Tough course or easy, Koepka repeats as US Open champ

First repeat champion in 29 years

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. » Brooks Koepka has the game to win a U.S. Open on any course.

One year after Koepka overpowered the wide fairways of Erin Hills in a U.S. Open remembered for low scoring, he navigated his way through the brutal conditions of Shinnecock Hills and closed with a 2-under 68 to become the first repeat champion in 29 years.

Curtis Strange, the last player to go back-to-back in this major, watched the entire final round Sunday as the Fox Sports reporter on the ground, and they shared a brief hug off the 18th green after Koepka tapped in for bogey and a one-shot victory.

“Man, it feels good to hold this thing again,” Koepka said with the silver trophy in his arms.

His victory Sunday might not have been possible if not for grinding out a 72 on Saturday in conditions so severe the last 45 players to tee off in the third round didn’t break par. The USGA conceded the course was over the top and pledged to give it more water and slow it down.

Bogeys gave way to birdies, and no one took advantage like Tommy Fleetwood of England. He made eight birdies — none on the two par 5s — and missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 63, only the sixth player in U.S. Open history to go that low.

“Yeah, but I wanted a 62,” said Fleetwood, who finished one shot back and had to settle for the silver medal.

Fleetwood was one shot behind when he finished, and Koepka still had 11 holes to play as Shinnecock Hills began to get crisp under another sunny sky. Koepka never lost the lead. With a putting performance and calm demeanor reminiscent of Retief Goosen when he won the previous U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, in 2004, the 28-yearold Koepka began the back nine with three pivotal putts — one for birdie, one for bogey, one for par.

The biggest might have been his bogey on the nasty little par-3 11th.

Koepka pulled it to the left, down the slope and into thick grass. He chopped that up the slope with so much speed that it raced across the green and into the bunker. He blasted that out to 8 feet and made the putt to keep his lead at one shot.

“I think that was like making a

JULIO CORTEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Brooks Koepka holds up the Golf Champion Trophy after winning the U.S. Open Golf Championship, Sunday in Southampton, N.Y.