Major shock: Tiger a co-favorite to win Masters

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Notes and observations from Sunday’s final round of the BMW Championship, where Australian Marc Leishman shot 67 to salt away his third PGA TOUR victory at age 33. Justin Rose shot 65 and briefly pressured the winner before finishing tied for second with Rickie Fowler (67), five shots back, and Jason Day (69) was fourth alone. For more coverage from Conway Farms Golf Club, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. LEISHMAN GOES WIRE-TO-WIRE Leishman’s 194 (-19) through three rounds was the second-lowest opening 54 holes this season, but a five-shot lead is not insurmountable. Three weeks earlier, at THE NORTHERN TRUST, Jordan Spieth had built a five-shot lead Sunday only to lose to Dustin Johnson in a playoff. Indeed, there were some tense moments at the BMW, but no one got closer to two shots, and Leishman birdied three of his final four holes to finish with the same big lead he started with. Around the TOUR, Leishman is known as a “good blokeâ€� who is understated, underrated, and as down-to-earth as they come. After his third-round 68, Leishman spoke about working the graveyard shift in a factory back in Australia. He was 18 or 19, needed money for tournament entry fees, and used a laser cutter to shape sheets of metal. After going from work to the golf course, he was so tired he once slept 18 straight hours. He lasted only a week or two on the job. Leishman and his wife Audrey, who nearly died of sepsis in 2015, spearheaded National Sepsis Month to spread awareness about a disease that is estimated to kill 250,000 people in the U.S. each year. Their Begin Again Foundation, which helps families that have been affected by sepsis and toxic shock syndrome, has impacted some 700 families in the last year and a half. In July, Audrey gave birth to the couple’s third child, Eva, whom they call their “miracle baby.â€� On a lighter note, Leishman has beer and pizza sent to NBC cameraman Murrill Boney on Saturday night. It was Boney who unwittingly became part of a video clip that went viral when he raised his leg to allow Leishman’s shanked chip shot to go between his legs at the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston two weeks ago. “If that ball hits him, it goes back in the hazard,â€� Leishman said. “He saved me a lot of money.â€� Leishman’s playing partner Fowler opened with two straight birdies, but stalled with 10 straight pars. Day mounted a charge with three straight birdies to get within four, but drowned his tee shot at the watery par-3 11th. Then came Rose, who cut it to two before Leishman, who settled down after some loose shots on the front nine, responded with birdies at 15, 16 and 18. The winner moved from seventh to fourth in the FedExCup standings. GOOD SIGNS FOR INTERNATIONALS Louis Oosthuizen did not win or even come close, but he was feeling chipper about his finish nonetheless. He considered withdrawing from the tournament as he suffered from flu-like symptoms during rounds of 77-74 Thursday and Friday. After waking up Saturday feeling fine, Oosthuizen shot 66-67 on the weekend to get back to even par. That would get him a handful of FedExCup points, and Oosthuizen was told by a TOUR official that he would likely bounce in and out of the top 30 all afternoon. With his fate hanging in the balance, he flew home to West Palm Beach, Florida, only to later learn he finished 31st and would not qualify for East Lake and the season-ending TOUR Championship. “Played well on the weekend,â€� Oosthuizen said. “Could’ve had loads more birdies today and yesterday, but I’m pleased, in general. I didn’t have much momentum going into Saturday, had a lot to do. I thought if I could get to 2-under I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone else. “I don’t know if I was coming down with the flu or something. I felt horrible. I had no energy, wasn’t hitting it anywhere, was struggling everywhere. I was thinking about not playing Friday.â€� It turned out to be good that he did, if only to give him some positive momentum going into one of the most important tournaments all year. Oosthuizen’s more Louis-like form on the weekend provided reason for optimism for the International team as it prepares to take on the U.S. at the Presidents Cup at Liberty National, Sept. 28-Oct. 1. This, as pundits were already taking note of a surging Leishman and a suddenly revitalized Day. What’s more, captain’s pick Anirban Lahiri of India, who needed a miracle to make the TOUR Championship, actually came close with weekend scores of 68-66 to tie for ninth at the BMW. “Anyone having good form going into next week and Presidents Cup for our side is going to be great,â€� Oosthuizen said. “Leish has been playing well for a while, and it’s great seeing Jason’s name up there. If he can get going, he can be the best asset on the team to have.