In finishing in a tie for second, Mickelson at least made history. It was his fifth runner-up finish at the Open, and no one else has almost won more often. And even couldn’t begrudge this life-changing win to Glover, a down-to-earth guy from South Carolina whose idea of a hot night’s entertainment is curling up with a page-turner novel.

That’s a good champion, a regular guy on a public course that regular guys can play. Glover has been playing well this year. You have to figure we’ll see more of him.

We’ll also see more of Duval. He’s no longer a former world No. 1 trying to get back. He is back. He hasn’t yet won, but you’d be surprised if he doesn’t. The game that had been lost so long has now been found.

And then there’s Tiger. We kept thinking he was going to mount a charge. He kept thinking the same. And he hit the ball well. But his irons are a couple of yards off and his putts a couple of inches. He was still one of the best players on the course, but he wasn’t the best, and he couldn’t will himself to be.

It’s still a little less than a year since his knee was rebuilt, and he’s probably only now really regaining full strength and mobility. He didn’t play for a long time. He’s still not quite dialed in.

We assume he will be back in all his ferocious glory, but we don’t know it and won’t know it until he wins another major. In the meantime, the rest of the Tour has reason to think that he’s not invincible. That makes everyone better.

Thank Bethpage Black and the Open for all of that. It gave us a great show by old heroes and new heroes. It made painter's caps an acceptable fashion accessory. It provides chills and spills by the bucketful.

And in the end, it gave us an epic U.S. Open.

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