European Tour Hopes Falter at Pebble Beach

The U.S. Open finished yesterday, with American Gary Woodland taking the victory at Pebble Beach.

His -13 score saw him win by three shots from Brooks Koepka. The American made it 9 of the last 11 majors to be won by an American. What about those hopefuls from the European Tour? How did they do this week at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Let’s check in on some of them.

T-12th at -4: Matthew Fitzpatrick, Matt Wallace, Danny Willett

Three European hopes finished just outside the top ten with a total score of 280. Matthew Fitzpatrick was the only one of the three Englishman to have shot an over-par round throughout his week in California. That came on Saturday, when he shot a one-over-par round of 72. The man from Sheffield had one of the best rounds on Sunday, as he shot a 68 to move into a tie for 12th with his fellow countrymen.

Matt Wallace was very much in contention at the halfway stage, as he sat at -4, just five shots behind the leaders. However, he faltered over the weekend, and was only able to shoot two rounds of level par, in part thanks to a double bogey at the 9th on both Saturday and Sunday.

However, he remained in the chasing pack for another major, after finishing in the top three at the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black last month.

Danny Willett, a man who is still trying to find his form again, shot level par in three of the four rounds at Pebble. His Saturday 67 saw six birdies and two bogeys, lifting him to -4. A final round of 71 cemented his place in the top 15, his best finish at a major tournament since his victory at the Masters in 2016.

T-28th at -1: Shane Lowry

The other major European Tour player to finish under par was Irishman Shane Lowry. He only managed to finish in the red thanks to birdies at 17 and 18 on Sunday, taking him from +1 to -1 in the space of 750 yards.

Lowry started his week terribly, with an opening round 75, but after shooting a 69 on Friday, he managed to sneak under the cut line. 70 and 69 followed to bring the Irishman under par, as he finished in the top 30 of a major championship for the sixth time in his career.

CUT: Branden Grace, Lucas Bjerregaard

South Africa’s Branden Grace missed the cut for the second straight major, after failing to make it to the weekend at the PGA Championship last month. At Pebble, a first round 75 put him on the back foot, after dropping shots at 10, 11 and 15. A second round 71 was not enough to pull the South African above the cut line, and he finished his week on Friday evening.

Lucas Bjerregaard had a nightmare Thursday on the West Coast, ending his round with an 11 on the world famous par-5 18th. That rounded out a terrible day for the Dane, as he finished with a nine-over-par 80. It did not get much better on Friday either, as he shot 75 to finish the tournament at +13, with only four golfers shooting worse than him over the first two days of the tournament.

The trio of Englishmen played quite well. The Irishmen snuck into the top 30 for a nice finish. Not a bad week for those four Europeans.