US Open 2015: final round – live! | Scott Murray

Latest updates from the fourth round at Chambers BayThe official US Open leaderboardEmail scott.murray@theguardian.com with your thoughtsThird round: Day rally makes it a four-way tieWoods a parody of his former self at US Open

9.32pm BST

And Els pars the final hole to end on +11. Campbell, the low amateur for the tournament so far along with Ollie Schniederjans, has just moved to five over after bogeying the 17th. Meanwhile, on the fifth Rory saves par with a tough putt from about 15 feet.

9.28pm BST

On the fifth, Rory underhits his approach and ends up in the bunker. Adam Scott is one under for the day on the third but has just sent his first shot long on the par three third. He should still make par but the birdie chance has gone, I’d say.

9.18pm BST

Rory McIlroy goes for the birdie on the fourth. He puts a little too much on it, and it slides to the right of the hole. He has a little curse to himself while he’s at it. His putting hasn’t been up to his usual standards this week. He does make par though to stay +3. Morgan Hoffman finishes off on the 18th to card a round of 66, and +6 for the tournament. Simon McMahon writes in with some thoughts. “I was listening the other day to a very successful sports coach who suggested that sportspeople who can thrive whilst out of their ‘comfort zone’ are those most likely to succeed. He also mentioned a well known Scottish rugby coach who used a ‘WIN’ strategy during coaching sessions - WIN meaning What’s Important Now?, used as a way to address weaknesses and learn from mistakes. Talent these days is not enough. You can bet the best golfers know this and use it.”

9.12pm BST

Rory is playing his second shot on the fourth and plops it on to the green, around 15 feet from the flat to give himself a decent chance of a birdie. He avoids a tricky ridge in the middle of the green too. Matsuyama birdies the first for a good start to his final round.

9.01pm BST

McIlroy at the par-three 3rd. He lands his ball pin high, and he’ll have an eight footer across the green for a second birdie in a row. It doesn’t drop, though, as he dribbles it to the left, hoping in vain for it to turn back. So much for that pipe dream. Meanwhile on 10, George Coetzee hits a drive, and the head of the driver shears off and flies nearly as far as the ball. He’s allowed to replace it, as he didn’t smash it in anger. But why he bothers is a moot point, because on 12 he slices wildly into deep filth on the right. That’s the wildest drive I’ve seen all week, and I saw pretty much every shot played by Tiger Woods. Wow!

And with that, I’m off for a bucket of Hamburger Helper, the only food-flavored old-meat-masking product to be marketed by a talking golf glove. Tom Lutz, the Guardian’s big cheese in New York City - and still a good man despite attaining high office, a lesson to us all - will be your guide for the next hour! See you soon!

8.51pm BST

Birdie for Rory at 2, after an approach guided to 15 feet, the putt rolled straight into the cup. He’s +3 now, and... and... we’ll have to stop thinking that. He’s too far back. But a Greg Norman style birdie blitz would be fun to watch anyway. Can he follow Horschel’s example? The 2006 champion Geoff Ogilvy is doing his best to entertain, too. Three opening pars, then he reaches the turn without making another. Birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey, and finally back-to-back birdies at 8 and 9; he’s there in 33, and +4 overall. That 75 yesterday really hurt the 38-year-old Aussie.

8.46pm BST

Eagle for Billy Horschel on 12! He pearls his drive into the heart of the green, his ball resting six feet behind the hole, and guides the right-to-left slider home to move to +2. He’s in no position to worry the leaders, but he’s five under for his round, and this proves that someone could spring from the pack, posting a score and posing a question, just before this course hardens and becomes the ultimate puzzle.

8.40pm BST

A fantastic final-round 68 by the 19-year-old amateur Nick Hardy! Four birdies in the last seven holes, and he’s ending his first US Open at +10, three shots better off than the five-time major winner Mickelson, and five better than the 2007 Masters champ Zach Johnson. He also survived the cut, unlike Tiger, Rickie, Bubba, G-Mac and the defending champion Martin Kaymer. What memories to take away, and upon which to build. The beauty of golf, right there.

8.37pm BST

Exit stage Lefty. Mickelson leaves himself a 20-footer for bogey at the last. He can’t make it, and that’s a miserable end to a miserable week for the all-American hero. Still no US Open for one of the greatest players to ever pick up a club. And you’d think time really is running out on that grand-slam dream now. He signs for a 73, and he’s +13 overall. To think, he was leading this tournament for a while on Thursday, but it all went wrong after that glorious front nine of 32.

