I could feel the energy in the crowd as the starter announced my name. I could feel the butterflies rising in my stomach. Wow, this is what a US Open is like. I could feel the warm, humid air all around me like a thick blanket in the middle of summer. I could feel the club face turn over, the ball go left, and air leave the grandstands. That ball was on its way to the marsh. I did not want to start the final round with a bogey but an opening bogey was starting to look more likely. I could feel the tension in the crowd as I dropped my ball and prepared to hit my third shot into this par 5. From that first shot, I knew this was going to be a tough round of golf.

Par on hole 2. Par on hole 3. Par of hole 4. The ship is sailing in the right direction but sailing right into a storm. Holes 5 and 6 are some of the toughest holes on the course and with the wind how it is, they will be tougher. With a great tee shot down the fifth fairway, I flushed an iron and rattled the putt in the back of the cup for an unlikely birdie. As my caddie and I caddie climb the hill to the sixth tee box the wind hits us with the force of a train. I whispered to my caddie “this may be playing three clubs longer.”  With this in mind, I pull my Nike Vapor Fly Pro driving iron out of the bag. Thwack, the ball is right online but I hit it too hard making a quick bogey, putting me three shots back of the leaders.

With one of the best birdie stretches in US Open History (five in a row) I got myself in first with a two-shot cushion over second place.

This is where the nerves set in. I actually have a chance to win this US Open. 

Par on hole 12. Par on hole 13. Par on hole 14. Par on hole 15. Three holes left to go and a one-shot lead. I grind out a three on the par-3 sixteenth hole after missing the green left into a small, deep bunker.

The last two holes are a whirlwind, but all I remember is lifting the US Open trophy on the putting green I grew up on: the Erin Hills practice green.