The 4 big things that won Gary Woodland the U.S. Open

Woodland was already one of the best players in the world. This is how he secured his leap to the elite of the elite.

Even by the standard of it being almost impossible to fluke into a professional golf tournament win, Gary Woodland’s U.S. Open victory at Pebble Beach wasn’t a fluke. Woodland spent four days staring down a fair but challenging course setup, and he played his 72 holes in an incredible 13-under to deny world No. 1 Brooks Koepka a three-peat. There’s no doubting Woodland was the best player along the Pacific all week.

Woodland took the lead by the end of the second round and never got caught, though his lead dwindled to a stroke before he extended it to win by three on Sunday. These are the things Woodland did to make sure even the cyborg Koepka couldn’t catch him.

1. Devastatingly good approach shots

Major champions tend to get remembered for making clutch putts and executing challenging touch shots around the greens. Woodland did both, but the biggest strength of his game here in Monterey was his approach shots.

Woodland gained 2.09 strokes per round on the field via his approaches, per Data Golf. That was third-best in the field and the biggest source of Woodland’s gains on everybody else. He hit a few that qualified as “that shot might win him the U.S. Open!” shots, with the most prominent being this striped 3-wood at the par-5 14th hole on Sunday:

That set up a short chip and fairly easy birdie to grow his lead on Kopeka to two, right when the two-time defending champ, playing a group ahead, seemed poised to catch him.

“My caddie and I talked a lot about it,” Woodland said. “It would have been pretty easy to lay up there. And he even said it was a tough wedge shot. He gave me more confidence on that shot. I’ll give him all the credit. He’s the one that told me play aggressive.”

Before that, Woodland had gotten his round rolling with a couple of birdies on par-4s at the second and third holes. One came after he spun an iron from 200 yards to 7 feet from the flagstick. The other came when he put a 97-yard wedge to 6 feet.

Woodland hit 72 percent of his greens in regulation, better than anyone in the field except Koepka, who’s by far the best ball-striker in the world these days.

2. No big mistakes on the greens

Woodland averaged 1.53 putts per hole, tied for 19th-best in the field. He didn’t sink many (emphasis on many) long ones, but he did avoid making a single three-putt all week. When you’re hitting greens more than anybody not named Koepka and then you’re not three-putting, you’re going to put up low numbers, and that’s what Woodland did. He made four bogeys in 72 holes at a U.S. Open, and I can’t believe those words as I’m typing them.

All told, Woodland gained 1.79 strokes per round with his putting. It wasn’t quite as key as his approach game, but he was still fifth-best in the field there, and some of the putts he poured in were big-time. This 25-footer to walk off on the 18th hole will go down as one of the most memorable U.S. Open moments in a while ...

... but other testers he made earlier in his Sunday round were even more important. He saved par with a 7.5-footer at the seventh and a 5.5 footer at the 10th to keep the field at bay when things were a lot closer than his two-shot lead on the final green.

It was the putting, specifically, that separated Woodland from Koepka, who finished three back of the winner at 10-under. Koepka was the leader in Strokes Gained tee-to-green at plus-3.6 shots per round on the field, but he was just about average putting. His inability to birdie the par-5 18th while trailing Woodland by two shots ended the suspense.

3. Accuracy off the tee

Maybe this point should go higher in this post, because the penalties for being in the rough at U.S. Opens are severe. But it’s worth noting that Woodland didn’t win the championship with his tee shots. He just avoided losing it, before winning on approaches and putts.

Driving is the best feature of Woodland’s game, usually. He got himself to the No. 25 world ranking before this championship by driving the ball, for a long time, like a top-five player in the world. His career Strokes Gained numbers show that driving has been the most consistent part of his arsenal. At 309.1 yards, he’s hung out near the top of the PGA Tour leaderboard in driving distance (and driving Strokes Gained) this year.

But Pebble’s a short course, at least by U.S. Open standards. He couldn’t just long-drive the field into submission. because it was only playing at about 7,100 yards. Everyone in the field can move the ball around a course like that. So it was vital that Woodland hit 40 of 56 fairways and that when he missed, he rarely missed by a lot.

(The win moved Woodland to No. 12 in the world ranking.)

4. One icy chip shot

When Woodland’s tee shot at the par-3 17th hole settled on the green but a mile away from the pin, he was in significant danger of losing his two-shot lead to Koepka. The defending champ was up ahead at the par-5 18th, which he didn’t birdie, but which he easily could’ve. A bogey for Woodland could’ve quickly led to a tie. It was a tense moment.

Woodland was just a bit above average around the greens for the week, but this iconic chip from the fringe wrapped up a par and made things feel over:

“Wasn’t too many options,” Woodland said. “If I putted it, I don’t think I could have got within 20 feet.”

You don’t win U.S. Opens without tapping into every part of your game. Woodland did.