By Christopher Powers
Following a T-55 finish in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Ernie Els knew that he may have just competed for the final time in the event. Despite winning two U.S. Opens, one in 1994 at Oakmont and another in 1997 at Congressional, the Big Easy was still out of luck, because the USGA does not give out lifetime exemptions to those who pass golf’s toughest test. Winners get exemptions into the next 10 Opens, though Els played in the next 20 thanks to qualifying in a number of different categories during that span.

But he finally ran out of exemptions in 2017, the final year of his five-year exemption he earned via his 2012 Open Championship win at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Erin Hills was his 24th U.S. Open appearance, cutting him one short of 25, though he was able to reach that milestone when the USGA awarded him with a special exemption last year at Shinnecock Hills. Els missed the cut, shooting rounds of 78 and 79.

Fortunately for Els, he’ll get another crack this year, as the USGA announced on Thursday that they’d award Els with another special exemption for the 119th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach this June. It will mark Els’ 27th consecutive appearance in the event, which has included his two victories, eight top 10s and five finishes inside the top five, the most recent coming in 2013 at Merion.

One of those top five finishes also came the last time the U.S. Open was held at Pebble Beach in 2010 when Els finished in solo third. Entering the final round he trailed Dustin Johnson by six shots, and when Johnson began to falter on Sunday Els was suddenly back in the mix. Through 13 holes on Sunday, he was at even par for the week, which would have been good enough to get into a playoff with eventual winner Graeme McDowell, but bogeys at the 14th and 17th holes ended his chances at a third U.S. Open triumph.

Els, who will captain the International team at this year’s Presidents Cup, has shown flashes of his former self in 2019. He’s made eight of 10 cuts on the PGA Tour for the season, with a high finish of T-20 coming at the Honda Classic. Over on the European Tour, Els has a pair of top 15 finishes in just three starts in 2019, including a T-7 at the Maybank Championship.

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“I’d love to continue,” Els said while sitting outside the clubhouse, having just signed for a closing 74 en route to a T-55 finish, “but if it doesn’t happen, it’s been 25 years. How many guys can say they’ve played in 25 U.S. Opens?”

On Wednesday, Els learned he’ll get to play in a 26th at Shinnecock Hills, the USGA having given the 48-year-old two-time winner a special exemption into this summer’s championship.

Els wasn’t the only former champion to receive good news from the USGA as Jim Furyk also received an exemption. The 2003 winner had played in 23 previous Opens, including the last 22 straight.

“Getting to play in another U.S. Open at a historic course like Shinnecock Hills really gets my competitive spirit flowing,” said Furyk, who is trying to balance spending time recovering from a shoulder injury to play on the PGA Tour in 2018 with responsibilities his this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team captain. “I’ve had great success in my many trips to the U.S. Open and winning one is a highlight of my career.”

Indeed, Furyk’s record in the national championship is better than many people give him credit for. In addition to his victory at Olympia Fields, the 47-year-old has three runner-up finishes (2006, 2007 and 2016) and three other top-five performances (1996, 1997 and 2012). In 23 starts, he has missed the cut only three times. Last year at Erin Hills, he finished T-23 and had yet to earn a spot into the field for Shinnecock Hills.

Els, too, has a standout history at the U.S. Open. Besides his wins at Oakmont in 1994 and Congressional in 1997, he finished second in 2000, third in 2010 and in the top 10 a total of 10 times.

Related: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els named Presidents Cup captains, one of whom is interested in being a playing captain

“It’s a thrill, and I’m very grateful to the USGA,” said Els, who on Tuesday was formally introduced as the captain of the 2018 International Presidents Cup team. “Obviously, the U.S. Open means a lot to me. This is kind of where it all started, you might say.”

The USGA had handed out special exemptions into the U.S. Open 52 times in the past, beginning with Ben Hogan in 1966. The last time the USGA handed one out was to Retief Goosen in 2016. Before then, Tom Watson and Vijay Singh received exemptions in 2010. Only one player—Hale Irwin in 1990—has gone on to win the U.S. Open after being given a special exemption.

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Yes, Fowler was happy for his good friend Justin Thomas winning the PGA Championship. But you got the sense this one maybe stung a little more than it did at Erin Hills, where Fowler went into the final round just two strokes off the lead of Brian Harman and one back of eventual winner Brooks Koepka.

