• US Open: Plays of the Day

Even Horschel's trousers can't outshine Rose

Just(in) delighted © AP

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Numbers game

Justin Rose became the ninth Englishman to win the US Open on Sunday, but the first for 43 years. He also ended a 17-year drought without an English major champion, to boot.

Good going.

Billy Horschel's fashion sense

Oooh weee ... that is different!

Well here they are! The highly anticipated highly controversial....Octopus pants! Great outfits all week by RLX! pic.twitter.com/UrQwSYWZkB

— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf) June 16, 2013

The real winner? Merion herself

Thirty-two years since the last US Open was held here, it seems like the fabled old course will probably not have to wait quite so long for another such opportunity. Despite the infrastructural difficulties the players loved the course - the acid test for these events.

"I'm sure it will come back," Tiger Woods said. "Obviously there are some vendors that are going to make more money with hospitality and that nature. But I think that overall as a golf course, yes, it can be played. They move the tees back, and they give us some pretty tough pins this week. But certainly as a golf course‑wise, it could definitely host another major championship. But I don't know if USGA wants to ‑ they make a lot of money on other venues."

Always the bridesmaid...

While Rose was tasting victory, however, Mickelson was left to dwell on defeat once again. This was the sixth time the American had finished second in his home championship - especially painful considering he led from start to finish.

"I would say it very well could be," Mickelson said, when asked if this was his toughest defeat to take. "I think this was my best chance.

"I think that the way that I was playing heading in, the position I was in and the way I love the golf course. It gave me chances to make birdies. I didn't really make any, but there were opportunity after opportunity, after you get by the sixth hole. And even the sixth hole, I had a great look at it.

"But this one's probably the toughest for me, because at 43 and coming so close five times, it would have changed way I look at this tournament altogether and the way I would have looked at my record. Except I just keep feeling heartbreak."

Sit down, and shut up

Must Americans persist in screaming "Get in the hole!" after almost every shot? Golf is hard, the ball almost never actually does get in the hole. Such people invariably end up looking like complete idiots. Perhaps because they are.

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