Koepka wins second straight US Open Championship

Brooks Koepka has grown used to people underestimating him, but after flying under the radar to win a second straight U.S. Open title he would not have it any other way.

If Brooks Koepka is able to repeat as champion of the U.S. Open on Sunday at Shinnecock Hills, there’s one thing that’s for sure: Joe Buck will get his girlfriend’s name right during the celebration.

“We want the US Open to be tough”. The pins today will definitely allow for the greens to firm up and get fast, and we’ll see how much they dry out.

Justin Rose, who putted brilliantly in the worst of the conditions to sit one shot off the lead, described himself as “shell-shocked”.

He began the day in a four-way tie for the lead and carded a two-under 68 for one over to edge England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who fired only the sixth round of 63 in US Open history.

The water hoses were out early Sunday for the final round of the U.S. Open in its attempt to slightly soften Shinnecock Hills.

The biggest might have been his bogey on the nasty little par-3 11th. “Similar to the preparation we took for round 1, green speeds will be, on average, 10-12 inches slower than rounds 2 and 3”. The leaders weren’t even at the turn when he missed from eight feet for a closing birdie after an incredible middle iron.

When the USGA released Sunday’s tee times, Poulter tweeted, “Thanks guys did Bozo set up the course or are the @USGA going to accept responsibility or just say “IF WE HAD A MULLIGAN”. A miscalculation of wind, not enough water on the greens and some insane golf ensued Saturday, leading to just three scores under par, a scoring average north of 75 and some raised blood pressure. “The Open Championship I think suits (my game) very well, and we always seem to play (well) at the PGA”. Koepka had to hack out of the fescue, but he then put a nice wedge next to the hole and drained the 10-footer for par.

By the time Koepka’s approach at 18 hit a grandstand and bounced off a closing bogey was academic.

“It’s the U.S. Open”. Sometimes you feel like you are about to break mentally, but that’s what I enjoy. Especially as it came on two completely different styles of course.

“You go from playing some of the best golf I’ve probably ever played to probably being at the lowest point professionally that I’ve been”.

Koepka opened with a 75, the highest first-round score by a U.S. Open champion since Raymond Floyd at Shinnecock Hills in 1986.

I think the USGA try too hard to control everything, with the unnecessary nature of how they failed to take away the risks being what gets the players so annoyed.

He played with Frankie and chatted with his wife Clare as Koepka saved bogey at 11, and par at 12, and par at 14, maintaining his one-shot advantage over Fleetwood even as Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and the rest of the field faded from relevance.