Woodland Holds On To Win First Major

American Gary Woodland produced a gutsy final-round display to hold off world number one Brooks Koepka and win the 119th US Open. The world number 25 managed to handle the pressure, firing home a two-under 69 to win by three shots on 13-under par.

Koepka was forced to settle for second in the end despite a final round of 68, while Xander Schauffele’s score of 67 allowed him to climb up 11 places and claim a share of third alongside Jon Rahm, Chez Reavie and Justin Rose. At one point it looked like fans were going to witness a nail-biting finish but Woodland remained composed to win his first major.

The 35-year-old showed no signs of buckling down the stretch and the Florida resident says his game is in a great place at the moment. He told Sky Sports: “I think from a mental standpoint I was as good as I’ve ever been. I never let myself get ahead of myself. I never thought about what would happen if I won, what comes with it.

I wanted to execute every shot. I wanted to stay in the moment. I wanted to stay within myself. “I knew I was playing good going in, but I’ve been playing good going into a lot of tournaments before and haven’t had the results I’d like. I was proud of myself to stay in it, to slow down a little bit, to slow my thinking down and really focus on what I was doing and not let my mind wander at all.”