“It’s special,” he said of Thomas’ victory, watching the trophy ceremony near the edge of the 18th green at Quail Hollow Club on Sunday. “I told him I was gonna go out and try to show him something. At least I was able to do a little bit of that on the back nine.

“My time’s coming. It’s not long.”

Maybe not. But it didn’t happen last week, thanks in part to a bogey-double bogey-bogey third-round finish Saturday that took him, for all intents and purposes, out of the tournament.

A day later, Fowler rattled off four straight birdies between Nos. 12 and 15 on his way to a 67 but finished three back. The thought of what happened at the end of the third round was still on his mind.

“It’s not an easy course, not an easy closing stretch,” he said. “Anything can happen.

“To see [Thomas] post [63] at Erin Hills, the start he got off to this year and the wins, it was just a matter of time. Some of it is playing good golf, some of it was being in the right place at the right time. I think it was a little of both for J.T. this week. [Saturday] he fought it out when he wasn’t having the best day. I was out in front of him for most of the day, and I struggled coming in and he made some good pars coming in to put himself in position to do what he did today.”

Fowler finished in the top five of two majors this season, and the seventh time over the last seven years. But he also has zero wins, as he noted in a humorous Snapchat post when he joined Thomas and Tiger Woods at Woods’ restaurant earlier this week.

Most players go through some form of blowing it before winning the big one. Fowler will break through at some point. And after Sunday it feels like that time is getting closer.

MORE CHANGES TO QUAIL HOLLOW

So much was made about Quail Hollow and the changes to the course for the PGA Championship (more on that later). It was best summed up by Rory McIlroy, who said, “This is not the Quail Hollow we have gotten to know over the last 10 years. It’s a completely different golf course.”

When the Presidents Cup is played there in 2021 it probably won’t be the one that we saw for the year’s final major, either.

The biggest difference could be … everyone at once now … The Green Mile. Currently, holes 16 through 18 make up the difficult stretch. According to Quail Hollow president Johnny Harris, a re-routing for the match-play event will push The Green Mile up to holes 13 through 15 so that they impact more matches.

“Everyone gets to play it then,” he said.

Other potential routing changes according to Harris would include the 10th hole being played as the 16th, the 11th as the 17th and nine as the finisher, among other possibilities.

As for the future of the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship held annually at Quail Hollow, that’s still TBD. The tournament will be there through the end of 2019 but with several scheduling changes expected, Quail Hollow could move from an annual venue to a big-event spot for the Presidents Cup, PGA Championship or other marquee championships every handful of years.

A CASE FOR RORY TO PLAY?

Rory McIlroy sounded on Sunday like he was trying to convince himself to play in the FedEx Cup Playoffs as his rib injury continues to linger.

His answer when asked why would he play?

“A sense of duty,” he said. “But then at the same time, if you are not capable of playing at your best, why should you play? So, again, it’s a Catch-22.

Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

”He has already won a FedEx Cup (last year) and has a lot to sort out—injury, caddie, short game. With little offseason to handle all this, a big-picture, long-term approach would probably be better than meandering through a few more events of what has already been a long year for the 28-year-old Northern Irishman on and off the course.

Which speaks to another point. More and more, we’re seeing top players get worn down by a never-ending calendar (see: Jason Day).

Even if players aren’t teeing it up every week and only playing around 25 weeks a year (on tour and elsewhere around the world), some extended time off seems only beneficial. Especially with how cramped the season gets this time of year.

THREE THINGS I THINK I THINK

I think the PGA of America saved itself from what could have been a disaster in the waiting by adjusting its setup for Sunday’s final round and making it a little more player friendly. For the first three days, a lot of golfers said birdie opportunities were scarce because of a combination of faster-than-expected putting surfaces and holes located on ridges that couldn’t necessarily accommodate the green speed. Couple that with some simply poor changes—the fourth green, with, in short, no good hole-locations, was most notable to players I talked to—and the whole thing just seemed off, until it was saved by the finish. What does it tell you that club member Webb Simpson was critical of the “new” Quail Hollow’s setup for the PGA? …

I think Thomas is the leader in the clubhouse for Player of the Year honors if voting ended today. But having talked to a handful of players, a lot can change depending on what happens in the Playoffs. Jordan Spieth is still in the mix with an outside shot for Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson. …

I think the PGA Tour’s unveiling of its fall schedule for the 2017-’18 season, complete with the inaugural CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in South Korea, is the latest sign of not only how global golf is but how the biggest tour in the world is becoming more global, too. It was only a few years ago that all the fall events were played in the U.S. Now half of the eight are scattered across the globe, including three in Asia.

