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After 3 rounds, it looks as if Shinnecock holds a big lead
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — Brooks Koepka was a baseball player before he became a golfer, so perhaps no one should be surprised by what he is poised to pull off Sunday at the 118th U.S. Open.
On Saturday, he positioned himself to become the first repeat champion since Curtis Strange in 1989 by nibbling around Shinnecock Hills’ greens with his off-speed stuff.
Koepka’s game runs the gamut from cunning to power as he demonstrated ably Saturday, carding a 2-over-par 72 to hold a share of the 54-hole lead with Daniel Berger (66), Tony Finau (66) and the 36-hole leader, Dustin Johnson (77). They are all 3-over for the tournament. Koepka finished at 16-under when he won at Erin Hills.
Known for being long off the tee and aggressive into the greens, Koepka relied on driving irons to stay out of trouble and showed little stomach for the pin hunting that won him last year’s title by four strokes.
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“I enjoy firing away from pins and having to be conservative sometimes and just finding a way to get through it,” he said.
It was no coincidence that the two lowest rounds of the day, which matched the low for the tournament, belonged to Berger and Finau, who teed off early, before the sun and wind made the greens look like stale loaves of sourdough bread.
“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult this afternoon,” Berger said after his round, adding, “I think if someone shoots 4-under this afternoon, it’s more like 8-under.”
He read the situation as well as he did the hard, fast greens. Led by Rickie Fowler’s 84, the 14 players in the last seven pairings averaged 76.6 strokes.
Fowler joined an angry chorus questioning the fairness of the course setup when the conditions changed so drastically for the late starters, and Mike Davis, the chief executive of the U.S. Golf Association, conceded that there had been a problem.
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“We must slow the course down tonight, and we will,” he said, adding, “We saw some examples late in the day where well-executed shots were not only not being rewarded, but in some cases penalized.”
But players with excellent track records at the national championship managed to hang on. Koepka, 28, was one of four U.S. Open champions in the top nine. The others were Johnson (3-over), Justin Rose (4-over) and Jim Furyk (6-over).
Berger was in the scoring hut signing for his round when he glanced at a nearby television in time to see Phil Mickelson hit his ball with his putter, slapshot-style, as it rolled well past the hole on the 13th green.
“I was kind of shocked,” Berger said. “I thought it was a joke or something.”
Englishman Andrew Johnston, who was paired with Mickelson, a five-time major winner, described it as “a moment of madness” and said, “It’s something you might see at your home course with your mates or something.”
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It was not a joke. And if it was a moment of madness, it was a calculated one, according to Mickelson, who incurred a 2-stroke penalty for stroking his ball while it was still moving and walked off the green with a 10 on his way to an 81. It was his first score over 79 during a PGA Tour season since November 2003 — and it matched his highest previous round in this event, which he posted in 1992 as a newly minted pro.
Mickelson, who turned 48 on Saturday, said he knew exactly what he was doing. He struck his moving ball, he explained, because he believed it was going to roll off the green and behind a bunker if he didn’t.
“I think knowing the rules is never a bad thing,” Mickelson said. “I mean, you want to always use them in your favor.”
While technically legal, Mickelson’s action struck many as outside the spirit of the rules. A diplomatic Berger said, “It looks like he just got really frustrated, which is easy to do.”
Berger, who had a nervy 10-foot par save at No. 14 that he described as the glue that held his brilliant round together, was asked if he had ever become so frustrated that he nearly acted in a way that would have cost him dearly.
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“Oh, yeah,” he said with a smile. “Today.”
Finau, who has won once on the tour, bounced back from bogeys on two of his first three holes with birdies on his next two. He has always been a long hitter, but his putting has markedly improved since he reached out to Steve Stricker, who is known for his prowess on the greens, for help last summer.
“I feel like my game is built for championship golf just because I make a lot of birdies,” said Finau, who has recorded 12 of them this week. “And I hit it with length and the putter can get hot.”
Zach Johnson, a two-time major winner, was hot under his golf collar after carding a 72, which left him at 8-over for the tournament. “They’ve lost the golf course,” Johnson said. “When you have a championship that comes down to pure luck, that’s not right.”
Yet in addition to the four U.S. Open champions in the top nine, there are two other winners of a major: Patrick Reed (this year’s Masters) and Henrik Stenson (the 2016 British Open).
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“Yeah,” said Fowler, “but no one’s under par, and they are some of the best players in the world.”
Koepka wasn’t sweating it. “I’m glad I’m in the position I’m in,” he said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
KAREN CROUSE © 2018 The New York Times
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