â€� CALL OF THE DAY SPIETH PLEASED WITH FINISH Jordan Spieth came into the BMW on the strength of back-to-back runner-up finishes, so his no-bogey 65 and T7 finish Sunday was bittersweet. On the one hand, Spieth may have played his best golf of the week, and he’ll go into next week’s TOUR Championship at No. 1 in the FedExCup Playoffs. But on the other hand, Spieth never seriously contended after following up a first-round 65 with middle rounds of 70-71. “Absolutely,â€� Spieth said, when asked whether he believes in the value of momentum from one week to the next. “I shot two bogey-free, 6-under rounds. I know the way I’ve been playing in the last few months, I know that that golf is still there, it’s just a matter of going out and executing and these rounds in between.â€� Jon Rahm (67, T5) did the best of the top five in the FedExCup, for whom it was a relatively flat week. All five maintained their positions with the exception of Hideki Matsuyama, who went from fourth to seventh after a final-round 69 and a T47 finish. Leishman took over in fourth. “I felt like today was a slight improvement on yesterday and I made a few more putts,â€� said Spieth, who started with two birdies in his first three holes. “Really good start. It was a round that could have been extra special.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Phil Mickelson waited for some 20 minutes while playing partner Sergio Garcia got a ruling on the 18th hole. Asked for his thoughts during the delay, Mickelson said: “I was thinking this is what my playing partners go through most of the time.â€� Was it hard to wait? “No,â€� Mickelson said after making birdie for a 70 (T20). “I needed that extra 38 minutes to read that putt.â€� … Playing by himself in the 7:30 a.m. tee time Sunday, Wes Bryan shot a final-round 69 in just an hour and 29 minutes. He finished 69th in the 70-man field (Danny Lee withdrew with a back injury) and will finish his season 41st in the FedExCup standings. … Rory McIlroy will become the eighth defending FedExCup champion to not make it back to East Lake and the TOUR Championship the following year. McIlroy, who went winless this season, began the week at 51st in the FedExCup and needed to at least contend at Conway Farms, but shot a final-round 71 to finish T58. He ends his season at 58th in the FedExCup. … Kevin Na shot the low round of the day, an 8-under 63, but it was too little, too late. Brooks Koepka later matched him with his own 63, shooting up the leaderboard to finish T12. SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – The phrase “U.S. Open player� used to be more descriptive than a Myers-Briggs result. Only a specific personality type had consistent success in this nation’s championship. The U.S. Open’s constrictive setups required players to walk the straight and narrow. The “U.S. Open player� was more concerned with staying out of trouble than a sheriff’s son. He had sharp creases in his khaki pants and organized his sock drawer for fun. He calculated risk like an actuary. No more. Brooks Koepka broke the mold with his historic performance at Shinnecock Hills. The man whose biceps bulge out of his tailored sleeves is now the first player in nearly three decades to win this championship in consecutive years. A Sunday 68 gave him a 72-hole total of 281, two shots better than Tommy Fleetwood. “The traditional U.S. Open player is changing. The player in general is changing,� said Curtis Strange, who had been the last back-to-back U.S. Open champ (1988-89). “It’s a different game than when Hale (Irwin) and I were playing. … You still have to put it in the fairway more often than not, but it’s all about power.