late, but a brutal bunker lie on No. 15 ended his title hopes.

Here’s the final leaderboard from Oakmont: