In-form Rai finishes in the top 40 of a major championship again
Aaron Rai will head into next month’s Open Championship having made the cut at his past six majors.
The Wolverhampton-born former Shropshire & Herefordshire junior continued his recent excellent form at golf’s biggest four tournaments by finishing in a tie for 33rd at the US Open over the weekend.
That result means Rai has been in the top 40 of five of the past six majors - the outlier being last year's Open, where he made the cut but faded to a tie of 75th.
Rai played his trademark accurate and steady golf throughout the week, with three rounds of 72 and one of 73 keeping him on the periphery of the leaders, but never quite forcing his way in.
He now heads for his fourth crack at The Open, which takes place at Royal Portrush from July 17-20, hoping another strong finish will boost his chances of playing in this year's Ryder Cup - he is currently 16th in the team qualification rankings, with the top six being automatically selected for this year's event at Bethpage.
JJ Spaun is likely to be on the other team after his US Open triumph and was the only man to break par around the tough Oakmont course as he birdied the final two holes to deny Scotland's Robert MacIntyre a fairytale major triumph.
Spaun’s brilliant finish robbed MacIntyre of the chance to become Scotland’s first major champion since 1999 after he burst into contention after an excellent two-under-par 68.
That made him the clubhouse leader at one over and the Scot looked set for at least a play-off against Spaun, who had two holes to play.
But the American first sent a stunning 309-yard drive on to the green at the short par-four 17th and two-putted for a birdie before sinking a mammoth 64-foot putt on the 18th green to seal glory.
MacIntyre was watching open-mouthed in the scorer’s office and could do nothing but applaud his opponent.
“It’s definitely like a storybook, fairytale ending, kind of underdog fighting back, not giving up, never quitting,” said Spaun. “With the rain and everything and then the putt, you couldn’t write a better story. I’m just so fortunate to be on the receiving end of that.
“Just to finish it off like that is just a dream. You watch other people do it. You see the Tiger chip, you see Nick Taylor’s putt, you see crazy moments.
“To have my own moment like that at this championship, I’ll never forget this moment for the rest of my life.”
Spaun may consider the thunderstorm at around 4pm local time (9pm BST) to be divine intervention.
Before the heavens opened at Oakmont and forced a 96-minute delay, the first-round leader was five over for his round after eight holes and four off the lead.
But while leaders Sam Burns and Adam Scott floundered in the soaking conditions after the resumption, Spaun found his best game and birdies at the 12th, 14th, 17th and 18th took him to glory.
“I felt like I had a chance, a really good chance to win the US Open at the start of the day,” he said. “It just unravelled very fast. But that break was actually the key for me to winning this tournament.
“The tee shot on nine, like my first shot back. That was the hole we got stopped on. I just flushed one, like a nice little cut up the left side.
“And I was like, ‘All right, we’re back’. I didn’t hit too many bad shots after that.”
