Webb Simpson won the weekend, and ultimately won the U.S. Open when the leaders struggled mightily down the stretch. Simpson shot 68-68 over the weekend after being 4 strokes back after 36 holes, only one of two golfers to break 139 in the last two rounds (Wittenburg, 137).

Simpson fell back to +5 after two early bogeys, and as Jim Furyk and Graeme McDowell teed off, he sat 6 strokes back heading to the sixth hole. He didn’t bogey another hole all round, and made four birdies in five holes to jump back in contention.

The tournament took its final dramatic turn when Jim Furyk hit a duck hook into the trees on hole number 16, at the same time that Simpson was sitting with a bad lie off the edge of the 18th green. Furyk got a bogey on the par 5, while Simpson hit a great chip onto the green and made a nervy putt that got him into the clubhouse as the leader for the first time all tournament.

Furyk and McDowell both got to 18 needing a birdie, but Furyk continued to hit bad shots, and McDowell missed his birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.

[photo via US Presswire]