Brooks Koepka became the first man since 1989, and only the seventh in history, to win back-to-back US Open championships with a 68 today at Shinnecock Hills. Koepka finished with a one over par 281 to win by one stroke over Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a Shinnecock Hills course record of 63 to finish at two over par for the championship. Fleetwood also tied the all-time US Open record of 63 held by five other players.
Final Results
1 Brooks Koepka +1 75 66 72 68 281 2 Tommy Fleetwood +2 75 66 78 63 282 3 Dustin Johnson +3 69 67 77 70 283 4 Patrick Reed +4 73 72 71 68 284 5 Tony Finau +5 75 72 66 72 285 T6 Xander Schauffele +6 72 74 72 68 286 T6 Tyrrell Hatton +6 75 70 72 69 286 T6 Henrik Stenson +6 71 70 74 71 286 T6 Daniel Berger +6 76 71 66 73 286 T10 Webb Simpson +7 76 71 71 69 287 T10 Justin Rose +7 71 70 73 73 287
First Round Report
Brooks Koepka used the TaylorMade M3 Driver to win the 2018 U.S. Open
Brendan Steele, Xander Shauffele, and Brandt Snedeker shot 72, with a group of 17 players just behind at 73. This group included Rickie Fowler, Rafael Cabrera Bello, Jim Furyk, Patrick Reed, Zach Johnson, and Steve Stricker, as well as two amateurs, Will Grimmer and Luis Gagne. Justin Thomas had a 74 and Koepka shot a 75 in the first round. It was a tough day at Shinnecock Hills and several players shot higher than they were hoping, including Phil Mickelson with 77, and Tiger Woods with 78. Bubba Watson also had a 77, while Jason Day shot 79. John Rahm and Jordan Spieth both shot 78.
Video Courtesy of USGA
Second Round Report
At the end of day two in the US Open, Dustin Johnson, the number one player in the world and a winner last week, had a four-shot lead, having shot a stellar 67, to sit at 4-under par through two rounds. Scott Piercy shot 71 to be at even par and tied for 2nd place with Charley Hoffman, who shot 69. A five-way tie for 4th at one over par included Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka, who both shot 66 on the day. Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose shot 70, while Ian Poulter had 72 to complete the group at one over.
Russell Henley shot 73 and Rickie Fowler had a 69 to sit tied for 9th place at 2-over par. Marc Leishman, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Charles Howell, III were tied for 11th place at 3-over par, shooting 69, 70, and 72, respectively. The cut line was 8 over par, with Jordan Spieth at 9 over, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy at 10 over, and Bubba Watson at 11 over all missing the cut. Jason Day was 12 over, Sergio Garcia was 14 over and Jon Rahm shot 15 over par, their championship hopes also ending after two rounds.
Second Round Results
1 Dustin Johnson -4 69 67 136 T2 Scott Piercy E 69 71 140 T2 Charley Hoffman E 71 69 140 T4 Tommy Fleetwood +1 75 66 141 T4 Henrik Stenson +1 71 70 141 T4 Justin Rose +1 71 70 141 T4 Brooks Koepka +1 75 66 141 T4 Ian Poulter +1 69 72 141 T9 Russell Henley +2 69 73 142 T9 Rickie Fowler +2 73 69 142 T11 Marc Leishman +3 74 69 143 T11 Matthew Fitzpatrick +3 73 70 143 T11 Charles Howell +3 71 72 143
Video Courtesy of USGA
Third Round Report
Saturday at the US Open began like many other moving days. There was a light breeze and the course was playing tough, but not unreasonably so. But as the day went on the wind would pick up and the course would dry out. Kiradech Aphibarnrat had made the cut on the number at 8- over par, shot a 68 for the day and finished at 6-over par. At the time he was 10 shots off the lead. Tony Finau and Daniel Berger started the day at 7-over par, 11 strokes behind the leader, Dustin Johnson.
Berger would start the quickest, with birdies on three of his first six holes, shoot a 32 on the front nine to get to 4-over par, just four shots out of 2nd place, hours before the leaders would tee off. Finau, playing 45 minutes behind Berger, would start more slowly, with bogeys at 2 and 3. But birdies at 4 and 5 along with a string of pars gave Finau a 35 on the front nine, still at 7-over par for the championship.
