But one was left with a feeling of some sorry for Kuchar, who took his defeat with good grace and respect, and perhaps more so for Li Haotong, whose time may, or may not come again.
In as breathless a finish to an enthralling final day of the major ‘Major,’ the places seemed almost irrelevant, regardless of the eye-watering sums won and lost on a single putt.
Hideki Matsuyama never recovered from a triple-bogey seven at the first, although, in fairness to him, he finished in red figures, two under par; Rory McIlroy had his changes whilst the tow leading Americans were doing their best to hand the Claret Jug to someone else, but, like fellow-Brits, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, flattered to deceive.
Spaniard Rafa Cabrera-Bello, winner of the previous week’s Scottish Open, was also in contention for a while, Brooks Koepka and Austin Connelly faded away as did Branden Grace, unsurprisingly with a final round eight-shots-worse than its predecessor, whilst Henrik Stenson put up a decent defence just outside the top 10.
Pages
Click here to see the published article.
