Moaners are mown down by Koepka

THE sound of pampered professional golfers moaning during the US Open is one of the great backing tracks to a sporting event. Shinnecock Hills did not let anyone down on that front.

“It was not a fair test of golf,” moaned Rafa Cabrera-Bello. “Greens were unplayable, with unnecessary pin positions. USGA found a way to make us look like fools on the course. A pity they managed to destroy a beautiful golf course.”

Sergio Garcia claimed to be “sad” at how a great tournament had been “ripped apart” by the organisers’ fiendish set-up.

“Clown golf,” was how Bryson DeChambeau described it.

Here’s the point, though – plenty of people enjoy watching the circus. What the pros often forget is that they are in the entertainment business and entertainment comes in many different guises. It is a guilty pleasure to witness the world’s best golfers struggle like hackers on the local muni. For one week in 52, they know how we feel.

Golf is a mental game as much as a physical one and the ability to hang in when the breaks are going against a player is as important sometimes as a power fade.

Phil Mickelson lost his mind when he trotted across the 13th to knock his disappearing ball back towards the hole while it was still rolling and willingly incur a two-shot penalty. He did not have the required resilience; the eventual winner and back-to-back champion Brooks Koepka, did.

“I enjoy the test. I enjoy being pushed to the limit,” said Koepka. “Sometimes you feel like you are about to break mentally but that’s what I enjoy. I enjoy hard golf courses. I enjoy playing about the toughest in golf you are ever going to play.”

Did the set-up allow a bunch of no names to contest one of golf’s great prizes? Well, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods all missed the cut, but only because they did not play well enough.

When all the fun and games were done, the top four on Sunday night consisted of the defending US Open and Masters champions, the world No1 and the European No1.

OK, so USGA executive director Mike Davis had to issue a mea culpa with regard to a couple of hole locations when things became a little too tricky on Saturday afternoon but, hey, golf isn’t always fair. Anyone who has played in an Open on a stormy afternoon after sitting in their hotel room on a flat calm morning knows that.

“It doesn’t really matter to me whether they lost it or not,” said Koepka.

“If you were above the hole downwind,

Pictures: DAVID CANNON and WARREN LITTLE HOLDING HIS NERVE: Koepka’s positivity was rewarded when he got his hands on the trophy TAKING ROUGH WITH SMOOTH: Koepka refused to get bogged down by the difficult set-up, while Mickelson let his frustration get the better of him when he chased after...