U.S. Open 2017 final leaderboard: Brooks Koepka rides hot putter to first major win

Posted by Doc Fantasy
Sunday, June 18, 2017 | 0 comments

Justin Thomas fades, Hideki Matsuyama charges, and Brooks Koepka clinches U.S. Open victory.

No one expected Justin Thomas to follow up his U.S. Open record-breaking 63 in the third round with a similarly scintillating Sunday finale, but the bottom fell out for Jordan Spieth’s Spring Break buddy early into the last round at Erin Hills. With a bogey on his second hole, and three in his first five, Thomas went on to post a 3-over 75 to finish at 8-under for the week — eight shots behind first-time major winner Brooks Koepka.

While Thomas was fading, Hideki Matsuyama was charging. Despite being put on the clock on his back nine, the 25-year-old from Japan who started the last round six shots back of 54-hole leader Brian Harman, put an exclamation point on his 6-under 66 with a kick-in birdie on the par-5 18th. That effort, on the easiest hole of day four, put him one shot back of frontrunner Koepka.

But on a day when Erin Hills finally bared its teeth after three days of such soft conditions that Johnny Miller dismissively compared the men’s second major of the season to the pedestrian Milwaukee Open, Matsuyama’s bloodless effort was not enough to catch Koepka. The eventual winner, who was locked in a tie with Harman through the first nine and into the turn, finally took the lead with a three on the par-3 13th while Harman, playing one hole ahead, dropped his first shot of the day — his first bogey in 27 holes.

A second straight bogey and Harman was three off the pace after Keopka made his fourth birdie of the day (to go with one bogey) on the par-5 14th to get to 3-under for the day and 14-under for the tourney.

Harman gave chase, with a birdie on 14, but Koepka matched it on 15 — the toughest hole on the course on Sunday — and the lead remained two over Matsuyama and Harman.

And that was pretty much that — until Koepka drilled his third straight birdie and strolled to the 17th tee with an insurmountable four-shot advantage.

A Harman birdie on 16 trimmed the lead but, combined with a bogey at the last, was too little, too late as he shared second place with Matsuyama at 12-under. All in all, not a surprising outcome, considering who won the Meijer LPGA Classic earlier in the day.

Here are your final results from Erin Hills, the 117th edition of the national championship:

Full article from SB Nation via http://ift.tt/2sMVOKA