Brooks Koepka wins US Open
— Brooks Koepka received a short piece of advice from a valuable source on the eve of the final round at the U.S. Open.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson was doing most of the talking.
“It was a long phone call for us — it was like two minutes,” Koepka said. “But he just said a few things, and just stay patient. And I’ll win if I stay patient and just keep doing what I’m doing.”
What he did looked awfully familiar Sunday at Erin Hills, minus any mess involving the rules.
With athleticism and power, and four straight putts over the back nine holes that allowed him to pull away, Koepka capped off his hardscrabble journey around the world and found stardom at home as this year’s U.S. Open champion.
He closed with a 5-under 67, only realizing after his par on the final hole that a birdie would have set yet another U.S. Open record in a week filled with them.
Koepka finished at 16-under 272, matching the lowest score to par first set by Rory McIlroy six years ago at Congressional.