Rain. Endless, soul-crushing rain. That’s basically the first thing anyone remembers about the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. It was a swamp. But in the middle of that mud-caked Monday finish, Lucas Glover did something that most golf fans still struggle to wrap their heads around. He outlasted Phil Mickelson. He stared down Tiger Woods. And he did it all while being a guy who had literally never even made a cut in a U.S. Open before that week.
Think about that for a second.
Usually, when someone wins a major, there’s a trail of breadcrumbs—a few top-tens, a "close but no cigar" finish. Not Lucas. He arrived in New York ranked 71st in the world, having missed the weekend in his three previous tries at this specific tournament. Then, he just... won. It’s one of the weirdest, gutsiest, and most misunderstood victories in modern golf history.
The Monday That Changed Everything at Bethpage
Honestly, the 2009 U.S. Open was a scheduling nightmare. The USGA was scrambling. You had a leaderboard that looked like a Hall of Fame induction ceremony: Phil Mickelson, David Duval, and Tiger Woods (who was lurking just a few shots back). The New York crowd was desperate for Phil to win. It was loud, it was rowdy, and it was entirely focused on anyone but the guy from South Carolina with the flat cap.
Glover started the final round with a one-shot lead, but let’s be real—nobody expected him to hold it. When he carded a 73 in the final round, it was actually the highest closing score by a winner since 1994. But context is everything. Bethpage Black was playing like a beast.
While Ricky Barnes was falling apart with a 76 and Mickelson was missing heart-breaking short putts, Glover stayed boring. In a U.S. Open, boring wins trophies. He made a massive birdie on the 16th hole—a 6-foot putt that basically silenced the Phil-crazed gallery—and cruised in with two pars. He finished at 4-under, two clear of the field.
Why We Stopped Talking About Him (And Why We Shouldn't Have)
After that win, the narrative around Lucas Glover shifted in a way that’s kinda unfair. People started calling him a "one-hit wonder" for majors. It's true he didn't win another one, but he wasn't exactly a ghost. He finished 5th at the PGA Championship just two months later.
The real problem wasn't his ball-striking. Ask any pro on tour: Lucas Glover is a pure flusher. The guy hits it as crisp as anyone. No, the problem was the "yips."
For nearly a decade, Glover’s putting was, to put it bluntly, a disaster. He was consistently ranked near the bottom of the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. It’s hard to win when you’re terrified of a three-footer. He struggled. He went through the Web.com Tour (now Korn Ferry) finals twice just to keep his job. It was a long, dark tunnel for a guy who once held the most prestigious trophy in American golf.
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The 2023 Resurgence: A New Chapter
Most players would have packed it in by age 43. Glover didn't. Instead, he made a radical move that has essentially rewritten the final chapters of his career.
- The Broomstick Putter: He switched to a long, L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max putter.
- The Navy SEAL Connection: He worked with Jason Kuhn, a former Navy SEAL who specializes in helping athletes overcome the yips.
- The Result: Back-to-back wins at the Wyndham Championship and the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August 2023.
That late-career explosion wasn't just a fluke. It was a validation of the same grit he showed at Bethpage back in '09. By the time 2024 and 2025 rolled around, Glover wasn't just a "past champion" taking up a spot in the field. He was a legitimate threat again, ranking high in driving accuracy and finally—blessedly—making putts.
What His U.S. Open Win Teaches Us
The 2009 U.S. Open wasn't a "fluke" win; it was a "toughness" win. Glover proved that on the hardest courses in the world, flashy golf matters less than mental endurance. He didn't have the Tiger-level hype, but he had the stomach for the grind.
If you're looking at Glover's career today, don't just see the ten-year gap between wins. See the guy who refused to let his career die in the dirt. He remains the only Clemson Tiger to ever win a major, a stat that still holds weight in South Carolina.
Practical Takeaways from the Glover Story:
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- Ball Striking is King: You can survive a cold putter for a while if you hit every fairway, but you can't win a U.S. Open without elite iron play.
- Adapt or Die: If what you're doing isn't working (like a standard putter for 10 years), change the tool. Even if it looks weird.
- Ignore the Noise: Winning in front of a crowd that wants someone else to win is the ultimate test of an athlete’s "inner circle" focus.
Glover's legacy is ultimately about the long game. Whether he ever bags another major or not, his performance at Bethpage Black remains a masterclass in how to win when the world is rooting for the other guy.
To dive deeper into the mechanics of his comeback, look into the "broomstick" putting technique he adopted; it's a specific "split-grip" style that bypasses the small-muscle twitching which causes the yips. Studying his 2023 Strokes Gained data versus his 2009 stats shows a player who essentially replaced raw youth with a surgical, veteran approach to the greens.