Brooks Koepka

Koepka made a huge statement with his win at the PGA Championship, winning his fifth career major. It was the first major won by a LIV defector and perhaps nudged along the merger conversation. Koepka has been trying to ignore that outside noise and keep his focus on the main event, "I haven't paid too much attention to it, honestly. I've been trying to prep for this week. I'm just trying to make sure I come into a major championship -- there's four weeks a year I really care about and this is one of them, and I want to play well. So I wasn't going to waste any time on news that happened last week. I saw it. I was sitting at Grove at the bar there having breakfast and I saw it on TV. Watched a little bit of the interview, and that was it. Just went out and practiced." Koepka has finished top 5 in four of his last five tries at the U.S. Open with two of those doubling as wins (2017, 2018).  

Koepka had a target on his back all day as he was the 54-hole leader and he didn't show any sign of nerves. He opened with birdies in three of the first four holes to establish his intentions. He found a hazard at the sixth, a fried egg at the 11th, and took his medicine with a chip-out at the 17th. In all three instances, Koepka was able to minimize the damage with a bogey and nothing worse. Koepka is now 5-for-9 in converting 54-hole leads into wins. Koepka went through some injury struggles over the last few years but it's safe to say he's made it through on the other side and will be one of the favorites any time he pegs it in a major championship.

Koepka eased into his week with a 2-over 72 but has blitzed the field with back-to-back 66s to claim the top spot with one round remaining. It was a balanced attack today with 4.4 strokes gained tee-to-green and 2.2 strokes putting. Koepka's now in a familiar spot as this will be his ninth time holding a 54-hole lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR. Four of those were in major championships, two coming at the PGA Championship (2018, 2019). Most recently, he held the 54-hole lead at the Masters in April, settling for a runner-up finish that week. He's converted four of those eight 54-hole leads into wins and finished 3rd or better in all eight instances. Gamers should expect him to be right in the hunt for the remainder of the event. Koepka will start with Viktor Hovland (-5) and Corey Conners (-5) right on his heels and four other big names (Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy) all within five shots. 

Koepka split 10-of-14 fairways and landed 12 greens today. Those striking stats were respectable but not outstanding. From there, he lost around two strokes around-the-green, also losing two strokes to the field average for the round. "You know, I just kind of played average, and I didn't get any good breaks, either... That's how it goes sometimes. But I didn't feel like I played too bad, and then obviously just tried to give it a run there at the end, but just wasn't good enough. Congrats to Jon." Koepka was previously 3-for-3 in converting 54-hole leads into wins in major championships. This will go in the books as his second runner-up finish at the Masters, in eight tries.