Koepka, Lovemark falter, lose control of tourney

Just when it looked like Brooks Koepka would win every important golf tournament played from now through eternity, he proved to be human again. The winner of the 2018 U.S. Open and PGA Championship entered the third-round of the Northern Trust sharing the lead with Jamie Lovemark at 10-under. But both may have shot themselves out of contention on Saturday. After a birdie at the par-5 third hole to move to 11- under, Koepka struggled with his game the rest of the round, shooting a 1-overpar 72 to fall to 9-under, seven strokes behind leader Bryson DeChambeau.

Koepka was uncharacteristically sloppy. He three-putted from 18-feet for bogey at the par-4 fifth and couldn’t get up and down to save par at the par-4 ninth. He took another bogey at the par-4 14th, where he needed three putts from 50 feet.

Koepka had made 10 birdies and two eagles over his first two rounds at Ridgewood Country Club, but struggled to get the ball close enough to the hole to create scoring opportunities on Saturday.

It took until the par-5 17th for him to drain an easy birdie. A wedge shot from 77 yards, landed within five feet. He made the putt to improve to 9-under. It looked like he might add another birdie on the final hole when his approach stopped seven feet from the cup. But he miss read the putt and missed on the left side.

Lovemark had his own problems, shooting a 2-over-par 73 to drop to 8-under. Playing in the final group of Koepka, he opened with a bogey on the second hole when he couldn’t get up and down from a green side bunker at the 158-yard par-3. After a birdie at the fourth, he took a bogey at the par-4 fifth hole and another bogey at the par-4 10th, where he missed a 13-footer for par.

He suffered another bogey at the par-4 14th where he was just off the green in two and missed a 19-footer for par. That dropped him to 7-under with DeChambeau racing up the leaderboard. A birdie at the par-3 15th got Lovemark to 8-under, but he finished his round with three pars.

Koepka came into the FedExCup ranked third, so one bad day isn’t going to ruin his mood. Lovemark came into the event ranked 86th and needs a good finish to have any chance to putting himself in position to reach the Tour Championship.