A bogey at 11 would slow Berger’s progress, but bounce-back birdies at 12 and 13 and another at 15 would get him to -over par. A bogey on 17 gave Berger a 34 on the back nine, and a 66 for the day, leaving him at 3 over par, just three shots out of second place about an hour before the last group was set to tee off. Finau would start the back nine with three straight birdies. Another birdie on the final hole of the day would give him a 31 on the back nine, matching Berger’s 66 for the day, leaving the two men tied at 3-over par for the championship. And that is when the wind really started picking up.
Video Courtesy of USGA
In between the time that Berger and Finau finished their rounds, Phil Mickelson had a very strange moment on the 13th green. Mickelson knocked his bogey putt past the hole, and, as it started to pick up speed down the hill, Phil ran after it and tapped it back toward the hole. While there were some who called for Mickelson to be disqualified, the USGA assessed Phil a two-shot penalty, giving him a 10 on the hole. Mickelson shot 81 on the day.
When the leaders finally teed off, it was Fowler who would drop out of the running first with a double bogey at number 3. Fowler would have two more doubles and a triple bogey on his way to shooting 84. Johnson and Piercy both made double bogey at number 2, with Piercy remaining four strokes behind, but cutting Johnson’s lead to two strokes over Rose and Stenson. This left Koepka and Fleetwood only two strokes behind Johnson. A bogey at 4 would drop Johnson to 1-under par and only one shot ahead. Another bogey at 6 would drop Johnson back to even par into a tie with Rose and Stenson, with Koepka one shot behind. At this point the top four included three of the last five US Open champions and the 2016 Open Championship winner.
Rose made a bogey at 8 to drop out of the tie at the top, and when Johnson bogeyed number 7, Stenson had the lead alone at even par. Koepka made a birdie at number 11 to climb into a tie with Stenson. A bogey at 10 by Stenson would give Koepka the lead alone. Koepka bogeyed the 12th hole to fall back into a tie for the lead with Stenson at 1-over par. Johnson made a birdie at number 11 to get back into a three-way tie for the lead with Koepka and Stenson. Stenson dropped out of the tie for the lead with a bogey at number 13.
Koepka made a 60-foot putt on number 14 to save par and stay tied with Dustin Johnson at 1-over par. Stenson made a bogey at 14 to drop him into a tie for third with Rose, two strokes behind Johnson and Koepka. Koepka made a bogey at 15, and Johnson had the lead again by one. Rose made a birdie at 15 to get to 2-under par and Stenson made a bogey on the same hole to fall to 4-over par and drop to one stroke behind Finau and Berger. Koepka made a bogey at 17 to fall into a tie for 3rd with Finau and Berger at 3-over par.
Rose made a bogey at 16 and fell two shots behind Johnson into a tie for 2nd with Koepka, Finau and Berger. Johnson made a bogey at 15 to fall to 2-over par, but still ahead by one stroke. Koepka made a par on 18 to shoot 72 and finish at 3-over par after three rounds. Rose made a bogey at 18 to shoot 73 and finish the third round at 4-over par for the championship Stinson also made a bogey at 18 to shoot 74 and fall to 5-over par. When Johnson also bogeyed 18 to shoot 77, it created a four-way tie for the lead at 3-over par between Johnson, Berger, Finau and Koepka. Berger and Finau made up 11 strokes on the day.
Third Round Results
T1 Daniel Berger +3 76 71 66 213 T1 Tony Finau +3 75 72 66 213 T1 Brooks Koepka +3 75 66 72 213 T1 Dustin Johnson +3 69 67 77 213 5 Justin Rose +4 71 70 73 214 6 Henrik Stenson +5 71 70 74 215 T7 Kiradech Aphibarnrat +6 76 72 68 216 T7 Patrick Reed +6 73 72 71 216 T7 Jim Furyk +6 73 71 72 216
Video Courtesy of USGA
Final Round Report
When the final round of the US Open began on Sunday, there were six major championship winners in the top 9 on the leaderboard. Of the four leaders, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka represented the previous two US Open champions and Berger and Finau had shot 66 on Saturday.
Fowler and Mickelson would get the day off to a hot start, with Fowler shooting a 31 on the front nine, and Mickelson carding a 32 that included a tap-in eagle at the par-5 5th hole. Hideki Matsuyama also shot a 31 on the front nine. Finishing his day with a birdie on the 18th hole, Fowler shot a 65 to climb back to 11-over par which would end up in a tie for 20th place.
