Real Winners and Losers from the 2024 US Open

We take a look at the true winners and losers from the third major of the year, the US Open at Pinehurst No. 2. In a change of tradition we'll be taking a look at the losers first.

US Open 2024 Losers

Rory McIlroy

This one hurt. Rory is no stranger to close misses in majors, but they mainly have been the case of not making enough birdies on Sunday, or someone else going out and winning it in emphatic style. This week was different.

Rory was two shots clear after he birdied 13 but went on to drop three shots, including two short and eminently makeable putts within 4 and 3 feet.

Rory has put his emotions and thoughts on full display over the last few years which undoubtedly makes losses like this hurt more than those who shy away from the public and media.

This latest setback will surely make it harder for Rory to clinch his fifth career major win, but it remains to be seen how it will change his performance in the short term.

Rory took to social media on Monday to congratulate Bryson on his win and to withdraw from the Travelers Championship. Rory explained that he's taking time away to process and rebuild ahead of his title defence at the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club on 11 July 2024.

Ludvig Aberg

When stood on the 13th tee on Saturday, Ludvig was in contention to win in only his third major appearance, just two months after challenging in his debut appearance at the Masters.

What followed was an unfortunate half an hour which left him walking off that hole with a triple and all of a sudden so far away from the lead on a course where making three shots back felt like a mammoth task.

Ludvig followed that disaster with a birdie but immediately gave the shot away again on the next hole, ultimately scoring 73. Ludvig shot another 73 on Sunday to find himself well off the pace.

The disaster on Saturday was similar to his disaster on the 11th hole at Augusta on Sunday, which was another example of an unforced error resulting in a huge number too great to overcome. With time, Ludvig will hopefully remove these big mistakes from his game.

Patrick Cantlay

Cantlay has maintained his ranking of being within the top-10 ranked golfers in the world since 2021 which is an impressive statistic. In that time, Cantlay had amassed 2 top-10s in majors but had yet to take a title.

Cantlay started on Thursday with a 5-under par 65 to take the early lead at the US Open. Cantlay followed that up with 71-70-70 to remain in contention over the weekend whilst Bryson made ground on Friday and Saturday.

A T3 is a good finish but Cantlay will have to chalk this up as a missed opportunity.

Notable Players to Miss the Cut at the 2024 US Open:

Robert MacIntyre, Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, Max Homa, and Justin Thomas.

US Open 2024 Winners

Tony Finau

Before this weekend Finau had 10 top-10 finishes in majors, but none in the last three years. The last one was a T8 at the 2021 PGA Championship. Since then, T18 had been his best major finish which was at this year’s PGA Championship.

This weekend Finau seemed to constantly be in trouble but managed to card a 67 on Sunday to climb the leaderboard and finish T3 and just one shot back from Rory.

Amongst a few other names, Finau is now firmly on the shortlist of best golfers not yet to win a major.

Hideki Matsuyama

Hideki hasn’t missed a cut at a major since the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush. After winning the Masters in 2021, though, he has only had one top-10 finish (2022 US Open).

Hideki is not the first player to be feeling the cooling-off effect after a debut major win, but his caliber of other wins indicates that he should be performing better.

This weekends 6th place finish will be a welcome return to the top-10 for the former world number 2.

US Open Qualifiers

There is something particularly noble about famous names in golf rolling their sleeves up and trying to manually qualify for a major. A special mention here is earned for Sergio Garcia who had to go out and qualify for the US Open after all his other exemptions expired.

The same cannot be said for Patrick Reed who missed out on this major after his exemptions had expired.