WHO I LIKE THIS WEEK

The Wyndham Championship is the last chance for those hovering around the 125 spot in the FedEx Cup standings to secure a spot in the postseason. At 116th, that includes Ben Martin. The good news for the 2009 U.S. Amateur runner-up, who is now 29 and won the tour’s annual stop in Vegas three years ago, is that he’s trending in the right direction of late with three finishes in the top 15 in his last six starts. He also putts well on Bermudagrass and in his last start at the Barracuda Championship ranked third in the field in greens hit, an important number to keep in mind at Donald Ross-designed Sedgefield. The player I like even more, though, is Chez Reavie. He tied for fourth at Memphis in June and has been steady for a couple of months with top-25s in the U.S. Open and PGA. He’s also in the top 30 on tour in total birdies, par-4 performance, is 32nd in GIR and leads in proximity to the hole. He also has a couple of top 10s in the event.

David Cannon/Getty Images

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By Dave Shedloski

Xander Schauffele honoured a U.S. Open tradition this year at Erin Hills, providing the championship with the obligatory first-round surprise with his six-under 66 in his debut in a major championship. But the former San Diego State All-American has gone off script since.

Most unknowns tend to fade back into obscurity, if not during the championship then quickly thereafter. Not Schauffele, who hung around all week at Erin Hills, shot a final-round 69 and finished T-5 for just his second top-10 of his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

Nice work, kid. Everyone has a hot week. What else have you got?

Plenty it turns out.

With a three-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole on the Old White TPC at The Greenbrier Resort on Sunday, Schauffele broke a tie with Robert Streb and captured The Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. Schauffele closed with a three-under 67 for a 14-under 266 total to win in just his 24th PGA Tour start.

“I’m at a loss for words,” said Schauffele, 23, who is yet another young player from the high school graduating class of 2011 to break through, a group that includes Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Daniel Berger. “Honestly, [it] just changed my life, really. I need a while to take it all in.”

This is what he took in: a berth in the Open Championship, PGA Championship and next year’s Masters as well as $1.278 million. He is the fourth rookie to win on tour this season, joining Wesley Bryan, Cody Gribble and Mackenzie Hughes, and he became the 13th player 25 or younger to triumph, the most on tour since 1970.

“I hate to say it … but, yeah, I mean, our class has always been really strong, and I always joke with my buddies saying it’s not cool to be 23 and on the PGA Tour anymore since everyone that’s been 22, 23, 24, they’re all winning,” Schauffele said, “so I guess kudos to them for kind of pushing me along.”

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for the 23-year-old from San Diego, who survived a five-man playoff for two spots in the 36-hole U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Memphis to earn trip to Erin Hills. When he arrived, Schauffele was 135th in the tour’s FedEx Cup standings. He followed up his T-5 in Wisconsin with a T-14 at the Travelers, finished T-35 last week at the Quicken Loans National, and now has made the ultimate leap to move to 27th in the FedEx Cup race.

On Sunday, Schauffele overcame a three-stroke deficit to another rookie, Sebastian Munoz, and outdueled Streb, who finished runner-up at The Greenbrier for the second straight time. Streb, who lost to Danny Lee in a four-man playoff in 2015—last year’s event postponed due to deadly flooding in West Virginia—had a chance to tie, but failed to birdie the par-5 17th and then left a chip to force a playoff short after missing the green at 18 to close with a 69 and 267 total.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Schauffele, now a first-time PGA Tour winner, traces his strong play back to his first-round performance at the U.S. Open

Did Schauffele’s U.S. Open performance really mean that much?

“The U.S. Open was a huge moment in my career,” said Schauffele, who is coached by his father, Stefan, a former world-class decathlete from Germany. “It was one of the biggest stages, and for me to kind of be calm and collected throughout the week and just kind of hang on and come in tied fifth was huge for me mentally. So it kind of gave me the confidence and allowed me to play and win this week.”

That he proved when he hit a hard wedge from 162 yards on the par-3 finishing hole to set up the winning putt.

“I just tried to go back to the basics, close my eyes and take some deep breaths,” Schauffele said. “It’s incredible. Just to know that my team and I are, we’re doing the right things and we can kind of push forward and hopefully just stay on the same track.”

