Matt Fitzpatrick said winning the 122nd US Open was "the stuff you dream of" as a child as he held his nerve to win his first major title.
The Englishman, 27, carded a closing 68 at Brookline to finish six under par, a shot ahead of playing partner Will Zalatoris and world No 1 Scottie Scheffler.
“The feeling’s out of this world,” the 27-year-old from Sheffield said. “It is so cliche, but it’s stuff you dream of as a kid. To achieve it, I can retire a happy man tomorrow.
“It’s what you grow up dreaming of winning and I’ve worked so hard for such a long time.
“I had the big monkey on my back of not winning over here, it’s all everybody talked about and to do it in a major, there’s nothing better."
Fitzpatrick took aim at 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus who had criticised the Englishman for his lack of wins on US soil.
“I don’t know if Jack is listening to this but he gave me some abuse at the start of the year, when I won a member-member competition at his club and he said congratulations on finally winning in the United States," Fitzpatrick said.
“I can go back to him now and say I’ve won twice.”
Fitzpatrick and Nicklaus now share the distinction of being the only players to have won the US Amateur and US Open on the same course.
Nicklaus achieved the feat at Pebble Beach in 1961 and 1972, while Fitzpatrick won the US Amateur at Brookline in 2013.
“Any time you’re sharing a record with Jack Nicklaus, it’s unbelievable,” Fitzpatrick added. “So for me to have that as well is incredible.
“He called me up at the presentation to congratulate me. Coming from someone like that, it means the world.”
Scheffler and Zalatoris both narrowly missed birdie putts on the 18th to force extra holes, with all three previous US Opens at Brookline having been decided in play-offs.
“I battled like crazy,” Zalatoris said. “Obviously, you say that about every US Open round you play, but considering where I drove it today, the fact I was even under par was obviously pretty nice.
“I thought I made a lot of nice putts just to keep myself in it. Stealing one on 9, saving par on 13. I really felt great with the putter all week, and I hit a great putt on 18. It just happened to hang out there.
“It was fun, man. Matt’s shot on 18 [from the fairway bunker] is going to be shown probably for the rest of US Open history.
“I walked by it, and I thought that going for it was going to be ballsy, but the fact that he pulled it off and even had a birdie look was just incredible. So hat’s off to him.”
Fitzpatrick says that it takes six major wins to be a legend.
"I've got a bit of a way to go, but it's a good start," he said. "I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing and hopefully more will come.
"I'm delighted with one so far."
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