8.33pm BST

Rory’s out. If only he’d holed a few of those birdie chances he set up for himself yesterday afternoon. As it is, he’s teeing off at +4, with no chance of winning. His post-round interview was instructive. Yes, he compared the greens to cauliflowers. But he also critiqued his own putting stroke, and pointed out that if he’d trusted in it a bit more, putting with the sort of confidence and aggression displayed by the likes of Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, things might have worked out a little better for him. It was far from a whine. An honest analysis, and another example of why he’s already got four majors to his name (and counting). Anyway, he blooters his drive down the opening hole, to great cheers, only to overhit his wedge in. Nearly, not quite. Story of his week. Not too much to tweak ahead of his Open defence at St Andrews, though. “On the subject of the course, you mentioned that ‘the normal PGA Tour grind starts up again next week, anyway, for those all flushed with righteous anger’ (7.55pm),” writes Thomas Wahl. “I might add it’ll be won with 20-under scores by golfers we’ll most likely never see with a major trophy.”

8.25pm BST

The young amateur Brian Campbell was leading this US Open, briefly, on Friday. It couldn’t last, of course, and he plummeted to a 78 yesterday, but it’s lovely to see him putting something together again today. Back-to-back birdies at 8 and 9 saw him reach the turn in credit, and though he dropped a shot at 11, he’s just eagled 12 to move up to +5, two under for his round today. Meanwhile, birdie for Zach Johnson at 18. No quintuple bogey. Kirk’s wooden spoon is safe.

8.18pm BST

This next bit relies on Zach Johnson avoiding a quintuple bogey at the 18th, but the battle to avoid the wooden spoon has been won by Camilo Villegas. He ends the 2015 US Open in second-last place, at +20, a shot ahead of poor old Chris Kirk, who never recovered from that 10 at the opening hole. Six over for his round after 1, he played the other 17 holes in two over par. A 78 to finish, and he props up the entire field at +21. His playing partner Ben Martin went round in 70, which he can file alongside a 67, another 70 - and yesterday’s 86. Nineteen shots between his best and worst rounds! Shades of Rory at St Andrews in 2010, when he followed up 63 with an 80.

8.05pm BST

Here’s a way to bounce back from despair. Mark Silvers, out in 38, a double bogey at 11, and +13. He batters his drive at 12 high on the bank to the right of the green, sending his ball rolling all the way down to the hole. It’s the width of a ball and a half from dropping into the cup for an outrageous hole-in-one albatross. But an eagle will have to do. Not quite as close as Rickie Fowler’s stunning effort on Thursday, but we really are nitpicking now. Up to +11 he wheechs!

8.00pm BST

Sergio birdies the opening hole. A record-breaking 62 is ON!!! Also at +4, Billy Horschel, who bounces back from that missed tiddler at 6 with his fourth birdie of the day at 8. He’s out in 32 strokes, and along with Aiken, the hottest property out on the course right now. His birdie putt at 9 slid by on the left, causing him to launch into ostentatious mime, waving his arm around like a swimming fish. The ball’s oscillating this way and that, seems to be the subtext. He’s not happy with those greens!

7.55pm BST

Serious signs that a low score is out there for one of the earlier starters. Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen are hoping to land South Africa’s sixth US Open title today. Their compatriot Thomas Aiken is showing them the way. He started out with bogey at the par-four 1st, but since then has been today’s hot ticket: birdies at 2, 3, 8 and now 9, and he’s reached the turn in 32. He’s +5. Meanwhile on the subject of all this whining about the greens, here’s John McEnerney with a most entertaining blast: “Are the hissy fits about the greens still going on? Right lads, we get it, you’re not happy with the putting surfaces, that was the word long before they teed it up on Thursday. They’re used to playing on manicured courses week in week out, and for the one week they’re taken out of their comfort zone, the toys are launched from almost all the prams. Guess they don’t like playing like mortals. Well, who does? Some golf ahead of us. Enjoy it!”

Preach on, brother. Chambers Bay has been great fun, in my book. So some of the bounces aren’t fair, and the greens aren’t totally true? Well, so what? Golf, as a wise man once said, is not a game of perfect. And it’s the same for everyone. This US Open has been marvellous entertainment, watching players visualise strange routes to the flag, then manufacture shots they never usually play. And when things do go wrong, it’s great to see players fashion their escapes, fighting back from adversity, refusing to kow-tow to unlucky blows. It’s just different kind of golf, that’s all. Another part of the game. The normal PGA Tour grind starts up again next week, anyway, for those all flushed with righteous anger.