As part of the Open Championship Qualifying Series, the top four players among the top 12 not otherwise exempt earned a berth in the Open at Royal Birkdale. In addition to Schauffele, the others were Streb, Munoz and Jamie Lovemark.

For the second straight week, a player who led each of the first three rounds failed to win. David Lingmerth did it at Quicken Loans National, and on Sunday it was Munoz, who closed with a 73 to finish T-3 with Lovemark. Munoz, who opened with a 61, had as many bogeys in the final round—five—as he tallied in the first three rounds combined. His last was the fatal one. Tied for the lead at 13 under with Streb and Schauffele, the rookie from Colombia missed the green from 105 yards at the par-4 16th and couldn’t get up and down.

Still, Munoz had his best finish of the season, and he will make his major championship debut at Royal Birkdale.

He can look to Schauffele to understand what that could mean.

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Rory McIlroy is taking an indefinite sabbatical from social media as his spat with fellow major champion Steve Elkington resurfaced at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Wednesday.

Former PGA Championship winner Elkington took to Twitter after McIlroy had missed the cut at last month’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills, accusing the 28-year-old Northern Irishman of being “so bored playing golf”.

McIlroy admitted Wednesday that he regretted his retort, despite widespread support in the wake of the tit-for-tat, but couldn’t help himself.

RELATED CONTENT: Rory McIlroy destroys Steve Elkington after Elk tries to call him out

“I must have wrote that Tweet and deleted it about five times before I actually sent it,” McIlroy said at Portstewart on the eve of the DDF Irish Open where he is not only the defending champion but also tournament host via his Rory Foundation.

“I sort of regret sending it at the end [and] I actually gave my wife, Erica, my phone and my Twitter and told her: Change my password to something else and don’t tell me what it is.

“So as of the time being, I’m off social media just because of that reason. I don’t need to read it. It’s stuff that shouldn’t get to you and sometimes it does. So yeah, off it for a while.”

McIlroy admitted he would probably have insinuation that he was too rich to care slide had it not come from “inside the ropes”.

“It’s not what was said. It was who said it and who — anyone that’s been in that environment should realise how hard golf is at times, and I think that’s the thing that got to me more than anything else.

“If it was written by a member of the media or something, I could let it slide, because I can sort of say to myself, they don’t really know how it is and they don’t know what you have to deal with. But a former player that has won a major and been successful; that’s sort of why it got to me and that’s why I sort of retaliated a little bit.”

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My trip to the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills turned out to be an ego trip.

That happens when you’re one of the co-designers of Erin Hills and your ugly mug is flashed, even briefly, on television. Along with my fellow designers, Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, I made the most of every opportunity. We became bona fide celebrities de jure, albeit undercard division, filling airtime in that dull Sunday through Wednesday lead-up to the main event.

It was enough exposure that people in the gallery would walk up and ask for our autographs. I signed so many hats (and flags!) that, by Tuesday, I made sure I had my trusty Sharpie in my pocket as I headed to the course. Forgot my sunglasses one morning, but not my Sharpie.

One guy asked me to sign the back of his flag, so as not to soil Jordan Speith’s signature. Another asked me to pose for a selfie, which I did, and then shook my hand, saying, “Terrific course, Dr. Hurdzan.”

Like any good Kardashian, I had my entourage. My wife Lynn and I had rented a five-bedroom house on the edge of North Lake, 15 minutes from Erin Hills, and our five daughters, three sons-in-law and five grandsons all joined us, as did a niece and her husband from Omaha. The USGA had provided me with tickets for all, some Hospitality, some Gallery, so I had to play Scrooge on a couple of mornings, picking who deserved air conditioning that day. On Thursday I played Solomon, allowing one daughter to have breakfast in the Rules Hospitality tent before surreptitiously switching tickets with another daughter so she could also sample the buffet line.

The author, in the back with a purple shirt, with his extended family during an eventful U.S. Open week at the course he helped design.

My family played its part, particularly at the Monday afternoon USGA Architects Forum, in which Mike, Dana and I pontificated for an hour on the virtues of Erin Hills, each of us

proving that we’ve yet to grasp the sound-bite mentality that is essential to today’s media. Had Adam Barr not let the Whitten Clan into the media tent to watch the event (and cool off), I suspect it would have lacked a quorum.

