ERIN, Wis. — Brooks Koepka was not a household name on Saturday, but by Sunday night he jumped to golf’s upper stratosphere by winning the 117th U.S. Open at Erin Hills.
It looked as if it was going to be a nail-biting back nine, but after making a great save on 13, he birdied the next three holes to win by four shots in a runaway.
Brian Harman and Hideki Matsuyama finished second at 12 under and Tommy Fleetwood was 11 under.
Xander Schauffele, Bill Haas and Rickie Fowler were at 10 under.
Koepka is unknown to the casual golf watcher but his athletic build and solid form have made him a favorite of those that play in fantasy golf leagues. Prior to Sunday, his only PGA Tour victory was in the 2015 Waste Management Open in Phoenix.
His previous best U.S. Open finish was a tie for fourth in 2014.
If you were taking one of those childhood tests to figure out which item doesn’t belong, Koepka would have been that item when talking about the golfing mecca of Jupiter, Fla.
The city is home to defending U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and, of course, Tiger Woods. Koepka and Johnson even train and hang out together. Now he belongs.
It looked as if it was going to be a two-man race between Koepka and Harman, the third round leader, after the first few holes. Koepka had birdied one and two and Harman had birdied three to leave them both at 13 under.
The rest of the field had started to back up. Justin Thomas, who set a record-breaking 63 on Saturday, had an especially bad start bogeying three of the first five holes. He finished with a 75 to finish the tournament at eight under.
Koepka, playing the group ahead of Harman, broke the tie with a 34-foot birdie putt on the par four eighth. Koepka gave a shot back on the 10th when he missed a 10-foot putt for par, it was his first back-nine bogey of the week.
Harman got in trouble on the 12th when he put his drive in the right fescue, had to pitch out and settle for a bogey when he missed the green on his third shot and then two putted. Koepka was scrambling himself when he had to make a nine-foot par putt on the par three 13th.
Koepka got in trouble again on the 14th when he put his second shot in a bunker. But a brilliant sand shot put the ball to about four feet and he made the putt to take a two-shot lead over Matsuyama, who was in the clubhouse.
Matsuyama shot a six under for the day with eight birdies and two bogeys.
At this point Harman has seemingly taken himself out with a bogey on 13, even though he came back with birdies on 14 and 16 before bogeying 18.
At this point, all Koepka had to do was hold it together on the last four holes.
He did more than that. It started with a 10-foot putt for birdie on 15, the toughest hole on the course on Sunday. Then a 17-footer on 16 for his third birdie in a row.