Mickelson shot a 69 to finish up the championship at 16-over par. Matsuyama continued his good play, firing a 66 and finishing at 10-over par, which placed him in a tie for 16th by the end of the day. Patrick Rodgers shot a 67 on the day, finishing at 14-over par, while Jason Dufner and Aaron Baddeley would shoot 69, placing them at 12-over par. Louis Oosthuizen and Haotong Li also shot 69 on the day, leaving them at 10-over par, tied with the Matsuyama. Russell Knox, Webb Simpson, and Tyrrell Hatton also shot 69 on the day, finishing at 8-over, 7-over, and 6-over par, respectively. Xander Shauffele shot a 68 on the day, moving him to six over par.
But it was Tommy Fleetwood who had the biggest move of the day. Fleetwood birdied four of his first seven holes to get to 5-over par and only two shots off the lead. A bogey on 9 would give Fleetwood a 32 on the front nine, and he stood at 6-over par. Masters champion Patrick Reed birdied the first three holes in a row to tie himself for the lead at 3-over par. Fleetwood picked up the pace again with a birdie on number 12 to get back to 5-over par.
Koepka birdied the 2nd hole to take the lead at 2-over par. A second straight birdie for Fleetwood at 13 put him at 4-over par and tied with Rose. A birdie on 10 for Matthew Fitzpatrick got him to 4-over par and a second straight birdie for Koepka at number 3 put him at 1-over par and leading by two strokes. Berger and Finau both dropped to 4-over par when they would each make bogey at number 2, and when Justin Rose made a double bogey at number 4, he too would drop away from the leaders.
A third straight birdie for Fleetwood at number 14 put him at 3-over par and tied for 2nd place. Another birdie for Reed at number 5 put him at 2-over par, just one behind Koepka. Fleetwood would climb into a tie with Reed with his fourth straight birdie at number 15. After four straight pars to begin the round, Dustin Johnson made his first birdie at number 5 to get to 2-over par, but Koepka made birdie on the same hole to get to even par and a two shot lead. Patrick Reed made his fifth birdie in his first seven holes to get to 1-over par, one stroke behind Koepka.
Video Courtesy of USGA
Koepka made a bogey at number 6 to drop into a tie for the lead with Patrick Reed at 1-over par. Tommy Fleetwood finished with three straight pars to shoot a Shinnecock Hills course record 63 and finish at 2-over par and just one stroke off the lead. Johnson dropped to 3-over par with a bogey at number 7, but a bounce-back birdie at number 8 would get him back to 2-over par, tied with Fleetwood and Reed, who made a bogey at 9. Reed made another bogey at number 11 and dropped to 3-over par, two strokes behind Koepka.
Koepka made a birdie at number 10 to get to even par and increase his lead to two shots. Reed made another bogey at number 12 and fell to 4-over par. Koepka made a 12-footer to save bogey at number 11 and fell to 1-over par, just one stroke ahead of Fleetwood. Johnson also made bogey at 11 to fall two strokes behind. Finau made a comeback with three birdies in four holes, culminating at number 11, to get back to 3-over par, two behind Koepka, but a bogey at 12 dropped him back to 4-over par, tied with Berger, who had also steadied himself. Reed made a birdie at 15 to get back to 3-over par, tied with Johnson, one behind Fleetwood and two behind Koepka.
Johnson made a bogey at 14 to fall back to 4-over par, into a tie with Finau and Berger. Finau made a birdie at number 14 and Johnson birdied number 15, putting both at 3-over par and tied with Reed. Koepka put himself in control with a great shot on 16 that led to a birdie and put him at even par with a two stroke lead and only two holes to play. Johnson’s bogey at number 17 dropped him back to 4-over par and Koepka made a par to stay at even par, two strokes ahead of Fleetwood with only one hole to play.
Koepka finished with a bogey at 18 putting him at 1-over par for the championship, and forcing Finau to need a hole-out from the rough off the 18th fairway to tie. Johnson made a birdie at 18 to finish at 3-over par, and when Finau, who finished with a disappointing double bogey and fell to 5-over par, failed to hole-out his second shot on 18, Brooks Koepka became the 118th US Open champion.
Video Courtesy of USGA
