Day: June 19, 2017

Chances slip by for housemates Fowler and ThomasChances slip by for housemates Fowler and Thomas

ERIN, Wis. – The house shared by Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas not far from Erin Hills was supposed to be the scene of someone’s breaking out party Sunday night… instead it served as the scene of post mortems. Heading to Sunday the U.S. Open was well and truly up for grabs with 16 players within six shots of the lead, none of whom had a major victory to their name. Of those, Fowler and Thomas were the ones most likely. Fowler had gone through enough near misses in majors to have learned from the experience with four previous top-5 finishes. He had since won THE PLAYERS in 2015. The 28-year-old had also claimed The Honda Classic earlier this season, knocking off the notion from some that he struggled to close although he opened the door to doubters again when he faded from one off the lead through 54 holes at the Masters in April to finish T11. Thomas had invigorated the tournament by terrorizing Erin Hills on Saturday for a record 9-under 63. He already had three wins on the PGA TOUR season and sat second in the FedExCup. Oh and the now 24-year-old joined the 59 club earlier in the year. Surely one of them would kick ahead. Starting two back, Fowler could only muster an even-par 72 to finish six shots back in a tie for fifth. Starting one back in the final group, the U.S. Open was effectively over for Thomas after just five holes and three bogeys. His 3-over 75 left him finishing in a tie for ninth. “I just didn’t have it today. Anytime you don’t win, it stings,â€� Thomas said. “It just sucks to not even have a chance on that back nine. To try to go out there and try to get in a top-5 or trying to get up near the lead is not what I play for, but, unfortunately, that’s really all I was dealt, so it’s what I had to try to do.â€� Fowler tried to take only positives away from the occasion. He only needs to look at his Zurich Classic partner Jason Day, who had nine top-10 finishes in majors before his win at the 2015 PGA Championship, to know he must forge ahead.
 “I feel like golf-wise I’m playing at the highest level. If you look at the negatives too much, you’re going to be stuck doing that the whole time,â€� he rationalized. 

“You have to measure success in different ways, not just by winning, just because that doesn’t happen a whole lot. I think Tiger had the best winning percentage of all time at 30%, and you’re lucky to even sniff close to 10.

“You kind of have to say, hey, it’s a major. We played well this week. I felt like I did a lot of good things, especially in the first round, executing my game plan. To finish in double digits, under par at a major championship, especially the U.S. Open, it was a good week.â€� Perhaps the writing was on the wall for Thomas from the opening tee shot as it sailed left into a hazard and it’s always tough to back up a super low score with another one. The three previous players to shoot 63 in an early round at a U.S. Open all struggled the next day. Jack Nicklaus shot 71 and Tom Weiskopf 75 after their opening 63s in the 1980 U.S. Open. Vijay Singh shot 72 in Round 3 after his second round 63 in 2003. (Johnny Miller shot 63 at Oakmont in 1973’s final round to win.) Only Nicklaus rebounded well enough to win. The gas tank on Thomas just didn’t fill up in time, despite having a long wait before his tee time. Too long he felt. “It was a lot of kind of laying around and just trying to stay off the phone and try to stay away from reading stuff just because there are so many things out there that are being said or written,â€� Thomas explained after he woke early Sunday ahead of his 2:54 p.m. tee time. “I just tried to stay away from it but it was hard to. I would like to think that’s not why I played how I did today.â€�
 The good news for the pair is perhaps this first-time majors thing is going to be a lasting trend. Going back to Day’s win at Whistling Straits, the last seven major winners have been first timers. Perhaps they will get their chance to continue the narrative at the Open Championship next month at Royal Birkdale. “I think it’s a great thing. It’s a lot of new blood, young guys. Kind of some of the younger crew is coming in,â€� Fowler said. “I’m not saying the older guys are out by any means, but I think we’re making our presence a little bit more known.â€�

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Late surge lifts Koepka to major triumphLate surge lifts Koepka to major triumph

