Jun 19, 2016 3 min read

The 116th U.S. Open should have been a testament to the great players and tremendously difficult Oakmont Country Club golf course.

Instead, it was overshadowed at the beginning by tremendous downpours and at the end by a needless controversy that was roundly criticized, especially from some of Johnson’s rivals on the PGA Tour.

There was nothing Oakmont could do about the weather. It’s Western Pennsylvania and there is going to be rain every day or so. These storms disrupted the tournament schedule on the first day. Only the final round ended on the day it began. The other three spilled into the next day.

It was difficult and confusing to grasp who was ahead, sort of like running the Kentucky Derby with horses that began the race at different parts of the track and during different times.

The penalty, which was assessed after the round ended, came after Johnson called a USGA official over to the No. 5 green and explained his ball moved before he addressed. Johnson was told to continue play and made his putt.

Seven holes later and after the USGA had an opportunity to view the video, it was determined the issue was not resolved. The situation would be discussed at the end of the round, and Johnson could plead his case.

Translation: A penalty stroke is waiting for you in the scorer’s area.

Johnson held a two-stroke lead over Brandon Piercy, Shane Lowry and Sergio Garcia at the time.

The 31-year-old Johnson kept his composure, something he did not do while handling difficult situations earlier in his career. For the next two hours after the USGA told him he might be penalized, Johnson managed to make the point moot by finishing the round with a four-stroke lead.

Before that time, it made for strange theater. Did the other players know about the possible penalty – it turned out they did – and how long a delay before the word was passed? Johnson went from a final-round score of 69 instead of 68.

Interestingly, Shane Lowry, who began the day with a four-stroke lead only to see it quickly evaporate on a 3-over-par effort on the front nine, called a penalty on himself for the exact same violation during Saturday’s play.

Johnson could have collapsed after the penalty and cursed the golf gods for another disastrous finish to his career. He lost a chance at winning last year’s U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington when he botched a three-foot putt that would have put him in a playoff with Jordan Spieth.

In the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, he ground his club in a shallow bunker on the final hole and was penalized two strokes, costing him a chance to be in a three-way playoff that Martin Kaymer eventually won.

Johnson’s victory not only erased the heartbreak of the past but shed the label “Best Golfer Never to Win A Major” that seemed to follow his career.

Let someone else take over that spot. Sergio Garcia or Lee Westwood, maybe. Johnson certainly worked hard enough and was mentally strong enough to handle what was thrown at him over four trying days at Oakmont.

Assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano can be reached at jtuscano@observer-reporter.com.