But enough about my family. This column is about me, budding narcissist.

Mike, Dana and I made two appearances on Golf Channel, one Monday evening, the other early Wednesday morning. The first time, we climbed the Golf Channel tower to the “Live From” set, incredibly cramped for such a rickety structure, and as a make-up artist dusted our noses, we watched Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee and Frank Nobilo discuss whether U.S. Open courses should now measure 8,000 yards. At the end of the segment, the first of the nightly rainstorms rolled in and a crack of lightning struck uncomfortably nearby.

“Talent off the set,” the director shouted. “Down to the rain room.” Chamblee and Nobilo shed their microphones and were hustled downstairs. I expected to follow, but instead, microphones were put on Mike, Dana and me, and we took chairs at the desk, the open air backdrop of a storm rolling in behind us. I looked at Lerner, still at his seat, and thought, “Isn’t he talent, too?” But, pro that he is, he stayed to conduct a quick interview with the three expendables. Anchors, I presume, are grounded.

I returned to the tower early Wednesday morning and found it empty. So I sat on the steps, thinking that sooner or later the “Morning Drive” crew would show up. A writer walked by, said hello, and asked why I wasn’t with Mike and Dana on the practice range, where they were talking with Matt Ginella. So I ran to the practice range, found I had plenty of time to get miked up, but they stuck me on the side of a slope of the tee box next to Dana. He’s about my height but looked half a foot taller than me in the shot. Seeing my profile on a rebroadcast that evening, I looked like Danny Devito as The Penguin.

The rest of the week, I strutted around the gallery each day, awaiting recognition. One morning, a small scrum behind the eighth green caught my eye, so I investigated. It was Bob Lang, the original owner of Erin Hills, signing hats with his signature and tag line, “Golf is a Journey.” He saw me and motioned me over.

We proceeded to entertain a dozen spectators with a five-minute comedy routine, me mostly the butt of his jokes. But I got in one good jab.

“Back in twenty-oh-three, Ron gave me a copy of his book,” Bob told our modest audience, “and Ron inscribed it, ‘Someday I’ll write a book about Erin Hills, and I’ll call it, Golf is a Journey.’ You remember that, Whitten? Isn’t that right?”

“Yes,” I responded, “and you stole my line.”

That got a big enough laugh that a marshall shushed us up.

On Sunday, the plan was for Mike, Dana and me to walk down the 18th hole with the U.S. Open champion, whomever that might be. But I wanted to walk the entire course first. I selected the twosome of Patrick Reed and Russell Henley, both four strokes back of leader Brian Harman at the start of the fourth round, and three groups ahead.

I’d been given a lime green lanyard which got me inside the ropes, and the unwritten rule is that such a lanyard is tethered to those perimeter ropes. But I wanted to walk down the middle of every fairway on my golf course that Open Sunday, despite not having a lime green Walking Access badge. Figuring it’s better to seek forgiveness than permission, I simply slipped under the rope after Reed and Henley teed off, and I strolled out into the middle of the first fairway, following them at a respectable distance, acting like I belonged there.

No one questioned my presence, so I followed the group for the next four hours, soaking up the grandeur, pretending the polite applause was for me. I did contribute a bit on the 12th. After Henley smothered his second shot, from the first cut of rough, into deep fescue, he and his caddie headed far too far into the gunch in search of it, so I trotted over to where I’d seen the ball go in, pushed back the thigh-high grass and said, “Here’s your ball.”

“Don’t touch it!” the caddie shouted, and I took that as a thank-you.

Henley salvaged a bogey at 12, but then bogeyed the par-3 13th, four-putted the 14th and took a horrendous 8 on the short par-4 15th, a score that undoubtedly contributed to making 15 the hardest hole that last day. Reed, meanwhile, played steady golf, playing magnificent recoveries every time he missed a green, but he failed to sink a single birdie putt in my presence. Sorry, Patrick.

At the 15th, I spotted Hurdzan, so I left the Reed-Henley pairing. Mike and I quickly surmised that Brooks Koepka was likely to win this thing, and after we watched him birdie 15, we decided to follow him home. When Koepka then birdied the par-3 16th, we knew it was all over.

On the 18th, Koepka hit a towering 3-wood tee shot, followed by another to the slope below the green of this massive par 5. As Mike and I walked a short distance behind him, I kept looking for Dana, but never found him. Perhaps he was still with Harman, hoping for a miracle.