7.35pm BST

Readers of yesterday’s hole-by-hole report may remember mention of plumes of thick black smoke billowing into the air above Chambers Bay. Some of that was coming out of the ears of Patrick Reed, as he fumed and simmered his way to a 76, but most of it was caused by a fire at a nearby marina. Just to tie up the smouldering loose end, we’re pleased to report that nobody was hurt in the blaze, though it did destroy a boathouse and $4m worth of boats within. Ah, hold on, another black smoke alert: Monty’s just bogeyed 4. Quick! Throw a blanket over those lugs!

7.25pm BST

Perhaps Horschel won’t be changing his mind about these greens. He birdied 5 as well, but he’s just missed a par putt at 6 from 18 inches or so. He’s still +5, then. But let’s look at the wider picture: proof that there appears to be birdies out there for the earlier starters, with the water in the ground yet to evaporate. Meanwhile at 2, Monty curls one in from 15 feet for a birdie that moves him to +6.

7.17pm BST

Mike Davis, the head honcho of the USGA, has been explaining the decision to stick with the 18th as a par five. The wind direction’s changed, causing two problems if the hole plays as a par four. The shorter hitters (your Jordan Spieths) wouldn’t be able to clear the big bunker on the left of the fairway. The longer ones (your Dustin Johnsons) would get over it no bother, but almost certainly see their ball scamper into the big bunker further on down the right. Either way, it wouldn’t be very fair. As a par five, with the tee set back, the bunker on the right isn’t an issue for anyone, while the one on the left simply has to be avoided by the longer hitters. So there you have it. Or is Davis simply responding to Spieth’s capsule review? “He could be,” suggests Sky pundit Butch Harmon, “but he’s not going to tell us that.” So there you have it!

7.10pm BST

Plenty of water has been pumped onto the greens, in the hope of keeping

things sane
them as receptive as possible. They’re still hosing the 18th. Great news for Chris Kirk and Camilo Villegas, but probably not so relevant for Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson or Branden Grace. All of this does give those a few shots behind, going out an hour or two earlier, a chance to put a little bit of pressure on the leaders, who will be getting the worst of it.

7.00pm BST

The current FedEx Cup champion, Billy Horschel, has been scathing about the state of the greens at Chambers Bay. He’s been on some social networking site or other, calling the putting surfaces “the worst rolling greens I’ve ever putted on”. Well, that’s as maybe. But he has just sent an average approach into the 1st, then rolled a gorgeous straight putt up the green and into the cup from 25 feet for birdie. Maybe he’s growing to love them. At least like them. Another birdie at 4, and he’s two under for his round, the best shape of the early starters. He’s +5. Speaking of putting woes, here’s Raymond Reardon, arguing that today’s sunny weather might not be good news for one of the co-leaders: “The 21-year-old genius Jordan Spieth has a problem putting through his shadow. Happened again yesterday and was masked by cloud cover on the last day of the Masters.”

6.50pm BST

Camilo Villegas, who suffered the first meltdown of the week in a native sandy area by the side of 12 on Thursday, has symmetry on his mind. He’s making a late, late charge for bottom spot with a Sunday collapse. The hapless Chris Kirk had been cut well adrift at +19, but three bogeys in a row for the Colombian, on 11, 12 and 13, have seen him plummet to that lowly mark too. It looks like a toss-up between Kirk and Villegas for the wooden spoon, then; they’re five shots worse off than 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson, and six worse than erstwhile US Open and Masters winner Angel Cabrera. Some big names have suffered this week, that’s for sure. It’s not just Tiger.

Meanwhile Kevin Mannerings was on this blog yesterday arguing that Europe was almost certain to continue its recent domination of the US Open. Well, with the top 15 dominated by Americans, Australians, South Africans and Argentinians, he’s back! “I’d just like to withdraw my silly waffle about the challenging diversity of the European Tour. What I forgot was the greens. With that unique grass mixture of fescue, poa and wild poppy, the Stateside greenkeepers have created a challenge which only players like Jordan Speith, Dustin Johnson and JB Holmes can deal with. I expect one of them to win this and put down a marker for the next Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. Phew, that should do it.”

6.40pm BST

The big news this morning is the USGA’s decision to retain the 18th as a par five for the final round. The initial plan had been for 1 and 18 to alternate between pars four and five over the course of the event. Which would mean it would play as a par four today. But they’ve changed their mind at the death. It’s possible they didn’t want their tournament to be decided by a widescreen meltdown on the last hole: the 18th as a par five has been one of the easiest holes this week (ranked 16th hardest), while played as a par four it’s caused no little bother (ranked 5th).

