Koepka wound up with the low cumulative score in golf’s four major championships this year, shooting a combined 21 under while needing 1,119 strokes. And yes, he did most of his damage at Erin Hills where he was 16 under.

Koepka was one of only 13 players to make the cut in all four majors and he edged Hideki Matsuyama and Matt Kuchar by a single shot for this important distinction. Of course, the fact that he won a major while those other two remained winless despite close calls (Matsuyama at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, Kuchar at the British Open) makes Koepka’s advantage in the year’s biggest tournaments a whole lot bigger.

The other 10 players to play the weekend in all four majors this season were Rickie Fowler (-16), Jordan Spieth (-10), Paul Casey (-9), Charley Hoffman (-3), Marc Leishman (+3), Steve Stricker (+3), J.B. Holmes (+10), Russell Henley (+12), Kevin Kisner (+16), and Lee Westwood (+20).

Although stacking different years up is obviously not an apples-to-apples comparison, in case you’re wondering, Jordan Spieth holds the record for low cumulative score at majors in one year for his 54 under total in 2015. Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open that year and edged Tiger Woods’ previous mark of 53 under set during his historic 2000 campaign.

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Patrick Reed dressed up Thursday as if he were playing in the Ryder Cup. Blue slacks, red shirt, white hat and belt, and white and red saddle shoes.

Must have made a difference.

With a solid ball-striking performance that included a near ace on the 13th hole, Reed opened the 117th U.S. Open with a four-under 68 at eccentric Erin Hills, only the third time he has started a major with a sub-70 score.

The player who seemingly can’t miss a shot when playing for the Stars and Stripes tends to get black and blue in the major championships. Though a five-time winner on the PGA Tour, Reed has yet to record a top-10 finish in his 13 major appearances. In his most recent try, the Masters, Reed submitted dyspeptic digits of 76-77 to miss his fourth major cut and second in his last four.

If there were a championship that could get his patriotic blood pumping, you’d think it would be the U.S. Open. He didn’t disagree with the premise. “It would,” said the native Texan, 26. “A lot of times being an American, it means a lot. Really, right now it’s just go out and play as well as I can, and hopefully late Sunday I’m up there playing good golf.”

Two years ago Reed opened 66-69 for a share of the 36-hole lead at Chambers Bay only to backpedal on the weekend and end up T-14. Last year he missed the cut at Oakmont. His hit-or-miss performances in the majors are a head-scratcher for a player who doesn’t lack for confidence. And he certainly doesn’t lack for motivation when he competes for America in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup.

What he did last year at Hazeltine National, scoring 3½ points and taking down World No. 2 Rory McIlroy in an electric singles match, hasn’t carried over to individual stroke play events, including this season, in which he has just one top-10 finish. Majors should get the juices flowing, though.

Except he needs juice earlier. “I haven’t had an opportunity to be late in a major on Sunday in a major yet, so it’s kind of hard to say,” Reed replied when asked about bringing his cup performances to the majors. “It definitely helps other golf tournaments I’ve played coming down the stretch or other golf tournaments coming down where I need a birdie to make a cut or something like that. It’s definitely something it doesn’t really rattle you as much. It doesn’t give you butterflies. You still have to go out and play golf. I feel like I’m right there.”

He made Thursday’s round, in which he hit 13 fairways and 13 greens, appear stress free. “I stuck to my game plan today. The two bogeys I had today I really didn’t feel like I hit bad golf shots,” he said. “Every time I stepped on the tee, I tried to play really aggressive. For me it’s more of a challenge not playing aggressive, because there’s a lot of times I want to go down the most aggressive line I can. Go for every flag.”

That can get you in trouble. But then there was the near ace at 13, when his 6-iron on the 227-yard hole playing downwind hit the flagstick.

“It would have went in if the stick were skinnier,” he joked. “It was perfect. I was just watching it, kind of went up the slope and thought it was going to be really good, because it wasn’t really moving that fast. When I got up there, it was not even a foot short of the hole.”