As Mike and I proudly marched shoulder to shoulder down the 18th of Erin Hills, sure enough, an official in a lime green shirt approached us. “Off the fairway,” he said. “You don’t have Walking Access.”

“It’s the last hole,” Mike said. “We’re the architects. Cut us some slack.” The official did.

A lot has been made of the fact that, during my many interviews leading up to the U.S. Open, I repeatedly predicted that, if the wind didn’t blow, the winner would shoot 16-under par. People were amazed that I’d hit Koepka’s score on the nose. I don’t understand why. To steal a line from Paul Simon: As if I didn’t know my own bed?

Once every 25 years I turn into Carnak. Back in 1992, when the U.S. Open was played at Pebble Beach (the last par 72 Open until Erin Hills), I bet longtime Golf Digest editor-in-chief Nick Seitz that Tom Kite, who hadn’t even qualified for the Masters that year, would win it. Kite did, and I won a whole ten bucks.

I won another ten bucks this year, this time from golf architect Stephen Kay, with whom I designed my first course, Architects Golf Club in New Jersey. Stephen and I have a running wager on every major, alternately making 12 picks in advance of each event. Yes, among my dozen picks this year was Brooks Koepka. Surprised?

As if I’d never noticed the way he brushed his hair from his forehead.

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By Ryan Herrington

Brian Harman said it himself on Sunday night outside the clubhouse at Erin Hills. If you told him at the start of the week he’d shoot 12 under par at the U.S. Open and not be the guy holding the trophy, he’d have bet otherwise. So it was that when he walked off the course with that 72-hole score, only to finish four strokes back of champion Brooks Koepka, there was no doubt some bewilderment being felt by the lefty.

At some point soon, the 30-year-old who claimed his second victory on the PGA Tour just last month, will appreciate the positives that came from the week in Wisconsin, when Harman’s former prodigy self reemerged. Most tangibly, his T-2 finish was by far the best in a major championship (consider that his showing in the last nine majors had been MC, MC, MC, MC, DNP, DNP, DNP, DNP and DNP).

But having held the 54-hole lead, and playing the best golf of his professional career, Harman struggled to find much satisfaction in nearly coming in first.

“I don’t believe in moral victories,” Harman said. “I had an opportunity today, and I didn’t get it done. At the same time, I don’t feel as though I lost the golf tournament. I think Brooks went out and won the tournament.”

Where Harman wishes things could have gone better is his play off the tee. While giving up some length on the others atop the leader board, the spritely for U.S. Junior champion made up for it with his precision driving. Come Sunday, however, it abandoned him.

“I felt I had a good game plan,” Harman said. “I just wish I was able to put a little more pressure on the course. I just didn’t drive it as well as I wanted to.”

Indeed, Harman hit only eight fairways compared to 12, 13 and 12 the previous three days. Yet when he turned at one under for the front nine, Harman was still very much in the hunt.

Where things started to slip was when, tied for the lead with Koepka, Harman made his first two bogeys on the back nine for the entire week. A wayward drive in the fescue on the par-4 12th hole forced him to lay up. His third shot hit the front of the green but spun off and he failed to make the par save from 92 feet off the green. Then on the par-3 13th, he three-putted from 32 feet.

Meanwhile, up ahead Koepka was making three straight birdies at Nos. 14-16, putting himself four up on Harman. “That was kind of lights out,” Harman said.

Harman admitted entering the final round there was extra motivation to prove to any doubters that he was worthy of contending in a major. That same motivation remains as Harman now plays the rest of the season, his sixth on the tour, believing in his heart that the week in Erin Hills wasn’t an aberration, but the start of the next phase of his career.

Said Harman: “I’m just going to keep trying to do what I’m good at and keep doing what I know how to do, and see where that takes me.”

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By Brian Wacker

Jordan Spieth ended his four days at the U.S. Open before the last group even teed off on Sunday, finishing at one-over 289 following a final-round 69 on a breezy morning at Erin Hills.

Still, he came away with a lot to be happy about.

For one, with good friends Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler in contention he planned on sticking around.

“I don’t think anybody should be surprised with the way they’ve been able to do in other events,” Spieth said. “They’re playing against the same people they always play against. It’s just a matter that this is one of the four majors in a year, and this is a U.S. Open. And it’s just kind of getting that out of your head and just playing against who you’re playing against like it’s a regular tournament.

