by South Wales Echo

Glover had started the day with a five-shot lead over the field at seven under par alongside co-leader Ricky Barnes as the rain-delayed championship moved into a fifth day at Bethpage Black.

Barnes disintegrated with six bogeys in seven holes and Glover was caught by Mickelson and David Duval at four under and three under, while England's Ross Fisher also challenged.

Yet his rivals fell away at the most crucial time of all, all bogeying either the 15th or 17th holes or both as 29-year-old Glover stayed calm to win at the 109th US Open.

"I didn't expect this on Thursday, to say the least," Glover said. "But I was playing well coming in and I knew if I put four (rounds) together I might have a chance."

Glover, with one previous victory on the PGA Tour in 2005, won his first major with a one-birdie, four-bogey final-round, three-over 73, good enough to hold off Mickelson (70), Duval (71) and Barnes (76) by two strokes.

Mickelson, who moves ahead of four-time runners-up Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Robert Trent Jones Jr and Sam Snead, will now step away from the game to be with his wife Amy, who begins treatment for breast cancer on July 1. Fisher claimed fifth, his best majors finish, a further shot behind following a 72 with 2008 winner Tiger Woods tied for sixth at level par alongside fellow American Hunter Mahan and Denmark's Soren Hansen. Rory McIlroy finished in a tie for 10th on his US Open debut.

The tournament had been blown wide open by a final-round collapse from third-round leader Barnes.

The Californian, without a victory in six years as a professional, saw his final round implode as play resumed at the par-70 course.

When play resumed yesterday Barnes found the second green out of the rough to make par.

Fisher rolled in a three-foot birdie putt at the par-five fourth to get back to three under - four shots behind Barnes - with Glover bogeying the third to slip to six under.

Everything changed when Barnes began to slide back towards the field. He and Glover bogeyed the fifth hole but Barnes would bogey three more in succession to fall to three under after eight as Glover assumed the lead at five over.

Fisher sent in another great approach shot at 12 but missed the par putt from inside two feet to fall back to one under.

Mickelson made the first eagle of the tournament on par-five 13 to join Glover in a share of the lead at four under. Glover bogeyed 15 and fell into a joint lead with Mickelson at three under - who sank a par putt at 16 at exactly the same moment.

Duval made it a three-way lead with a third successive birdie at the 16th - but he and Mickelson bogeyed the par-three 17th.

At that point Glover managed to score his first birdie of the day at the 16th and the 29-year-old was back in front at four under with two to play, two shots to the good for a lead he would not relinquish.

Defending champion Woods got to one under but a bogey at the difficult par-four 15th ended hopes of a fifth US Open title and 15th major victory.

COLLATED SCORES (USA unless stated, par 70) 276 Lucas Glover 69 64 70 73 278 Ricky Barnes 67 65 70 76, Phil Mickelson 69 70 69 70, David Duval 67 70 70 71 279 Ross Fisher (Eng) 70 68 69 72 280 Hunter Mahan 72 68 68 72, Tiger Woods 74 69 68 69, Soren Hansen (Den) 70 71 70 69 281 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 70 70 68 282 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 72 70 72 68, Mike Weir (Can) 64 70 74 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 70 72 70, Matt Bettencourt 75 67 71 69, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 66 70 72, Ryan Moore 70 69 72 71 283 Anthony Kim 71 71 71 70, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 73 68 68 74 284 Peter Hanson (Swe) 66 71 73 74, Michael Sim (Aus) 71 70 71 72, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 69 72 69 74, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 74 73 67, Bubba Watson 72 70 67 75 285 Steve Stricker 73 66 72 74, Sean O'Hair 69 69 71 76, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 70 70 71 74, Lee Westwood (Eng) 72 66 74 73 286 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 70 74 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 72 72 73 69, Azuma Yano (Jpn) 72 65 77 72, J.B. Holmes 73 67 73 73, Stewart Cink 73 69 70 74, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 74 68 74

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