Dustin Johnson’s US Open hopes fade on back 9

He blasted that out to 8 feet and made the putt to keep his lead at one shot.

“I was pretty low”. Some guys have ended their careers. Only five players had ever shot a 63 before in the major known as “golf’s ultimate test”, until the Englishman switched on his heroics.

Masters champion Patrick Reed, who briefly shared the lead with five birdies through seven holes, stumbled on the back and had to settle for a 68 to finish fourth.

“I’ve played it once”, said Koepka, who finished in a tie for eighth in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2016. Its finest moment was Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, when the U.S. Open delivered a proper test for the men and women in consecutive weeks. When selecting a course for the US Open, the USGA does due diligence in every aspect from a room for both players and patrons to facilities to entertain and house all these people as well.

Asked if he thought that Tiger Woods, who underwent spinal fusion surgery a year ago, and who didn’t make the cut here, was more or less finished, Kernell said, “His swing speed is still faster than anyone’s, he’s been playing brilliant golf, he definitely could contend again”. “Yeah, but I wanted 62”, he said. His playing partner, friend and fellow U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson was playing with an unthreatening dullness, having lost the edge on his putter. “Seven under is incredible”, Koepka said.

“You can get caught up in the views there, just looking around”.

Of course, this wasn’t too big of a deal considering the damage done by the Saturday placements had already brought everyone in the field together and left four tied at the top of the leaderboard ahead of the final round. Mickelson answered Saturday’s mad-cap 81 with a 69 but refused to comment further on his antics. It was a shocking scene to everyone but Mickelson, who said he meant no disrespect to the game by intentionally violating a rule to either save shots or save a long walk to wherever his ball might have stopped.

Last year, American golf’s governing body made the setup at Open newbie Erin Hills too easy with 60-yard wide fairways, anticipating strong wins that never blew. He spent it with his son, Frankie, and wife Clare.

Fleetwood missed a short birdie putt at the last which would have given him the outright US Open record of 62.

Twelve months on from that anomalous championship in Wisconsin, Koepka proved he had the physical and mental attributes to deal with an environment much more akin to what we expect from America’s national championship.

He made a steady par at the 17th and momentarily wobbled with a pulled approach that hit the grandstand on the 18th, but he hit a nerveless pitch shot on to the green and two-putted for bogey, which was enough to finish it.

The world number nine is the seventh player to win back-to-back US Open crowns, and the first since Curtis Strange in 1988-89.

“He was busy grinding his tail off and I was busy grinding mine”. The former Florida State All-American took an adventurous route to becoming one of the game’s best players, traveling the world on the European Tour and its developmental circuit.

Yes, it drove him insane not to play, especially not being able to compete. The English world No3’s final-day challenge faltered with a horrific start – double bogey and bogey at the fourth and fifth holes – but he fought hard to recover and finish in the top 10. It held the second U.S. Open in 1896, and then went 90 years until its next one. Two years later he was a major champion, and now a two-time victor. Koepka is hungry for more silverware. “So it doesn’t matter how you do it, if you end up there at the end of the week, it’s a positive”.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood surged into contention for a first major title as the 118th US Open headed for a thrilling climax on Sunday. You’re always working to try and climb that ladder. When I went on that run on the back nine I was just loving getting everybody going and roaring for me.