“It’s going to be really fun. I’ll probably go back, pack up and then I’ll come back and have a beer and watch the closing stretch. That’s the plan.”

As for Spieth’s other plan this week, it didn’t exactly go as he would have liked, thanks mostly to a balky putter.

Until Sunday that is.

With his sister Ellie telling Spieth on Saturday night that she wanted him to make 16 birdies, according to the Associated Press, Spieth obliged on each of his first two holes.

Then came a run of nine straight pars and a mix of two bogeys and three more birdies to finish with five in all. It was OK. Spieth said he had fun on Sunday and throughout the week.

“I struck the ball the same way I have been,” he said. “I think I hit 17 greens today which was just awesome in these conditions. And then my expectations were lowered on the greens given the conditions. I think that was the difference. I was able to get to a few under by just accepting the fact that the putt might miss instead of having to have it be perfect. And that’s what we’ve been working on, but maybe a day like today is all it needed to just kind of calm down.”

Spieth actually hit 13 greens technically, but left the ball in good enough spots to putt more than that. He would have liked to see the wind blowing the rest of the week.

Still, he came away impressed with a course few knew anything about coming in, and with how the USGA set it up.

“I think it’s an awesome golf course,” he said. “I think that’s been the consensus from everybody.

“There are so many great ones to choose from. I’m sure at some point it will come back here. … I would like to see another one here down the road.”

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By Joel Beall

The caddies call the ninth at Erin Hills the “the world’s shortest par 5.” They weren’t too far off with that assessment on Sunday.

The ninth features elevated tee boxes and eight bunkers, each which hug the green. It’s a deep putting surface, but one not particularly wide or generous. The right side presents a swale, funneling balls to a trench that presents a tough two-putt no matter the pin’s location. The left’s no easier, as the bunkers are dangerously close to the putting surface. Same goes for the back.

The hole has been the site of some of the rowdiest crowds of the week, framed by grandstands and luxury suites. Throw in a pond that’s not in play but nevertheless adds an aesthetic element, it’s one of the more unique places on the property.

Depending on the box, the hole can have shades of the “Postage Stamp,” seen on Saturday when it measured just 123 yards. But during the fourth round, officials moved the tees 50 yards back and tucked the hole just four paces off the back-right of the green. Visually, it’s as imposing a shot as any on the course. And because of its elevation, the wind — whipping right to left — added another level of confusion. One that wreaked havoc on the U.S. Open field.

David Cannon

With players still making their trek on the back side, the ninth ranks as the second-toughest hole on Sunday. Out of the 68 players who teed it up, only four carded birdies. There were 20 bogeys, three doubles and one “other.” Add it up and it equates to a 3.368 figure.

Impressively, though, the final groups managed to pass through without much harm. Brian Harman, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama parred, with Tommy Fleetwood making one of the rare birds. Guess that’s why they’re the ones in contention.

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By Dave Shedloski

There hasn’t been a repeat winner in the U.S. Open in nearly 30 years, since Curtis Strange in 1989, but it sure looked like the same guy won the championship for a second year in a row.

Brooks Koepka, a golfing pugilist in the mold of 2016 champion Dustin Johnson and with the same high expectations—and low blood pressure—captured the 117th U.S. Open Sunday at Erin Hills with a combination of power and timely putting for his first major title. Koepka blasted his way to a five-under-par 67 on a breezy day on the linksy first-time U.S. Open site to win by four strokes over third-round leader Brian Harman and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.

Navigating tricky conditions with pure ball-striking, Koepka pulled away from a battle with Harman to complete 72 holes in 16-under 272, tying the championship scoring record in relation to par that Rory McIlroy set in 2011 at Congressional Country Club.

Harman began the day one stroke ahead of Koepka, England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas—who set the scoring record in relation to par Saturday with a nine-under 63—but endured an uneven round of 72 to share runner-up honors at 12 under with Matsuyama, whose inward 32 yielded a 66.

Koepka, who has the same swing coach as Johnson, Claude Harmon III, and who often works out with DJ in Jupiter, Fla., used the term “chill” to describe his mood all week in the biggest ball park in U.S. Open history. “I felt like I was playing some of the best golf I’ve ever played,” said the Florida native, who had just one bogey (a three-putt) and hit 12 fairways and 17 greens in regulation the final day. “All around, my game was pretty solid, and if you can go around here without making a double bogey, then you’re doing all right.”

