Nearly any tome will do for the avid reader, so during this wacky week at gloomy Bethpage Black, when relentless storms blew the U.S. Open into a Monday finish and turned the 7,426-yard track into a quagmire, Glover polished off four novels — one by Clive Cussler, two by Stuart Woods and David Grann's The Lost City of Z, which he highly recommends.
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Nearly any tome will do for the avid reader, so during this wacky week at gloomy Bethpage Black, when relentless storms blew the U.S. Open into a Monday finish and turned the 7,426-yard track into a quagmire, Glover polished off four novels — one by Clive Cussler, two by Stuart Woods and David Grann's The Lost City of Z, which he highly recommends.
But when the storm clouds finally blew away from Long Island, Glover authored his own compelling tale with a final-round finish that ruined fairy-tale endings for sentimental favorite Phil Mickelson and comeback kid David Duval.
With his cap tugged low, a large dip of tobacco under his lip and his heart rate high, Glover composed a perfect ending to his story line, highlighted by an electrifying birdie from 4 feet on the 16th hole during the back-nine's highest drama and pars on the final two holes that put a close on the 109th U.S. Open. Holding off major winners Mickelson and Duval and 2002 U.S. Amateur champion Ricky Barnes by two shots, Glover shot rounds of 69-64-70-73 to finish at 4-under-par 276 in the Open's first 72-hole Monday finish in 26 years.
World No. 1 and defending champion Tiger Woods, who won one of his three U.S. Opens at Bethpage in 2002, made a late charge to pull within striking distance but finished at even par in a tie for sixth.
"I had a good week of preparation last week and just came here with a good attitude," said Glover, a 6-2, 200-pound 29-year-old whose only previous PGA Tour win came in the 2005 Funai Classic at Walt Disney World. "And it was my best ball-striking week I've ever had, the first three days especially. Everything was flush. And I knocked in a few putts, too. So here we are."
Pursuers miss putts
Glover, who was among players with tee times that allowed them to avoid the harshest of the week's weather, backed up toward the pack with his final-round 73, but the others couldn't stay with him in the end.
Once again in the U.S. Open, Mickelson didn't quite get there. Playing while his wife, Amy, battles breast cancer, Mickelson said he rode waves of emotions from the raucous crowds who were in his corner and pulled into a share of the lead with Glover with an eagle on the par-5 13th. But his putter betrayed him when he missed par putts from 3 feet on No. 15 and 6 feet on 17. Instead of taking hold of the silver trophy, Mickelson left for a family vacation with his record fifth runner-up finish in a U.S. Open, four of those in the New York area.
"I put myself in great position to win, and that's all you can ask for," said Mickelson, who doesn't know when he'll return after his wife's surgery, which is scheduled for the first week of July. "I just didn't finish it off. It was an up-and-down day as far as a lot of birdies, a lot of bogeys, and I was fighting to get into it. But now it's over and there are more important things going on."
Duval had a lot going on this week. He entered the week ranked No. 882 in the world, and few expected the former No. 1 and 2001 British Open champ to come back from oblivion. But with a steady nerve throughout and his game in form, Duval made three consecutive birdies starting at 14 to gain a share of the lead with Mickelson and Glover. But his 6-footer for par on 17 rimmed out.
"I stand before you certainly happy with how I played but extremely disappointed in the outcome," Duval said. "I had no question in my mind I was going to win the golf tournament."
The birdie on 16 lifted Glover to a two-shot lead after he knocked an 8-iron from 173 yards to 4 feet. With two two-putt pars on the final two holes, he had his first major title.
Last year he didn't have much of anything. His swing was amiss and his mind astray, so Glover put the clubs away for three months after he notched one top-10 finish in his previous 16 events. The man who can talk Clemson University football and knows his way around a wine cellar just didn't want to talk golf.
Glover's optimism returned toward the end of the year — after he tightened up his swing — and his confidence soon followed.
"It was the best thing career-wise I've ever done," Glover said in his distinctive Southern drawl. "I was not playing well enough to keep playing. I was taking it home, and I wasn't myself.
"When I finally realized it, I said, 'That's it.' When I started practicing again, my expectations were lower and I had something set to work on. And then starting January I was fresh."
Still, despite a solid year and two strong finishes on two tough courses — a tie for third in the Buick Invitational in February and a tie for second in the Quail Hollow Championship in May — no one read much into his chances this week.
For starters, he had never finished higher than 20th in his previous 11 majors. He had one round in the 60s in 32 rounds in majors. And he had missed the cut in his three previous U.S. Opens, in 2002 at Bethpage and in 2006-07.
But Glover, a complex, diverse man with a range of interests, among them listening to Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and classical music, became the first U.S. Open champion to go through sectional qualifying since Michael Campbell in 2005. And he's the sixth qualifier in the last 46 years to win the nation's championship.
Another big prize?
Glover could soon slip into a new Corvette, courtesy of his caddie, Don Cooper. It seems when Glover won at Disney, Cooper said he'd buy him a Corvette the next time he won. As the two hugged on the 18th green, Glover whispered to Cooper that he wanted the car.
"I think we have to renegotiate," Cooper said, laughing. "Lucas is a good kid, a great golfer, and he deserves this win. He was really settled all day, and that comes from how he's hitting the ball. He had so much confidence.
"It's going to be a lot of fun from here on out. He's known how good he is, and he just had to prove it. Today, he proved he could beat anybody."
Glover and Cooper, who hooked up on the Nationwide Tour, said patience was as key to Glover's win as any iron he hit all week. The grandson of former Pittsburgh Steelers blocking back Dick Hendley was a tense sort who was quick to erupt and swift to let bogeys and double bogeys linger.
So when he fell six strokes behind Barnes after going 4 over in a three-hole span through No. 8 during the third round Sunday, Glover took a few deep breaths and fired a 3-under 32 on the back to get back in it.
"Two years ago, if (Sunday) would have happened, no chance I would be sitting here," said Glover, who earned $1.35 million and climbed from 71st to 18th in the world rankings. "But I've worked on being patient. My attitude's better. And when something bad happens, let it go. I doubled the first hole this week. Didn't slam a club. Didn't do anything. Walked over to the second tee and said, 'Hey, it's the U.S. Open. It's going to be a long week.' I wouldn't have done that a couple years ago."
Glover kept himself in check Monday despite shooting a front-nine 3-over 38 while Barnes turned in a 40. The duo's five-shot lead at the start of the day was vanishing quickly. But that's when Glover turned in his best golf, giving himself good chances at birdie throughout the back nine before finally cashing in for his first — and only — red number of the day at 16.
"It was a long and crazy week with the delays and the weather and the back-and-forth to the course and all that," Glover said. "And that's the first time I've contended in a major."
The book on Glover now, however, is that it won't be his last.
