Dustin Johnson wins 116th U.S. Open for first career major

There was no missed 3-footer on the 72nd hole this time. No errant and illegal step into a sand bunker. No wild shot out of bounds from the middle of the fairway. Or an early fold at Pebble Beach.

Dustin Johnson didn’t let anything get in his way this time. Not a four-shot lead that Shane Lowry carried into the final round. Not the specter of a one-shot penalty dangling over his head for the final seven holes. Not even the demons of majors past.

All the heartaches — the missed putt at Chambers Bay, the sand-trap incident at Whistling Straits, the out-of-bounds gaffe at Royal St. George’s in the 2011 British Open — disappeared Sunday at Oakmont Country Club when Johnson won the 116th U.S. Open by three shots in a week that began with heavy rain and ended with a different kind of storm brewing.

With long shadows streaming across the fairway and fans who ringed the 18th hole chanting his initials, Johnson put an emphatic end to a final-round 69 with a 5-foot birdie that gave him his first major championship and redemption for past collapses.

“I’ve been here a bunch of times and haven’t quite got it done, but today I did,” Johnson said. “It feels really good.”

Johnson’s winning total of 4-under 276 is the lowest for a U.S. Open at Oakmont and was good for a three-shot victory that included a one-shot penalty for a moving ball on the fifth green — a pending drama that was playing out on the back nine and being derided on social media by many fellow PGA Tour players.

Left in the wake of Johnson’s performance was Lowry, who crawled home with a 76 after completing a third-round 65 in the morning. Lowry finished at 279 — the previous low score for a U.S. Open at Oakmont — tied with a fast-closing Jim Furyk (66) and Scott Piercy (69).

It was the second consecutive runner-up finish for Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champion, in a U.S. Open at Oakmont. He and Tiger Woods finished a shot behind winner Angel Cabrera in 2007.

“I think it’s well-deserved after everything I’ve been through in majors,” Johnson said. “I’ve knocked on the door several times. It’s a monkey off my back, for sure. I feel a lot lighter.”

Johnson, who earned $1.8 million for the victory, now has won at least one PGA Tour event every year for the past nine years, the longest active streak on tour. But it was the majors, including two U.S. Opens, where he found plenty of ways to lose.

In addition to what happened a year ago, when he three-putted from 12 feet on the final hole at Chambers Bay to lose to Jordan Spieth, he blew a three-shot lead and shot 82 in the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach

“Especially with the things that happened last year, to come back this year and get it done is definitely bittersweet,” Johnson said.

It didn’t even matter he was assessed a one-shot penalty because the United States Golf Association believed he caused his ball to move backward on the fifth green as he was getting ready to putt. Johnson initially consulted a rules official about the possible infraction and it was determined he did not cause the ball to move when he placed his putter behind the ball. Because Johnson’s putter did not touch the turf, he was not considered to have addressed the ball.

But USGA rules director Jeff Hall came up to Johnson on the 12th tee and told him a video review of the incident indicated a potential violation

Johnson, who told the USGA he did not cause the ball to move, accepted the penalty, albeit grudgingly. It became a moot point when Johnson finished his round by hitting his approach from 191 yards to 5 feet on the final hole to win by four. Oh, uh, three.

“Seeing how it didn’t affect the outcome, no [it didn’t bother me],” Johnson said. “I still didn’t want the penalty. I didn’t do anything that caused that ball to move.”

The possibility of a penalty was being derided by Johnson’s fellow players on Twitter, including some former U.S. Open champions.

“Hey USGA, it’s impossible for DJ to cause the ball to move backwards!!!!!!,” Brandt Snedeker said.

“If it was me, I wouldn’t hit another shot until this farce is rectified,” Rory McIlroy said.

“All of us players agree it would be a terrible call,” tweeted Webb Simpson.

It was not a good finish for Lowry, who looked rock-steady for 54 holes but lost his four-shot lead before he got to the back nine at Oakmont.

The previous 54-hole leader to blow a four-shot lead and lose the U.S. Open was the late Payne Stewart in 1998. Stewart, though, came back the following year and beat Phil Mickelson in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst — four months before he died in a private plane accident.

“It’s not easy to go through something like this,” Lowry said. “It was there for the taking and I didn’t take it.”

Blowing big leads in majors is becoming commonplace. Jordan Spieth blew a five-shot lead with nine holes to go at the Masters, handing the title to Danny Willett. This wasn’t as bad. Or as sudden.

Lowry came out at 7 a.m. to complete the final four holes of his third round, and quickly birdied the par-4 15th from 11 feet and two-putted from 53 feet for birdie at No. 17 after driving the green. That put him at 7-under 203 — the lowest 54-hole total for a U.S. Open at Oakmont — and a four-shot lead on Johnson and Andrew Landry.

Turns out, he needed them. He bogeyed the 340-yard second hole when his approach rolled off the steep front and he gave away another shot at the 382-yard fifth when his tee shot landed in the left greenside bunker.

Johnson, meantime, birdied the second hole when he two-putted from 36 feet on the right fringe after a drive of 315 yards. And when he rolled in an 8-foot birdie at No. 9 after another 315-yard drive, Johnson tied Lowry at 5 under.

When Lowry bogeyed the 477-yard ninth after driving into the deep right fairway bunker, he headed to the back nine a shot behind Johnson, his four-shot lead all gone.

“I’m sure I learned a lot from this,” Lowry said. “But I don’t know what it is.”

Gerry Dulac: gdulac@post-gazette.com and Twitter @gerrydulac.