THE MOST convoluted US Open of them all finally found a way to finish. After all the twists and turns, all the stopping and the starting, Lucas Glover – a 29-year-old American who’d never even managed to survive a cut in three previous appearances in the championship – discovered the secret to success at Bethpage Black yesterday.

For him, in his finest hour, all the inconvenience of the five days it took to determine a champion was worth every second, every minute and every hour. In producing a final round of 73 for 276, four-under par, Glover – whose only previous win on tour had come in the Walt Disney Classic back in 2005 – had two strokes to spare over the trio of Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes.

Yet, that two-stroke cushion only materialised at the death. Up to then, this US Open’s final round had produced unscripted drama.

For one, Mickelson, the crowd’s favourite, had produced a stirring charge epitomised by an eagle on the 13th to move into a share of the lead only for the old familiar inability to close the deal to rear its ugly head again; and, for another, Tiger Woods threatened, however briefly, to also gatecrash the party.

For sure, it was an exciting climax to a drawn-out championship. It also served to prove that sentimentality doesn’t earn any extra leverage. If so, Mickelson – with his wife Amy fighting breast cancer – would have won. Or David Duval, yesterday’s man, with a world ranking of 882nd coming in here. Or, for that matter, Ricky Barnes, a player who’d battled for years in the netherworld of the secondary tours.

No, sentiment doesn’t win majors. Yesterday, Glover, who’d started out a shot behind Barnes, proved himself up to the task.

Glover recovered from a front-nine implosion – where he dropped three shots in eight holes after resuming play on the second hole – to steady the ship on the homeward journey. And, remaining immune from the roars that accompanied Mickelson’s charge up ahead, Glover finished the job with a run of birdie-par-par from the 16th, having recorded the only bogey of his homeward run on the tough par-four 15th.

In what proved to be another fruitless quest for glory from Europe’s invading army of players, England’s Ross Fisher had the distinction of finishing as leading European in fifth place after a closing 72 for 279. It was a brave effort.

“I was watching the leaderboards, and to see my name up towards the top . . . I was trying to get it right up top. I didn’t manage it, but hopefully this is a sign of the thing to come after this. I’ll have a lot more US Opens and majors to play in,” said Fisher, whose highlight came with an eagle on the 13th, directly after Mickelson’s in the group ahead, moved him within a shot of the lead. But he was to bogey two of the four finishing holes.

Likewise, Mickelson’s charge lost some energy over the tough closing stretch. He bogeyed the 15th and 17th, where he was in greenside rough, and was left to rue another missed opportunity in the US Open. It was his fifth runner-up finish in the championship. “I put myself into a great position to close it out but, unfortunately didn’t finish it off. Certainly I’m disappointed, but now it’s over. I’ve got more important things going on,” said Mickelson, who is expected to miss next month’s British Open as his wife commences cancer treatment.

This for the most part was a tale of what might have been for those who missed out, most notably Barnes – who’d never had a top-10 finish in his career – who reached the midway point with a record low for 36 holes and carried a one-stroke lead into the final round. If we thought it was going to be his day when he started off, on the second, by hitting his approach from high fescues on to the green to salvage par, the wheels subsequently came off in a big way when he had a run of four successive bogeys from the fifth.

To his credit, he hung on for a share of second place. But this was Glover’s title to win, and win it he did with a back-nine effort that showed an inner strength and calmness. If he lost his rhythm for a time on the front nine, bogeying the third, fifth and ninth holes to turn in 38, he regained his composure for the more important homeward journey.

Inspired to take up the game by his grandfather, Dick Hendley, a former American footballer with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Glover – who finished second in the Quail Hollow Championship last month – admitted to feeling nervous coming in.

“I’d be lying to say I wasn’t nervous. I had the knees knocking pretty good on 16, 17 and 18. But I pulled it off and executed some pretty good golf shots . . . it hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s an honour to be on the trophy with names such as that.

“I hope I don’t downgrade it or anything with my name on it.”

He won’t. He won the hard way, and deserved it.