Butch Harmon praises Brooks Koepka for maiden major win
Butch Harmon reflects on Brooks Koepka's impressive maiden major success at the US Open andreviews another near-miss for Rickie Fowler at Erin Hills.
It was a fantastic day for Brooks Koepka and a great performance. He three-putted on the 10th green, his only bogey of the day, and was solid from tee-to-green. He made theputts when he needed to down the stretch, with birdies at the 14th, 15th and 16th taking the tournament away from everyone and making sure nobody else had a chance.
Koepka finished four strokes clear of Hideki Matsuyama and Brian Harman
When the day started we thought there could be at least 10 guys who all had a chance of winning the US Open, but when we got into the back nine there was only one guy whoever looked like winning. He has always been a good player, winning three times on the European Challenge Tour and getting that battlefield promotion to the European Tour. He won on that, moved over to the PGA Tour and worked hard to get up the money list to where he is today.
Koepka played alongside Tommy Fleetwood during the final round
Brooks is a player who has got more consistent each year, as has his position in the world rankings. He has got into a position where he now knows just how good he can play, which he has shown to the rest of the world with this final round display. It will be interesting to see what Brooks does next and how he copes with being a major champion, as some people struggle with all of the extra interest and media attention.
US Open Golf
June 19, 2017, 5:00pm
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For me, I think he's going to handle it just fine. If I was him, I'd love every minute of it because younever know if or when you're going to get another one! It didn't quite happen for Rickie Fowler today, who birdied the first but then missed from five feet at the second. From then on in it just wasn't his day, and he has to learn how to close majors out on Sundays.
Fowler finished in a share of fifth spot
He has been in this position before and in 2014 finished inside the top five of all of the majors, he had a chance at this year's Masters and came close again here at Erin Hills. That's not what it's all about though, but I'm confident he'll eventually get over the line and win one. England's Tommy Fleetwood had a good tournament. He was in contention most of the time and finished fourth on 277, five behind the winner, with rounds of 67, 70, 68 and 72. Fleetwood earned $563,642 compared with $2,160,000 by Koepka. A second Englishman in the top 20 was Eddie Pepperell with rounds of 72, 71, 69 and 71 for a 283 total an a T16 final placing Scot Martin Laird finished T32 on level par 288.
LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72) players from USA unless stated 272 B Koepka 67 70 68 67 ($2,160,000). 276 H Matsuyama (Japan) 74 65 71 66, B Harman 67 70 67 72 ($1,052,012 each). 277 T Fleetwood (England) 67 70 68 72 ($563,442) 278 X Schauffele 66 73 70 69, B Haas 72 68 69 69, R Fowler 65 7 68 72.
SELECTED TOTALS 283 E Pepperell (England) 72 71 69 71 (T16). 284 S Garcia (Spain) 70 71 71 72 (T21) 286 P Casey (England) 66 71 75 74 (26th) 288 M Laird (Scotland) 72 71 72 73 (T32) 289 M Fitzpatrick (England) 70 73 70 76 (T35) 290 A Johnston (England) 69 73 73 75 (T42) 295 L Westwood (England) 69 75 75 76 (T53)
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