Page 18 - ARUBA TODAY

A18 SPORTS
Tuesday 18 June 2019

Analysis: Woodland gets his game-winning shot at U.S. Open

By DOUG FERGUSON burn. His first game was in
AP Golf Writer Allen Fieldhouse.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) “They were ranked No. 1
— The stage was among in Division I, and we were
the best in the land. Thou- ranked No. 2 in Division
sands were watching him. II,” Woodland said. “I was
Victory was in his grasp. guarding Kirk Hinrich, and
Gary Woodland didn’t just was like, ‘OK, I need to find
dream of such a moment, something else because
he genuinely expected it this ain’t gonna work.’ And
would happen. that was my first game in
Just not like this. college.”
Woodland always imag- He transferred to Kansas,
ined being at Allen Field- the first time he focused
house, not Pebble Beach. solely on golf.
He had a basketball in his Woodland is 35, but it’s fair
hands, not a putter. to call him a late bloomer.
“I always believed I would He could always hit the ball
be successful. I believed a long way — that came
I would play professional from his baseball days —
sports. I always believed I but the polish came later.
would be in this moment,” His first year on the PGA
Woodland said Sunday Tour was interrupted by a
night, the silver U.S. Open Gary Woodland posses with the trophy after winning the U.S. Open Championship golf tournament shoulder injury.
trophy at his side. “The Sunday, June 16, 2019, in Pebble Beach, Calif. “I don’t think my game is
question about if I ever Associated Press where it needs to be, but it’s
dreamed of making the another that looked equal- That it was Koepka who 13th hole in the third round. getting there,” he said. “I’m
putt on the last hole of a ly dangerous. From far right provided the last challenge And he let it all hang out — becoming a more com-
U.S. Open when I was a kid? side of the hourglass green was only fitting. and only then — after his plete player. I have more
No, I didn’t. But I hit a lot of on the par-3 17th to a pin Koepka has emerged as 30-foot birdie putt to close shots. I can rely more on
game-winning shots on the 90 feet away on the left — the greatest threat in ma- out the U.S. Open. More my putting, rely on my short
basketball court when I with a hump in the middle jors, and even a runner-up than a 69, it gave him a game, things I couldn’t do
was a kid. And that’s what — Woodland clipped a finish did not change that. 13-under 271, the lowest even last year.”
I did.” 64-degree wedge so per- He won the PGA Cham- score in six U.S. Opens at He doesn’t use that as an
His winning shot at Pebble fectly that it nearly went in pionship (for the second Pebble Beach. excuse.
Beach was more like a and left a tap-in for par. straight year) and was run- That was by design. He Woodland felt he should
breakaway dunk in the fi- That was the game-winning ner-up in the Masters and learned from the reactive have won more than the
nal seconds with the out- shot. the U.S. Open. Since return- sports he played — basket- three PGA Tour titles he had
come already secure. That was Kansas winning ing from an ankle injury in ball and baseball — that until winning the U.S. Open,
Woodland took care of that the NCAA title, and beat- 2016, he has eight top 10s in emotion can help. Golf? including an opposite-field
with two shots that will stay ing a dynasty in the pro- 11 majors, four of them vic- Not so much. event because he wasn’t
with him forever. One was cess. tories. Koepka also faced “Out here, when I get a lit- eligible for a World Golf
a 3-wood from 263 yards Woodland’s clutch play — an athletic figure just as un- tle excited, I need to find a Championship.
that his caddie, Brennan he tied a U.S. Open record flappable in Woodland. way to calm myself down,” He didn’t have the pedi-
Little, gave him confidence by making only four bogeys Woodland rarely showed he said. gree of some players
to hit when so much could all week — was enough to any emotion during a week The basketball references groomed for golf since they
have gone wrong if he had turn back Brooks Koepka that afforded plenty of op- will stay with Woodland, were barely out of diapers.
hit it any other direction ex- and his bid to rally from portunities. He was fired up and that’s OK with him. But he knew how to com-
cept where he was aiming. four shots behind and win about a par save on No. They were real. He was all- pete.
That set up birdie for a two- a third straight U.S. Open to 8 in the second round. He state as a senior, but when “I competed all my life at
shot lead, and that shot tie the record Willie Ander- slammed his fist when he he didn’t get any Division I every sport and every lev-
gave him belief to execute son set in 1905. chipped in for par on the offers, he signed with Wash- el,” Woodland said.q

Konta makes seamless transition from clay to grass

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) Konta, Britain’s leading fe- Sabalenka, the fifth seed,
— Johanna Konta made male player, reached her showed her frustration after
a seamless transition from third Grand Slam semifinal losing a break advantage
clay to grass on Monday, at Roland Garros, where in the final set to go down
beating Anett Kontaveit she lost in straight sets to 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (1) to Hsieh Su-
6-4, 6-2 at the Nature Val- Marketa Vondrousova. wei.
ley Classic in her first match Two of the highest seeds Top-ranked Naomi Osaka
since the French Open were defeated in the first plays her first match on
semifinals. round in Birmingham, with Tuesday against Maria
Konta is only ranked two Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sakkari of Greece, and has
places higher than No. 20 Sabalenka both losing in acknowledged she is still
Kontaveit, but played at a three sets. “not really that comfort-
high level throughout and The fourth-seeded Svitolina, able” on grass.
wrapped up victory in an Britain’s Johanna Konta plays a shot against Marketa who has been struggling Osaka has yet to make
hour and 12 minutes at the Vondrousova of the Czech Republic during their semifinal with a knee injury, lost 6-3, it past the third round at
match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland
warm-up event for Wimble- Garros stadium in Paris, Friday, June 7, 2019. 3-6, 6-4 to Margarita Gas- Wimbledon.q
don. Associated Press paryan.