![]() ![]() It’s not easy going toe-to-toe with a guy like that,” Hovland said. I mean, that’s a hell of a record right there. “Brooks is a great player, and now he has five majors. After a drop into nasty rough, it took two more to get to the green. He knew immediately what happened, covered his mouth with a closed fist. Hovland hit 9-iron from the bunker on the 16th and could hear the awful thud of it rocketing into the turf at the edge of the sand. Koepka answered with a driver he smashed over the steep bunkers and onto the fringe at the reachable 14th, and after they made pars on the par-3 15th. Hovland pulled within one shot again with a 10-foot birdie on the 13th. Koepka seized on that by stuffing a wedge to 4 feet on the second and third holes, and rolling in an 8-foot birdie down the hill on the par-5 fourth.īut he drove into the water on the sixth hole and did well to make bogey, and another bogey from the rough on the seventh trimmed his lead to Hovland to one shot. His 65 matched the best score of the tournament, posted by four other players on a day that was set up for scoring. Scheffler started four shots behind and never got closer than two. Koepka gouged out a shot from the rough to 5 feet for birdie and suddenly was leading by four shots when Hovland made double bogey. Koepka was one shot ahead on the 16th hole when Hovland hit his 9-iron from a bunker that plugged into the lip in front of him - the same shot that stopped Corey Conners on Saturday - and made double bogey. He vowed he would not do that again, and Koepka delivered in a major way, just like he used to. ![]() He earned just short of $290,000 at Oak Hill.įor Koepka, his fifth major might have been the sweetest of all considering the scrutiny of his pedestrian play brought on by injuries and his decision to join LIV Golf, where he has won two of the 54-hole events.Ī month ago at the Masters, