Watching the final round of the US Open at LACC that song popped into my head. Ricky Fowler had been leading the field for most of the tournament and many of us were barracking for Ricky. In large part because Ricky had been doing it tough for a few years and always seemed like a pretty decent guy. Ricky don’t lose that number because you are going to need that score when all is said and done on Sunday. The US Open is a gruelling test of golf and perhaps the most demanding of all the majors.

Ricky & Rory Vie For A Major

Of course, Rory has not won a major for 9 years and the former wunderkind may be equally deserving of a major break in the game of golf at the pointy end. Ricky and Rory, sounds like a sixties duet or the name of a couple of cartoon characters. LACC had been revealed as a different kind of beast in terms of golfing stages for a US Open. Wider fairways with green complexes surrounded by waste areas with brutally thick, rough. It had a bit of links feel to it this Beverly Hills billion-dollar course.

Ricky & A Notable Number Of No Shows At The US Open

Some of the usual suspects failed to emerge out of the pack. Brookes Koepka made the cut but never contended. Jon Rahm was never in it. Jordan Spieth missed the cut. As did a host of quality golfers including Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Justin Rose, and Phil Mickelson. There were plenty of complaints about the track, as there usually is at the US Open.  Viktor Hovland was openly critical of the course, as not being a US Open style track. LIV was not a thing at LACC. The PGA had put out that fire by selling their soul to the Saudi regime last week.

Tommy Fleetwood shot a final round 63 to confirm his resurrection from his slump. Scheffler and Schaufele, were another denominational tag team right in the mix of this major championship. Cam Smith and Min Woo Lee were Aussies who put in a good showing on the leaderboard. Wyndham Clark, with a name like a movie star from the 1940s, topped the leaderboard on the front nine on day four. Ricky don’t lose that number, I hummed to myself whilst watching the screen in the early to mid-morning. Rory McIlroy was putting really well over the first 3 days, which had been his Achilles heal more recently in the majors on the final day. Ricky dropped 3 shots on his final front nine. Would he slay his demons on the biggest golf stage?  

Those who know say, ‘you don’t win the US Open others around you lose it.” Just think of Geoff Ogilvie, one of the very few Australians to actually win a US Open. Fingers crossed and Ricky don’t lose that number.

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