This has been dressed up in some quarters as a victory for Jordan Spieth. He parred it in five on Thursday and Saturday, but double-bogeyed it in six as a par-four on Friday, calling it “the dumbest hole I’ve ever played in my life” and “unbelievably stupid”. So it’s a mental two-shot swing for him before he’s even teed up his ball, they say. But to be fair, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Branden Grace all bogeyed the hole as a par-four on Friday, too. Meanwhile Day and Grace, unlike Spieth, have had birdie joy on it as a par-five. So nobody’s getting the better of this deal. And it’s almost certainly the correct decision; the hole was just too much of a lottery as a par four, players firing long irons into a rock-hard, punitive green.

6.20pm BST

Kirk’s playing partner today is Ben Martin, who suffered the biggest fall from grace yesterday. After birdie at the opening hole, he moved to within a shot of the lead. But double bogeys at 2 and 4 quickly changed the mood music, and much worse was to come: bogey at 7, a third double of the day at 7, and a quadruple bogey at 8. Out in 45 strokes, it got a little better coming back, but not much: a triple bogey at 18 set the seal on a 16-over-par 86. When it unravels around Chambers Bay, it really unravels. Ask Rickie and Tiger. He’s recovered his early-tournament poise today, though, level par for his round through 10, at +13 overall.

6.10pm BST

There’ll be plenty of time to concentrate on the top of the leaderboard, so let’s begin our journey at the other end. The entire field’s being propped up by Chris Kirk. The 30-year-old from Tennessee isn’t one of golf’s superstars, but he’s no mug either, with two wins on the PGA Tour in the last year. He was good enough to see off Jordan Spieth and Brandt Snedeker to win the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial last month. However, he’s six over par at the turn today. He was also six over par after the 1st, running up a humiliating 10. He took five shots to get his ball up from the huge swale to the left of the green. When he finally managed to keep it up on the playing surface, he took three putts. Ooyah. Oof. To have played par golf over the rest of the front nine after that blow is some feat. But there he is, bottom of the pile at +19. Putting Spieth to the sword one month, running up double figures on a hole during your national championship the next. What a pastime is golf.

6.01pm BST

Here we go, go, go, then! There’s nothing like the final day of a major championship. Especially when it’s all up in the air. Three of the last four majors were done and dusted, pretty much, by the 54-hole stage. Martin Kaymer was five clear going into the final round at Pinehurst last year. Rory McIlroy had six shots on the field after three rounds of the Open at Hoylake. Jordan Spieth was four clear with one round remaining at Augusta in April. Only the PGA was tight going into the final day, and even then McIlroy enjoyed a lead that was good enough in the end. Today, however ... well, good luck guessing what’s going to happen. Spieth to calmly close it out with a 68? Dustin to blitz the field with a 66? All the leaders to falter, allowing Sergio to burst through with a 62, the lowest round in major championship history (only to miss out by one stroke)? Your guess is as good as mine. Almost certainly better, in fact. But the sun’s out, and the weather’s expected to hold. Perhaps a bit of wind picking up later. In which case, someone coming out of the pack may not be beyond the realms, as the greens harden later on, making conditions even tougher. That dynamic didn’t do Louis Oosthuizen any harm yesterday. So let’s see ...

5.00pm BST

There’s going to be some noise if the 21-year-old genius Jordan Spieth becomes the 2015 US Open champion. If he triumphs at Chambers Bay today - or tomorrow, should an 18-hole play-off be required* - he’ll become the youngest champion of the modern era, erasing a 22-year-old Rory McIlroy from the record books**. He’ll become the first player since Gene Sarazen in 1922 to have won more than one major before turning 22. And he’ll be only the sixth man in history - after Craig Wood, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods - to win the Masters and US Open in the same year. He’d be halfway to golf’s elusive holy grail: the modern Grand Slam. Yes, there’s going to be some noise.

It says something for the sheer brilliance of this year’s championship, then, that a Spieth win might not even be the most amazing story on offer. The narrative surrounding Jason Day is arguably even more compelling. At the still-tender age of 27, he’s finished second twice at the US Open already, and fourth in another. A perennial bridesmaid at the majors, he’s also got a second and third place at the Masters under his belt, plus two top-ten finishes at the PGA. His ascension to major winner would be some story anyway. But having suffered that distressing vertigo attack on Friday, bravely finishing his round with his legs barely supporting him, then embarking on a storming back nine of 31 yesterday despite still being a bit shaky on his feet, a Day victory would be a story for the ages. Right up there with Ken Venturi’s death-defying battle against heatstroke at Congressional in 1964. Setting aside how the golf’s going to pan out, God speed Jason Day. Safe home.

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