Koepka holds off Fleetwood for U.S. Open title

Brooks Koepka won the 2018 U.S. Open on Sunday and became just the seventh player to win the tournament in back-to-back years.

Finau was trying to become the first player with local ties to win a U.S. Open since ex-BYU golfer Johnny Miller won in 1973 at Oakmont, Pennsylvania. It’s amusing though, when you finish, you always feel like you’re going to be just short [of winning]. Woods and Mickelson are among 19 players who played in the last U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

Somehow, tying a US Open record with a final-round 63 wasn’t totally satisfying for Tommy Fleetwood.

The difficulty of Shinnecock Hills on Saturday afternoon when the wind picked up and the exposed greens turned quick and crusty turned this U.S. Open into a grinding struggle for survival on the scoreboard.

Koepka never lost the lead.

At the last US Open here, Shinnecock Hills gained notoriety for slick greens that had to be watered between groups.

Last fall Koepka began feeling discomfort in his left wrist.

He also made an incredible 55-foot putt for a birdie at the second.

‘I suppose if I had the chance to go back I’d hit the putt a bit harder, because I knew what it was for in terms of history, ‘ said Fleetwood. “It’s just a game that I’ve been playing my entire life”. Koepka fired his tee shot into the thick fescue and needed to drain a terrifying 12-foot putt to salvage a bogey.

Rickie Fowler started the day tied for ninth and shot 84.

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. -No one was happy about the conditions that set up the final day of the U.S. Open.

“Yeah”, he said with a laugh, “but I wanted 62”. “There was maybe only one or two flags that I felt like were maybe got a little dicey this afternoon, but the rest of them were fine”. “Having said that, this golf course will get slowed down tonight. I enjoy playing about the toughest in golf you are ever going to play”.

That it was, starting on Thursday, and especially on Saturday.

Reed fired five birdies in his first seven holes but cooled off coming in for a two-under 68.

Sitting atop the US Open leaderboard ahead of today’s final round, four American players are tied for leader at +3; Daniel Berger, Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson. But Koepka now has two to Johnson’s one, and it seems like his talent deserves more. He shot an even-par 70 on Sunday to complete a collapse in his quest for a second major championship victory.

Koepka moved to a career-best No. 4 in the world ranking. We’re extremely close. I love the guy to death. It brought back memories of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock in 2004 when the course became almost unplayable in windy, dry conditions.

But Koepka steadied himself and ground his way home in the traditional style of a U.S. Open victor, making par on six of the last seven holes and birdieing the par-5 15th to give himself some breathing room.

Masters champion Patrick Reed flirted with the second leg of the Grand Slam. Johnson had a four-shot lead entering the weekend, but a third-round 77 derailed his momentum.