US Open Recap

Congrats to the 2017 US Open champion Brooks Koepka. The week of the second major was one filled with drama, excitement, and lots of broken records, and it will definitely go down in the record books as a memorable major.

Before the week began, the big storylines were with Phil and Rory. Phil gave up another another runner up finish this week to go to his daughter’s graduation, and was unable to make his tee time on Thursday. It’s still incredible to think that he hasn’t won a tournament since 2013. Rory, on the other hand, had just come off of a back injury and made headlines by complaining about how wide the fairways were being cut. However, he could probably have used wider fairways, as he missed the cut by a mile and is headed to the Travelers Championship earlier than he would have liked to.

The week started with Rickie Fowler firing a 7-under 65 to snatch the lead after day 1. This tied the record for the lowest opening round of a US Open in relation to par, and put Fowler in some elite company with names such as Arnold Palmer. However, Fowler faltered over the next three rounds and ended up finishing a respectable T5 for the week.

Moving day was very eventful as well, with both Patrick Reed and Justin Thomas climbing their way up the leaderboard. Reed fired an early morning 65 to miss tying the 18 hole record for lowest round, and in the afternoon wave, JT just obliterated that record, shooting a 9-under 63 that included 9 birdies, 2 bogeys and an eagle. He finished the day one shot off the pace set by Brian Harman, who lead after 54 holes at 13-under.

The winds were up on Sunday and so were the scores. However, a few scores did stand out. The low round in the morning wave belonged to Jordan Spieth, who battled the course as well as Mother Nature to shoot a 3-under 69. He finished the championship at +1, which was good for a tie for 35th. In the afternoon, Hideki Matsuyama was able to loop around the course without a single square on the card, shooting a final round 66 to finish in a tie for 2nd. However, with other players such as Thomas, Harman, and Fowler faltering in the difficult conditions, Sunday belonged to Brooks Koepka. He obliterated the course and the field, shooting a final round 67 to win by four strokes. His victory remarkably comes as only his second professional win, though his play has been strong throughout his career. Just this season, he already has two runner up finishes, and now he gets to add a US Open trophy to the list.

Written by Paul Choma