UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. -- After a week full of childish griping and petulant behavior, we finally got ourselves a big boy golf tournament. Jordan Spieth won an incredible 2015 US Open in the most gut-wrenching way possible. For him ... and for Dustin Johnson.

It was a full week, as most US Open weeks are. And it got the exclamation point the USGA so desperately needed to fend off criticism from much of the 156-golfer field.

Thankfully, this is a tournament that won't be remembered for its uneven greens and browned-out landscape. It will be remembered as the moment when Spieth, if only for a month, made us wonder if the grand slam in a single calendar year was still a possibility.

We haven't seen someone win the first two majors of a season since Tiger Woods did it in 2002, until now.

It's tough to wrap your head -- or your arms -- around a tournament like this. So much happened. There were so many incredible shots. So many resounding performances. So much heartbreak. So many harbingers for the next decade. It was a joy to watch and a thrill to cover.

Here are 20 thoughts about the 115th United States Open.

1. Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy: They hold all four majors at once. How much fun is that?

2. Dustin Johnson has good perspective: I felt awful for him after what happened on the 72nd hole. That was career-ending stuff right there. He took it in stride, though.

"At the end of the day, golf is golf. I've got my family and that's most important to me. My trophy at the end of the day is holding up my little man," said Johnson, referring to his son. "I couldn't be more proud of myself and my family. No matter what I'm going to keep my head high and I'm going to be happy."

He also signed autographs.

3. The best quirk about Chambers Bay: There are plenty to choose from (and I don't hate the train!), but my favorite is the cement sorting bins down the 18th fairway. They apparently used to hold gravel that ended up on barges going out of the Puget Sound. Now they look like a poor man's Stonehenge. It's a fun way to come home (as long as it's not a par 4!).

4. Adam Scott averaged 336.88 yards off the tee this week: I don't even have anything to add to that. His 64 on Sunday was the round of the tournament. Can you imagine what it would have meant to New Zealand if Steve Williams had been able to add a 14th major?!

5. I wore an earpiece around the course on Sunday (and it was terrifying): Not to go all Bluetooth Guy on you, but I was rocking an earpiece with the tournament broadcast as I ran around with the leader on Sunday afternoon. It was the most terrifying experince of my life. It sounded to me like I was at a Springsteen concert even though the thing was barely audible. I thought for sure my earpiece was going to ruin the Open for somebody.

6. More amateurs made the cut than any US Open since 1966: One of them had to turn down dinner from all the pros. 

7. Louis Oosthuizen shot 29 on the back nine of a US Open on a Sunday: We want to talk about how King Louis went birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie-birdie-par-birdie on his final seven holes and nearly stole the show? Heck, if he'd done anything on the front side (he shot 38), he would have coasted. He'll defend St. Andrews in July.

8. We almost got our Rory story: McIlroy went out in 32 and got it to 2 under before stumbling home (and back to even par). It was his sixth top-10 in the last seven majors. Also, this seems decent.

McIlroy said it might have been his best performance ever striking the ball. "I've never hit the ball as good in a major championship for four rounds," he said. He also hit the putt of the tournament.

9. Tiger Woods wasn't a story on the weekend and we're still here: A lot of folks criticized Fox for continuing to show Woods' 80 on Thursday. That was silly. Woods shooting 80 at a golf tournament, much less a major, is a huge deal. It's incredible to watch the Big Cat limp his way around tracks like this with less of a chance of winning than most amateurs (and way less than Colin Montgomerie!).

Part of me just wants him to put us all out of our misery.

10. Jordan Spieth felt awful for Dustin Johnson: It was hard not to, but this from Spieth on D.J. was especially thoughtful.

"This was just an odd deal, very odd. I very much feel for Dustin. He deserves to be holding the trophy just as much as I do, I think, this week. It just came down to him being the last one to finish and I was able to have one hole to rebound from my mistakes, and he wasn't able to get that hole afterwards," Spieth said.

"Still, what a clutch finish he had after I think making a bogey or two or double earlier in the round to come through on 17 and just hit it to -- I think it was within 5 feet from what I saw or heard. That's an incredible golf shot knowing that you have to go birdie, birdie. And he pulled it off. And he's a great champion and it was tough, I certainly felt for him."

You shouldn't feel that sorry for him, though.

11. Michael Greller held court after the big win: Spieth's caddie, and a local to the area, dished on his boss and how much it meant to win this tournament this year on this course. It was pretty cool.

"I told him all week that I have nothing but great vibes here, starting with my marriage two years ago up there on the top of the hill. The best day of my life. But you know, ultimately as far as my local knowledge, it really wasn't worth anything, I didn't think, because Jordan's Jordan. He's one of the best players in the world, and I was just trying to stay out of his way."

12. Are we in denial about Phil Mickelson? He's 45 and faded harder than a Tiger Woods drive in the late 1990s after opening with a 69 on Thursday. It's never going to happen, is it?

The more time goes on, the more I think Merion might have been the road for Lefty at this tournament. Augusta? No. Here? It's not getting any easier.

13. Ranking the holes: I wrote extensively this week about how difficult it was to walk this course. My favorite holes, in order: No. 16 (the train!), No. 12 (the eagles!), No. 18 (the cement gravel bins!), No. 9 (the nuance!) and No. 14 (the view!). As you can see, I have incredibly high standards for hole setups.

14. Golf Twitter is the best: I could have picked any of a large number of No Laying Up's tweets. But this one seemed appropiate.

15. The greatest emjoi recap ever: If you don't get this, I'm not sure we can talk golf. Incredible.

16. We had to wait a while, but we finally got a show: How good was this tournament over the final 90 minutes? We went from "Spieth, ovah!" to "Spieth, oh no!" to "Oozthuizen!" to "DJ still in this!" to "Spieth, big ones on the last!" to "DJ gonna catch him!" to "oh ... no!" to "Spieth, two straight" in the span of about 25 minutes.

It was anxiety-ridden, exhilirating and mind-blowing. And none of us were playing!

17. Still the best ProTracer of the week: Or year, or maybe ever.

18. Young howitzers were fun: It feels disingenuous to call Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy "young guns." I watched Koepka hit rocked 5-irons with a laughable trajectory next to McIlroy pumping drives right at Mount Rainier. It became too much for me after a while. I ... uh ... had to leave. They're clearly all looking up to Dustin Johnson. He went 350+ off the final tee with some juice and then stuck his iron shot (I'll ignore the rest).

19. Chambers Bay has the best views: For all the angst over the greens and course in general, some of the views here were absolutely stunning. I'm talking Pebble Beach-like stuff. A sampling:

The stunning view at Chambers Bay. (Getty Images)
The stunning view at Chambers Bay. (Getty Images)

20. A personal note: This was the first US Open -- or major -- that I covered in person. It was the greatest thrill of my professional career thus far. I couldn't have asked for a better course, better treatment from the USGA, a better welcome into the golf writing community, a better tournament or better anything, really.

OK, I could have asked for better greens.

For more golf news, rumors and analysis, follow @KylePorterCBS on Twitter and link up with CBS Sports Golf on Facebook and Google+. 

Jordan Spieth reigns at Chambers Bay. (Getty Images)
Jordan Spieth reigns at Chambers Bay. (Getty Images)