Weird, but wanting to play well so intensely hasn’t hurt Reed in team events. But in his early major appearances he simply tried too hard, put too much pressure on himself. He thought he “had to play well.” His approach of late is to loosen up, which seems counterintuitive.

“The past couple of years, just kind of go out and play golf, [think] it’s just another golf tournament,” he said, trying to talk himself into it.

So, then, how come the red, white and blue?

Perhaps not just another tournament.

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This is the first U.S. Open I’ve attended and after we practiced for the first time on Monday afternoon, I’ve got to say Erin Hills really wasn’t what I expected to find.

Certainly off the tee, the golf course is big and it’s pretty wide to be honest. It’s right out in front of you so I spent Monday looking for different strategies off the tees to ensure we avoid the really penal areas.

I think some of the players have made more of this whole fescue thing than they’ve probably needed to. I think Rory’s comments are probably correct in that you really shouldn’t be missing a fairway that’s 60 yards wide. That said, if you do find the rough, you are going to get punished.

The one thing I would say is the fescue is very, very heavy right off the fairway whereas if you do actually end up missing by 15 or 20 yards, you will invariably get a better lie which does seem a little unfair.

They’ve taken the rough in by three to five feet on most holes so it presents pretty well off the tee although there are two or three blind tee shots to be negotiated.

I think the golf course from a second shot point of view, that’s really where we going to see the men separated from the boys. Look for some good iron players to do well, providing they can drive it far enough because I don’t think its going to favour a shot hitter.

Crazy golf it’s not
The pin locations I’ve seen for this morning are pretty well tucked in the green complexes. It’s a new courses and the designers have done well not to make it too crazy, but the green completes are challenging with a lot of little shoulders and shelfs and places where they can hide the flags.

The first round pin positions

Certainly on reviewing the pin placements for Thursday, there’s a lot of flags that are tight to the front edges and tight to the edges of greens.

We’ve been looking at ways, certainly on the half dozen holes you can get in with a mid to short iron, particularly the three or four short iron holes, of making sure we understand the angles that we are going in at. We’ve also paid close attention to some of the pin locations that will be both helped and hindered by some little shelfs and little shoulders that you can get access to.

The greens are quick, The surfaces don’t look that good but that’s just the fescue. They seem to be running very well. Some are very, very fast and there are a lot of run offs on either side so again look for good chippers to do well this week.

@ch3golf @djohnsonpga prepping @usopengolf #erinhills #golf #golfing #golfswing

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Jun 14, 2017 at 10:34am PDT

If you think of the 9th at The Els Club in Dubai, maybe not quite as severe as that, but the ball running down to a little gathering area. So don’t be surprised if somebody with a good chipping game, whose able to negotiate that fairly well, challenges. In true US Open style, the winner will obviously need to putt well too.

We had a weather warning last night [Wednesday], kind of like a tornado warning at one stage, but the weather seems settled this morning, light winds, maybe 20 degrees already at 7am and I know they’re away already in the first round.

So you looking for players that are solid off the tee, hit it far enough, guys in what I call the mid to upper echelon, you know, the likes of Westwood, Stenson, Rose, all the way up to DJ and Bubba Watson. You definitely need to hit it far enough to contend.
I think we’ll also be talking about a good iron player come Sunday, somebody who can really control the trajectory and the shape of the ball coming into the green. So again, guys like Molinari, guys like Rose are possibly going to do well.

I watched DJ practice yesterday and he looked a little bit rusty. But Claude [Harmon] and he did some good work and by the end of the session he looked in pretty good spirits.

@peteruihlein 2nd at 3 #erinhills 171 9 iron @usopengolf #golfswing #golfing #golf #teamtitleist

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Jun 14, 2017 at 1:07pm PDT

And my guy? Well I’m pleased to say Peter warmed up and practiced really well so he looks good this week. He’s feeling great and he’s nice and relaxed ready for his professional U.S. Open. It’s certainly going to be a fascinating battle. Enjoy! — With Kent Gray.

Justin Parsons is the Director of Instruction at The Butch Harmon School of Golf at The Els Club, Dubai. Among his pupils is celebrated Dubai-based Indian amateur No.1 Rayhan Thomas.

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