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On a day built for umbrellas, ponchos and industrial-sized squeegees, J.J. Spaun reversed his own free fall, took advantage of several others' and hit two shots that turned him into a major champion while finally, mercifully, creating a moment to ...

J.J. Spaun turned a sloppy mess of a U.S. Open at wet and nasty Oakmont into a thing of beauty at the end Sunday with two stunning shots that carried him to his first major championship.

Carlota Ciganda birdied the final two holes to win the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour victory in more than 8 1/2 years, while Lexi Thompson had two late bogeys to dash her bid to end a long drought of her own.

J.J. Spaun is still new enough to the U.S. Open, and a newcomer to the brute that is Oakmont, that he was prepared for anything Thursday. He wound up with a clean card and a one-shot lead on an opening day that delivered just about everything.

Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, waved the rules official over. Certainly, a ball buried that deep in the rough had to have embedded into the soft turf below when his off-line drive on the 12th hole landed with a thunk.

Matt Vogt had one chance to make a first impression. The caddie-turned-dentist took the opening tee shot of Thursday's U.S. Open at the Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania and blasted it into the rough.

What Alistair Docherty thought was smoke was really the powder bursting out of the freshly deployed airbag.

Serenity at Oakmont could be found Wednesday morning when Rory McIlroy stood on the first tee as the sun rose against a hazy sky on the horizon. He was playing with his best mate in golf, Shane Lowry, their final practice before the U.S. Open.

Heading into the U.S. Open this week, Rory McIlroy has been disabused of any notion that life once he completed the career Grand Slam with that win at the Masters in April would be smooth sailing.

Last month, Scottie Scheffler made mention of a trend in golf design that rubs him wrong - removing trees from courses.