The Party Crasher (Recent examples: Angel Cabrera, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose):
While golf has firmly established itself as an international game, the U.S. Open's identity remains very much shrouded in red, white and blue. Which is why the occasional winner from outside the U.S. strikes some as . . . inconvenient. For many years, it was of little concern. Between 1971 and 1993, only one U.S. Open winner, Australian David Graham, came from outside the U.S. But between 1994 and today, half of the 20 U.S. Open winners have been international, including seven of the last 10. These are all world-class players, deserving of our admiration and respect. But seeing how they don't harbor the same dreams of capturing the Open that Americans do, we're often less smitten by their narratives.