It’s in the Brooks
Back-to-back US Open champ
The last putt that mattered in the 118th U.S. Open disappeared into the cup on the 18th hole at Shinnecock Hills with the early-evening sun still warm and blazing across the fescuelined fairways. Sherry Koepka looked into the eyes of her husband, Bob, and said, “You’re the only dad in the world right now that can say your son is the U.S. Open champion.’’ For the second time, no less. Brooks Koepka captured his second consecutive U.S. Open title to become the seventh ever to repeat and the first since Curtis Strange in 1988 and 1989.
Make no mistake: Father’s Day was special a year ago at Erin Hills, where Koepka devoured the wide fairways and took advantage of the calm wind conditions to the tune of 16-under par.
This one, for Bob and Sherry Koepka, Brooks’ stepmother, was even more special because they were in attendance this time.
A year ago, because they couldn’t find housing anywhere near the remote Wisconsin location where Erin Hills sits, the Koepkas decided to stay at home and watch it on TV.
When Brooks won his first major championship, they vowed they would be there in person for the next one. And so they were. Koepka’s one-shot victory at 1-over par edged out runner-up Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a 7-under 63 earlier in the day to post 2-over as the leader in the clubhouse and sit back and watch the rest of the tournament unfold on TV, wondering whether the 2-over would be good enough for a win or, at worst, a playoff.
The long-haired Englishman got neither, because Koepka, who closed with a 2-under 68 in the final round, was the coolest customer on the premises.
He outlasted Fleetwood’s clubhouse number by one and staved off his playing partner and close friend, Dustin Johnson, who finished 3-over. Masters champion Patrick Reed finished fourth at 4-over.
“I don’t want to say I didn’t think I could do it, but I knew how hard it was going to be to do it again,’’ Keopka said. “It’s much more gratifying the second time.’’
Here, too, is what’s gratifying: Koepka was sidelined for four months this year with a left wrist injury and didn’t even begin hitting balls until the Monday after the Masters.
“We were worried that he wasn’t even going to be able to come here and defend,’’ Bob Koepka said.
“I think he fell in love with golf again,’’ Koepka’s coach Claude Harmon said. “When he came back, there was a something about him I’d not seen from him about wanting to play again.’’ Koepka agreed with his coach. “I didn’t miss it until I knew I wasn’t going to be at Augusta,’’ he said. “I missed the preparation. I missed the competitiveness. I miss competing. I’ve got to be competing at something.’’
Unfortunately for the rest of the field, he took that competitiveness out on them Sunday.
Koepka essentially clinched the victory with a birdie on the par-5 16th hole, where he got to even par and pushed his lead to two shots with two holes to play.
Earlier, he made an all-world bogey on the treacherous par-3 11th hole, where he overshot the green and chipped back over the putting surface and rolled into a bunker.
“I felt like I could have been very easily derailed, making double or triple,’’ he said. “I made an incredible four — something I didn’t even think I could do from there. I was dead.’’ Not for long, though. A strong-minded par save on No. 14, where his tee shot landed in the fescue grass just right of the fairway that required a search-and-rescue to find his ball followed.
All the while, Bob Koepka was inside the ropes following every shot and looking as calm and cool as his son, who was doing all the work.
He recalled the moment when, after his son made the high school golf team at age 12 while in sixth grade, Brooks told him: “I’m probably going to drop out of school in about four years and turn pro.’’
“My wife said to me, ‘You should have seen the look on your face,’ ’’ he recalled. “I immediately pulled the car over and said, ‘Let me tell you something, son. You’re going to finish high school. You’re going to go to college. And after that, then you can turn pro.’ ’’
Lost in this is the fact Brooks’ lofty goals were probably the fault of his father.
“I took him to the Masters when he was 8 years old and I joked with him then, ‘I got you here. Your job is to get me back,’ ’’ the father said. “He’s done that quite well.’’