This Time, Strange Has Final Word : He Beats Faldo by 4 Shots in Playoff for U.S. Open

Beneath a sunny sky that shone on a rolling expanse of New England greenery, a U.S. Open championship that once belonged to Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus was seized for a precious moment by 33-year-old Curtis Northrup Strange, a newcomer to the only greatness by which golfers are measured.

Victory in one of golf’s major tournaments was sometimes just a club’s length away for Strange until a warm breezy Monday afternoon here at The Country Club, when he defeated Nick Faldo by four strokes in an 18-hole playoff to join ranks with golf’s legends who had preceded him by winning the U.S. Open.

Perhaps Monday marked the beginning of a Strange era, one which did not arrive without the kind of struggle characteristically associated with its namesake.

Even after Strange turned the playoff around on the 13th hole, when his 25-foot putt rolled in for a birdie and Faldo three-putted for a bogey and the lead became three strokes, Strange continued to find it difficult to concentrate.

“If you get ahead of yourself and start writing your acceptance speech, so to speak, you’re in a heap of trouble,” he said.

But as soon as Strange’s second shot reached the green at the 18th hole, he knew his time had finally come to win his first major, the one that had eluded him during his 12-year career.

“That’s when it was mine,” he said.

It would not be like the 1985 Masters when Strange led the field by three strokes with six holes to play only to bogey the 13th, 15th and 18th holes at Augusta National and lose to Bernhard Langer by two shots.

Instead, Strange turned in an even-par round of 71 to win an Open he had three-putted into a playoff just the day before. Faldo, who was within one shot of Strange through 11 holes, staggered to a 40 on the back nine and finished with a 75.

Both players knew that the outcome was decided as they walked onto the elevated green at the 18th hole near the wooden clubhouse shaded by stately elm trees. Strange raised his fists in triumph as he strode to his ball.

Strange knocked in a short putt for par to end the 28th playoff in the 88-year history of the U.S. Open and shortly afterward, choking back tears, thanked his father, who died when he was 14.

Once again Strange struggled, this time to keep his emotions under control.

“I have to thank my dad,” he said. “This is for my dad. I’ve been waiting a long time to do this, and I screwed up the ’85 Masters. But we don’t have to think about that. I’ve been waiting a long time.

“This is the greatest thing I have ever done. This is the greatest feeling I have ever had. I just wish he could have been here.

“It means what every little boy dreams about when he plays golf all by himself late in the afternoon. He’s got three balls out there. One is Snead. One is Hogan. One is Nicklaus or maybe Strange. Ninty-nine percent of the time, your dreams don’t come true.”

But this was a day of Strange dreams coming true. He didn’t sleep very long or very well Sunday night, realizing the chore before him.

Faldo, the British Open champion, lost a stroke on the third hole after finding a bunker and two-putting from 15 feet. Strange joined him with a bogey on the fourth hole after he, too, landed in a bunker with a pitching wedge.

On the par-4 No. 5, Strange hit a driver and an 8-iron to within 10 feet. He sank the putt for a birdie to lead Faldo by a shot.

Both players birdied No. 7, the 201-yard par 3. Strange curled in a 25-footer, and Faldo made an 8-footer.

Faldo fell to two strokes back with a bogey on the 11th hole. They parred the 12th and then moved on to the 13th, where the Strange era was set into motion.

The 433-yard hole is a par 4 from an elevated tee with overhanging trees on the left of the fairway and a pond to catch drives to the right. “The turning point,” Strange said.

Faldo pushed his drive to the right and then used a 6-iron, bouncing 35 feet past the hole. His next two shots lost the U.S. Open. Faldo went 10 feet past the hole, then pulled his par putt and missed it by 2 feet. He settled for a bogey.

Strange hit a driver and an 8-iron to 25 feet. From there, he rolled in the putt.

“It was over when Nick missed that putt,” Strange said.

His lead had increased to three strokes with just five holes to play. Even though Strange bogeyed No. 15 after Faldo’s birdie on 14 closed the gap two strokes, Faldo had nothing left. He finished with bogeys on 15, 17 and 18.

“In the end, I just never put any pressure on him,” Faldo said. “I really needed to make a birdie somewhere.”

Strange probably didn’t need any additional pressure. He carried a heavy load on his back that he had placed there himself Sunday after he three-putted No. 17 to lose his one-shot lead.

“After the mishap at 17, I felt more pressure, sure,” Strange said. “I know I let Nick out of the bag.

“I sure didn’t want to lose now, and I didn’t want to face you guys if I lost,” he told reporters. “But after you go over it in your mind a couple of times, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

There were many things going on in the mind of Curtis Strange when he thought about what his victory meant to him. His father, Thomas Strange, was one. So was his wife, Sarah, as well as his sons, Thomas III and David.

Sure, it also meant $180,000, but Strange also considered how his victory, which so many reminded him this week that he had yet to achieve, might have affected his place in the game.

“It got me to that next level,” he said. “It also means that it’s my first (major). But we’re not going to stop here.

“It means Curtis Strange might be looked at in a little different way. We all have our egos. We want to be respected. Maybe winning the U.S. Open doesn’t do it, but it certainly helps a helluva lot.”

The U.S. Open may not have decided who the No. 1 golfer in the world is, but at least Strange can now make his claim.

Faldo said it probably doesn’t matter, that the rankings are just week-to-week propositions anyway. In any event, for 18 holes on the last day of Spring at The Country Club, at last the winner was in a Strange land.

“To us, majors are the event,” Faldo said. “What Curtis has done is cap off a 12-year career. Now, he can start again. “There are only four majors a year, so there are dozens . . . hundreds of things that have to jell.”

And to win?

“It’s what you have in here,” Faldo said as he tapped his chest. “It’s how big your heart is.”