SOUTHAMPTON — Brooks Koepka became the first player in three decades to repeat as US Open Champion here Sunday, firing a gritty final round 68 at Shinnecock Hills to beat Tommy Fleetwood by one stroke.
A year after he marched to victory with a 16-under total at Erin Hills, Koepka kept his nerve on the back nine to emerge with a one-over-par total of 281.
“I’m at a loss for words right now,” Koepka said. “We grinded our tail off this week to come back from seven-over (on Friday) and do what we did. It was pretty special.”
The world number nine is the first player since Curtis Strange in 1988-1989 to win back-to-back US Open titles.
After overpowering the wide-open Erin Hills, he kept his nerve through four brutal days at Shinnecock.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Koepka, who had battled a partially torn wrist tendon that sidelined him nearly four months since his major breakthrough last year. “I don’t think I could have dreamed of this, going back to back.”
A day after scores soared on the dried out greens, the US Golf Association admitted the course got out of hand, adding plenty of moisture and some slightly more forgiving pin positions.
England’s 12th-ranked Fleetwood seized the opportunity to match the lowest round ever in the US Open with a brilliant seven-under 63 for a two-over total of 282.
Fleetwood had stormed into the clubhouse with a round that included eight birdies, putting the pressure on overnight leaders Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Daniel Berger and Tony Finau.
Only Koepka met the challenge. He had broken out of the pack with three birdies in the first four holes.
Playing in freshening wind and knowing that Fleetwood was in the clubhouse on two-over Koepka produced a string of clutch putts on the back nine.
A six-foot birdie at the 10th gave him a two-stroke lead. A tough 12-footer limited the damage at 11 to a bogey after he hit into the greenside rough and from there into a bunker.
He got up and down for par at the 12th, and escaped with a par from deep rough at 14 before giving himself some breathing room with a birdie at the par-five 16th — where he stuck his third shot less than four feet from the pin.
His approach at 18 hit a grandstand and bounced off, but a closing bogey was all he needed.
GREAT DAY’ FOR FLEETWOOD
Fleetwood could only watch it all unfold. But after nearly equaling the best ever round in a major of 62 he was pleased with his day’s work.
“At the end of the day, I got within one of winning, when I was so far back at the start of the day,” said Fleetwood, who was nine adrift through 54 holes. “So it’s been a great day.
“It’s easy to look at it and think I was one shy, but there’s so many positives to look at and so much that you can take and learn from it.”
It was the first time since 2013 at Merion that no one broke par in the US Open, and of the four overnight leaders, Koepka was the only player to shoot an under par final round.
World number one Johnson, playing alongside Koepka in the penultimate group, saw the sure putting touch that had propelled him to a four-shot halfway lead, carded an even-par 70 to finish alone in third on 283.
Finau, playing in the final group with Berger, closed with a double bogey at the 72nd hole for a 72 that left him fifth on 285 — one stroke behind Masters champion Patrick Reed.
Reed fired five birdies in his first seven holes but cooled off coming in for a two-under 68.
Berger faded early, his 73 leaving him tied for sixth at six-over with England’s Tyrrell Hatton, American Xander Schauffele and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson. — AFP
