Golf: Brooks Koepka is “the real deal”

With an hour to go on Sunday, it looked as if Tommy Fleetwood had done enough to win the US Open, said James Corrigan in The Daily Telegraph. The 27-year-old Englishman had just hit a recordequalling 63 – a score that had been achieved on only five previous occasions at this major. But even that wasn’t enough to stop Brooks Koepka from winning by a single shot, becoming only the seventh golfer in history to successfully defend his US Open title. There can be no doubt that Koepka, a 28-yearold American, is “the real deal”, said Iain Carter on BBC Sport online. Last year, when the tournament took place in Erin Hills, the big hitter was “the best bomber in a bomber’s paradise”. This time around, at Shinnecock Hills, he proved he could also thrive on a tougher course. And his victory was “all the more noteworthy” for coming only two months after he returned to golf, having suffered a wrist injury that left him unable to lift a coffee cup. Fleetwood may have fallen short, but he still has so much “to be proud about”, said Derek Lawrenson in the Daily Mail. On Sunday, he confirmed that he is one of the best ball strikers on the circuit – and, with eight birdies, his putting stroke was equally impressive. “It was thrilling stuff.”

Yet the most extraordinary moment of the weekend had nothing to do with Koepka or Fleetwood, said James Corrigan. It came on Saturday, when Phil Mickelson, the US five-time major champion, was on the 13th. He hit the ball, only for it to roll past the hole. It seemed to be heading off the green – so he chased after it and hit it towards the hole, even though it was still moving. The golf world’s “jaw hit the floor”: at this level, stopping the ball is “almost unheard of”. But despite a “brazen” admission of guilt, Mickelson got away with just a two-shot penalty. “He should be ashamed.”