Golf: the rise of the first-time champions

“What a way to win your first major,” said James Corrigan in The Daily Telegraph. On Sunday, Brooks Koepka lifted the US Open with a score of 16 under – equalling the record set by Rory Mcilroy in 2011. The 27-year-old American was “utterly imperious”, finishing four shots ahead of secondplaced Hideki Matsuyama. Koepka’s triumph owes a great deal to Europe, said Ewan Murray in The Guardian. Five years ago, he made the bold decision to reject the traditional route of working his way up the “low-grade” American tours. Instead, he “moved outside his comfort zone” by playing on the European circuit, where he impressed “seasoned observers”; now he has delivered on that early promise. It was also an encouraging tournament for Tommy Fleetwood, “England’s big hope”, said Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail. Competing in only his eighth major, the 26-year-old, from Southport, “showed that whatever he lacks in experience he makes up for with pluck”: he kept the pressure on the leaders throughout the weekend, and finished the tournament in fourth place.

This is the seventh major in a row in which the winner was a first-time champion, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. Compare that to the period between July 2014 and August 2015, when five of the six majors were won by the “Big Three” of Mcilroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day. Those players were expected to dominate for years – yet Mcilroy and Day went home early last week, as did world No. 1 Dustin Johnson. It was the first time since rankings were introduced that the world’s top three golfers failed to qualify for the second half of a major. A new crop in their 20s – the likes of Koepka, Fleetwood and Matsuyama – are rapidly improving, and will keep on applying the pressure. The sport has “rarely been so open”.