RELATED: Brooks Koepka muscles his way into history

Ranked 22nd in the world entering the week, Koepka, 27, emerged from a leader board that was crowded with contenders who never had won a major title. He became the eighth champion in the past 11 years to make the U.S. Open his first major victory. It was just his fourth professional title and second in America, but it yielded the biggest first prize in golf history, $2.16 million.

Tommy Fleetwood, also shooting 72, ended up fourth at 277, while first-round sensation Xander Schauffele, a PGA Tour rookie playing in his first major, closed with a 69 to share fifth place at 278 with Bill Haas, who also had 69, and Rickie Fowler, the first-round leader, who settled for 72. Thomas, meanwhile bogeyed three of his first five holes and made only one birdie in a 75 to fall to T-9. He had made nine birdies and an eagle the day before.

“I just didn’t have it today,” said Thomas, who is part of the Jupiter crowd that plays together, a group that includes Koepka, Johnson and Fowler. “But it made me feel a lot better seeing Brooks shoot five under. I would have had to play some pretty spectacular golf to catch him.”

Koepka and Harman were tied through 11 holes until the left-hander suffered consecutive bogeys. Then Koepka pulled away with a brilliant stretch of putting that started when he saved par at the 13th with a nine-footer. “I built on that putt on 13,” he said.

A five-footer at the par-5 14th after Koepka reached a greenside bunker in two on the 588-yard hole started a run of three birdies in a row that essentially clinched it. He followed with a 10-footer at 15 after a “chipped” 8-iron from 155 yards and then nailed a 17-footer at 16 to tie McIlroy at 16 under. And Koepka had the reachable par-5 18th in front of him.

Koepka, evokes much of the same detached demeanor as Johnson, and on the 72nd hole, he exhibited the same kind of power and self-assurance as that Dustin did a year ago at Oakmont. With a 3-wood in hand, Koepka nuked a 379-yard drive down the middle on the finisher that was set up to play 681 yards on Sunday. His second came up just short of the green, however, and his ball rolled down the front slope into an awkward lie next to a bunker. He almost muffed the third, leaving it 41 feet away, but calmly two-putted for the title.

Heck, his fist pump after the final putt dropped, strong but restrained, even conjured memories of Johnson at Oakmont.

Streeter Lecka

Coincidentally, Koepka credited Johnson, who missed the cut, with helping him—albeit in absentia—on the closing stretch. Johnson had called him on Saturday night, and Koepka thought back to their brief conversation. “It was a long phone call. For us, it was like two minutes,” Koepka joked, as the pressure started to build.

“That meant a lot,” Koepka said. “He just told me to keep doing what I’m doing, stick to my game plan, not get ahead of myself. I thought about that phone call on 14 today. I tried not to get ahead of myself and stay in the moment. And it worked.”

“I played with him at the Memorial two weeks ago. He’s just really impressive physically. Just pounds the ball,” Haas said, warming up to make the comparison to DJ. “He’s got a lot of Dustin Johnson in him—just long and straight. And he’s going to overpower golf courses, and he’s got a great demeanor. He’s just like Dustin, I would say. They’re very much a similar player, where nothing seems to bother them. And it’s no surprise. You watch him hit, it’s a little different than most of us out here.”

There’s certainly something different about him now. Koepka is the seventh first-time major winner in a row, a run that started with Jason Day at the 2015 PGA Championship.

After signing his scorecard, Koepka was seen holding his head in his hands, overcome with emotion, as he rode in a golf cart to a televised interview on FOX and the presentation of the U.S. Open trophy and the Jack Nicklaus gold medal, before the traditional 18th-hole ceremony.

He was finding it difficult to grasp what he had accomplished.

“What I’ve done this week is amazing,” Koepka said when he read some of the names on the trophy. “To have my name associated with players like that … this is truly special.”

More than anything, it was special because he felt like he had been an underachiever, that he wasn’t a closer, that he only had a single PGA Tour win, the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. A one-time baseball prodigy, he was striking out.

“I just felt like I should be winning more,” he said, explaining frustrations that he now has exorcised, at least for the time being. “I don’t know why. It’s one of those things, not a big fan of losing; I don’t think anyone out here is. And I just couldn’t stand the fact that I’d only won once.”

Well, he certainly took care of that.

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