Johnson missed consecutive putts on the 18th hole at Chambers Bay Golf Club to go from having an opportunity to win his maiden major title to finish as the runner-up at a major tournament for the second time in his career.
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After getting to the final green in two, Johnson missed a 12-foot putt for eagle, which would have seen him overhaul eventual champion Jordan Spieth. Spieth, 21, shot 5-under for the tournament, becoming the youngest golfer in history to win both the Masters and the U.S. Open.
“That putt, fortunately, I got to see Jason’s putt. If I wouldn’t have saw his putt, I might have hit that thing ten feet by the hole,” Johnson told reporters afterward. “I just touched it and it rolled. It was a tough putt. It was going to be a difficult putt to make. I would have thought it would have came down a little bit.”
The ball veered left of the hole, coming to a rest about 3 feet away. Johnson, seemingly hurried, lined up for his next putt 48 seconds later to salvage a birdie and force an 18-hole playoff with Spieth. He missed that one, too.
Johnson struggled with his putting all weekend and nearly shot himself out of the tournament with a series of misses after taking a two-shot lead at the turn on Sunday. He bogied Nos. 10 and 11 and blew a birdie opportunity on the par-4 12th.
But Spieth’s struggles on the par-3 17th allowed Johnson a chance to climb back into contention. Spieth double bogied, and Johnson followed with a 5-foot birdie putt to briefly tie for the lead.
That set the stage for the drama on 18.
“I played really well. I didn’t make any putts today, I really didn’t. I had all the chances in the world,” he said. “If I rolled the putter halfway decent today, which I did roll it well, just any putts go in the hole, I win this thing by a few shots, it’s not even close. It’s just how it goes. I thought I played really well. I did everything that I could. I tried my damnedest to get in the hole I just couldn’t do it.”
Johnson has now teed off in the final group at four majors without lifting a trophy, including another Open he threw away at Pebble Beach in 2010 — his biggest gaffe of all. If he makes at least one of the putts Sunday, it puts all of that to rest.
Instead, Johnson settles for a share of second with Louis Oosthuizen. But he’s content, willing to chalk it up to the luck of his putter.
“I’m proud of the way I played and I’m most proud of my family,” Johnson said outside the locker room. “So I did get to hold up my trophy at the end of the day, which is my son.”
Perform Media’s Brandon Schlager contributed to this report.
