Glover joins golf's elite

Lucas Glover is an avid reader, and has a special interest in mystery novels. Give him a book by Clive Cussler or Daniel Silva, and he’ll gladly ease back in a chair at his Greenville home and read it cover-to-cover.

Glover authored his own cliffhanger at Bethpage Black this week, and had the biggest role in its surprise ending.

The result?

A U.S. Open Championship that has thrust him out of the pack and into the limelight of the PGA Tour.

Not only was the victory worth $1,350,000, the former Clemson All-American is now automatically invited to play in the other three “majors” — The Masters, the British Open and the PGA Championship.

Open champions are exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Open itself for the next 10 years as well.

So how did he do it?

“I’d be lying to say I wasn’t nervous,” he said. “I had the knees knocking pretty good on 16, 17 and 18. But I pulled it off and executed some pretty good golf shots.”

Although he had a captive audience in the Upstate, once the final round began many TV viewers had their eyes on Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Then when David Duval made his unlikely run, a third “big name” was added to the mix.

Glover was acutely aware he was flying under the radar as far as most fans were concerned.

“That’s okay,” Glover said. “(Mickelson) was the favorite coming in. They liked him from ’02. And he’s the No. 2 ranked player in the world. Rightly so. It didn’t bother me. It didn’t motivate me or bother me or whatever, but it’s just the way it is. After Tiger finished, Phil’s the man on the golf course, and that’s fine.

“He was maybe three groups ahead. And I guess it’s like what they used to say at Augusta; you could hear a ‘Jack roar’ at Augusta. You can hear a ‘Phil roar.’ I knew something was going on (and) kept my eye on the board.”

The run from Woods never came and both Mickelson and Duval faltered at the end. Although Glover carded a 3-over 73 in the rain-delayed final round, his 4-under 276 for the tournament was plenty good enough.

“I knew after ’02, I knew if I had my driver worked out starting this week, I could play well here,” he said. “And then the soft conditions allowed me to go at some flags, and I was putting okay and made some birdies. I like the way it looked. And anytime a course suits your eye or you like the way it looks — a lot of the tee shots and into the greens and stuff — you can feel you can play well. That was the main thing; I liked the way the course looked.”

The drama on Monday made for some anxious moments for all involved — and even those looking on from afar.

Clemson golf coach Larry Penley had a case of sweaty hands as he watched his former player make a run at greatness.

“I was a nervous wreck while watching it (Monday),” Penley said. “I got nervous when Tiger Woods got to 1-under-par. If he had gotten to 3-under it would have been a problem. I was also a little worried when David Duval got to three under.

“But, when Lucas made the birdie on 16, I really was confident he was going to win because he had been so consistent hitting greens all week. The 17th and 18th weren’t playing that hard. He also had the pace of the greens down. He only three-putted once in the tournament. Lucas really had a stress-free tournament because he hit his approach putts to within a couple of feet the entire tournament. He just never had a lot of nervous five to six footers.”

While competing for the Tigers Glover was a three-time All-American between 1998-2001, including first-team honors as a junior and senior. He helped Clemson to four top 10 national finishes, including a second-place showing in 1998 and a third-place spot in 2001.

The 29-year-old Glover still ranks third in Clemson history in career stroke average with a 71.95 average and is third in rounds at par or better (86).

Glover was named to the ACC 50-Year Anniversary team in 2002.

And today, he is known as a golfer who has recorded one of the greatest achievements in the sport — a United States Open Championship.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Glover said. “But I get to play in some cool tournaments for a while, so that’s fun.”