� Koepka showed that at Erin Hills, where he wielded driver with impunity in a dominant display. He tied the U.S. Open’s scoring record (16 under par) while missing just 10 greens. He led in greens hit while ranking in the top 10 in both driving distance and accuracy that week. That modern course carved from the Wisconsin dairy land sent traditionalists into a tizzy with its wide fairways and soft greens, though. Erin Hills was making its U.S. Open debut. Shinnecock Hills is an 18-hole history lesson. It’s the only course to host this event in three different centuries, dating to the second U.S. Open in 1896. Shinnecock Hills is a traditional test but Koepka compiled similar statistics in his victory. He finished second in driving distance (318.3 yards), fourth in greens hit (49 of 72) and second in Strokes Gained: Putting (+2.13 per round). “I’m proud of him because there was so much talk about Erin Hills not being a (true) U.S. Open and that he was a big hitter and the whole thing,� Strange said, the last man to win back-to-back U.S. Opens (1988-89). “He won on a classic, so he’s an Open player.� That phrase has a new meaning in 2018. Now well-rounded bombers take an aggressive approach to the U.S. Open’s penal layouts. Long hitters used to be one-dimensional players who sacrificed short-game touch in their quest for strength. Now technology helps players like Koepka and Dustin Johnson hit the ball longer and straighter, and these athletic players combine high swing speed with the hand-eye coordination that helps them have a deft touch around the green. That’s why two of the TOUR’s longest hitters – Koepka and Johnson – have been this tournament’s top players over the past five years. Koepka hasn’t finished outside the top 20 in the past five Opens, including his back-to-back wins and a fourth-place finish at Pinehurst in 2014. Johnson has four top-4 finishes since 2014, including his win two years ago at Oakmont. The two friends from South Florida have won the last three U.S. Opens. “The best quote I ever heard is somebody asked Hogan years and years ago if the players today were better. He said, ‘I hope so because if they weren’t we would not have contributed anything to the game,’� Strange said. “(Koepka) is a good striker of the ball and he’s strong and he has a good short game. “He’d beat me like a yard dog.� Strange fit the old U.S. Open mold. He ranked outside the top 150 in driving distance in 1989 but hit more than three-quarters of his fairways. Koepka can hit long irons farther than Strange’s average tee shot (254 yards) that season. One requirement has remained constant over the decades, though. The U.S. Open demands fortitude. The thick rough and firm greens can drive players mad. Koepka thrives when other players complain. “If you start complaining, you’re looking for excuses,� he said. “I’m not really one to make excuses. … The U.S. Open is always going to be a tough test of golf. I enjoy that.� Koepka’s instructor, Claude Harmon III, said that in this regard, Koepka is in the ilk of past U.S. Open champions like Strange and Raymond Floyd, who won at Shinnecock Hills in 1986. “They were these characters, tough and mean,� Harmon said. “Brooks has a very similar demeanor. Nothing bothers him.� Long par putts are some of the game’s most stressful shots and always key in a U.S. Open victory. Koepka showed his strength under such duress by finishing eighth in putting from 5-10 feet (71 percent). The obsession with length can make many overlook Koepka’s strong short game. “I felt like I made those clutch 8- to 10-footers that you need to make to keep the momentum going,� he said. With Tommy Fleetwood already in the clubhouse at 2 over after shooting 63, Koepka knew he had to play Shinnecock Hills’ difficult back nine in even par. A birdie at 10 gave him a two-shot cushion but he was happy to make bogey on the par-3 11th. He pulled his wedge shot, which hit the slope behind the green and bounded into the fescue. His best option was to bang his second shot through the green and into a bunker. He holed a 13-footer for a bogey that was more gratifying than many birdies. He had to hole a 6-foot par putt at the next hole after missing both the fairway and the green. Two holes later, he had to scramble again at the course’s hardest hole after another pushed tee shot. More than 10 people had to look for his ball even though it was just a few yards after the fairway. After hacking out of the hay, he got up-and-down from 67 yards by holing a 9-footer. It wasn’t until a birdie at the long par-5 16th, where he wedged to 4 feet, that his lead looked safe. “Physical skills alone don’t win tournaments,� Strange said. “You have to have the whole package. He was 7 over at one point on Friday. How do you turn it around? Not everyone can do it. You have to be mentally tough to believe in yourself.� Koepka showed both in his historic win.

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