Bethesda, MD (AHN)

Rory McIlroy earned his first major championship Sunday while keeping the U.S. mired in a majorless streak.

McIlroy completed his comeback from a Masters collapse with a master class in golf, rolling to a wire-to-wire victory at the U.S. Open Sunday at Congressional Country Club for his first major title.

It seems like there will be plenty more majors to come for the young Northern Irishman, while American golfers are left to wonder when their streak of futility will come to an end.

Phil Mickelson's 2010 Masters title is the last major win for an American, a span of five majors. It is the first time since 1934 that five major championships were played without an American winner and the last time no American held at least one of the major titles was 1994.

With Tiger Woods out with an injury the stage was set for a player to burst on the scene and establish themselves as the man to beat. That man was McIlroy while the Americans posted a few nice finishes but never threatened to make a push at McIlroy or victory.

Your low American was actually a pair of Americans as Kevin Chappell and Robert Garrigus tied for third at 6-under-par 278, 10 shots behind the 22-year-old McIlroy.

A 24-year-old UCLA graduate and rookie in the PGA Tour, Chappell overcame an opening 76 with rounds of 67-69-66 to move into third with Y.E. Yang and Lee Westwood.

"Being low American, that's great," said Chappell. "I don't think the state of American golf is where everyone expects it to be, but I think it shows that someone like myself can play out here, and I think it's definitely going to end up going in the right direction here sometime soon."

Garrigus, 33, closed with a 70 and carded four under-par rounds at a U.S. Open and still finished 10 shots back.

"I looked at the board, I thought, man, I've got to shoot 6-under to finish second; that's ridiculous," Garrigus said. "Some guys had some good rounds. It was a lot of fun to watch. I'm sure that was probably a fun U.S. Open to watch in terms of Rory going off the planet."

Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love III, Heath Slocum and Brandt Snedeker each finished at 3-under in a tie for 11th.

For his part, Love said players don't look at or care where someone is from because they play against each other so often.

"I think you can give Seve a lot of credit; Seve and Bernhard Langer, for letting the Europeans realize that they can work hard and come over here and compete with the Americans," Love said. "The world is a smaller place. So I think we're going to have to get used to it.

"Look at the leaderboard every week on Tour, it's half -- well, it's a third U.S. and a third European, and then a third Asian or South African, Australian guys."

The low amateur was UCLA's Patrick Cantlay, 19, who shot a final-round 72 and tied for 21st at 1-over.

"I learned a lot," said Cantlay. "I'm going to feel older and wiser going into every event I play, and I'm going to know every tournament I go to I can compete with everyone in the field."

Steve Stricker and Mickelson entered the week as the highest ranked American players in the world at Nos. 4 and 5 respectively but neither made much of a mark this week.

Stricker tied for 19th at 1-under and Phil Mickelson ended a rough week with an even-par 71 to tie for 54th at 7-over.

The setup was wonderful. I thought it was a well-run event. The people came out and really supported the tournament," Mickelson said. "I just didn't play how I had hoped."

And that's something that has been going for five majors and counting for American golfers.

 

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