ERIN, Wis. – News and observations from Sunday’s final round of the U.S. Open where Brooks Koepka shot a final-round 67 for a four-shot victory over Hideki Matsuyama and Brian Harman. For more of what unfolded at Erin Hills on Sunday, click here to read the Daily Wrap-up. KOEPKA SLAMS THE DOOR Brooks Koepka may be known for mashing drives like American League MVP Mike Trout, but it was his shortest club that separated him from the field on Sunday’s back nine. Koepka one-putted four consecutive holes to take a white-knuckled grip on the U.S. Open trophy. It started with a 9-foot par save at the par-3 13th that kept him tied for the lead. He then made birdie putts of 6 feet, 10 feet and 17 feet to reach 16 under and put the tournament out of reach. “That was kind of the meat of the tournament,â€� said Koepka’s instructor, Claude Harmon. Koepka parred the final two holes to tie the U.S. Open’s 72-hole scoring record (in relation to par). He finished four shots ahead of Hideki Matsuyama and 54-hole leader Brian Harman. The victory moved Koepka from 19th to fifth in the FedExCup standings. Koepka, who led the field in strokes gained: approach-to-the-green, finished third in both strokes gained: off-the-tee and strokes gained: putting. He started the final round one shot back of Harman but birdied the first two holes to take the lead. Koepka added another birdie with a 33-foot putt at the eighth hole. He lost his one-shot lead with a bogey at No. 10 and then parred the next two holes. Koepka missed his only green of the day at the par-3 13th and made what he called a “massiveâ€� par save. “The par save on 13, that built some confidence,â€� Koepka said. “That was kind of the changing point of the round for me.â€� Koepka got up-and-down from a greenside bunker for birdie at the par-5 14th, then hit his 150-yard approach shot at No. 15 to 10 feet. He called it one of his best shots of the week. The birdie at the par-3 17th ended any uncertainty about the tournament’s final result. “He birdied 14, 15, 16, and that was kind of lights out,â€� Harman said. “He went and won the golf tournament on the back nine.â€� ANOTHER BIG STAGE Koepka’s U.S. Open victory came with an added benefit. It likely clinched his first appearance in The Presidents Cup. Koepka jumped from ninth to fifth in the United States’ team standings. The top 10 on Sept. 4 will earn automatic selections for the team, which will compete against the International Team on Sept. 26-Oct. 1 at Liberty National. Koepka played his first Ryder Cup last year, going 3-1-0 in the United States’ victory at Hazeltine. He went 2-0 with Brandt Snedeker, winning a foursomes and four-ball match, then lost a four-ball match with Dustin Johnson. Koepka beat Masters champion Danny Willett, 5 and 4, in Sunday singles. Harman jumped from 13th to ninth in the standings after finishing T2 at Erin Hills. He’s never represented the United States in a professional competition, but he did play in the United States’ victories in the 2005 and 2009 Walker Cups. TWO PATHS TO T2 Hideki Matsuyama shot Sunday’s low round, while Harman couldn’t keep pace with Brooks Koepka’s late birdies. Matsuyama and Harman started Sunday separated by six shots, but ended the day tied for second at 12 under. Harman shot even-par 72 after starting the final round with a one-shot lead. He struggled from the tee, though, hitting just eight of 14 fairways. “I just wish I would have been able to put a little more pressure on the course. I didn’t drive it as well as I would’ve liked,â€� he said. It was his first top- 25 in eight majors. He’d missed the cut in five of his previous seven starts in golf’s Grand Slam events. His lack of prior success in these events provided little solace, though. “I don’t believe in moral victories. I had an opportunity today and I didn’t get it done,â€� said Harman, who beat Dustin Johnson to win the recent Wells Fargo Championship. Harman is No. 10 in the FedExCup. Matsuyma teed off more than an hour before the final group, and made birdie on five of his final eight holes to shoot 66 put pressure on the leaders. It was too little too late after starting the final round six shots off the lead, though. “I learned that I have to put four good rounds together,â€� said Matsuyama, who moved to No. 2 in the FedExCup. “I played two good rounds, but it wasn’t enough.â€� In addition to Sunday’s 66, he also fired a 65 in the second round. He was a combined 1 over in the other two rounds, firing a first-round 74 and a 71 on Saturday. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA ROOKIES BOOK RETURN TRIPS Xander Schauffele survived a sudden-death playoff just to earn a spot at Erin Hills. He made the most of the opportunity, finishing fifth in his first major championship. It not only matched the best finish of his PGA TOUR career, but earned him a return to this tournament. The top 10 finishers at Erin Hills earned exemptions into the 2018 U.S. Open. He broke par in three of four rounds to finish at 10-under 278 (66-73-70-69). That result catapulted him from No. 135 to No. 107 in the FedExCup. “I couldn’t be happier. I shot 3 under on my last seven holes,â€� Schauffele said. “There is no better way to finish a tournament than that.â€� The U.S. Open’s Father’s Day finish was special for Schauffele, whose father, Stefan, is his coach. Stefan Schauffele played semi-pro soccer and was a competitive decathlete in Germany who moved to San Diego at age 23 after being hit head-on by a drunk driver. The accident left him blind in his left eye and ended his athletic career. He took up golf and became a scratch golfer within two years. Schauffele wasn’t the only PGA TOUR rookie to finish in the top 10. Trey Mullinax finished ninth after making birdies on the final three holes to fire 68. His top-10 at the U.S. Open came one week after he finished T18 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He credited a motivational talk from his father, Chip, with helping him have two successful weeks. “(I was) just kind of in a bad spot, down in the dumps a little bit,â€� Mullinax said. “Me, my dad and coach and agent and everybody got together and surrounded me. (We) went back to the drawing board and went back to what I do well.â€� Mullinax moved from 139th to 123rd in the FedExCup. NOTES • Justin Thomas shot 75 on Sunday, 12 shots higher than his record-setting 63 in the third round. He made his only birdie of the day at No. 10. Thomas fell to T9, but still collected his first top-10 in his eighth major championship. “It wasn’t going to be like yesterday,â€� said Thomas, who hit half the greens in regulation Sunday. • Si Woo Kim, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship, finished T13. It was his third major start, and the first time he made the cut. Kim, who shot 75 on Sunday, finished at 6-under 282. This was just his second start since his victory at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Kim ranks 25th in the FedExCup. • Bill Haas’ T5 finish was his first top-20 in nine U.S. Open starts and just his second top-10 in a major. This was Haas’ 31st start in a major. • Brandt Snedeker’s T9 finish was his seventh top-20 in his past nine U.S. Open starts. He’s finished in the top 10 five times in that span. • University of Texas senior Scottie Scheffler finished T27 to earn low-amateur honors by a stroke over Texas A&M senior Cameron Champ, the long hitter who was in the top 10 through two rounds. Scheffler shot 1-under 287 (69-74-71-73). “I was trying to compete and see if I could win the golf tournament,â€� said Scheffler, who missed the cut at last year’s U.S. Open after shooting a first-round 69. “I thought it would be pretty cool winning the U.S. Open as an amateur, and that was my goal coming in. Coming into today, I realized I didn’t really have a shot anymore, but I still wanted to play my best golf and see what I could do.â€� Champ finished T32 at even-par 288 (70-69-73-76).

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How a call buoyed Koepka to U.S. Open trophyHow a call buoyed Koepka to U.S. Open trophy

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2017 U.S. Open: The two-minute phone call that propelled Brooks Koepka to victory2017 U.S. Open: The two-minute phone call that propelled Brooks Koepka to victory

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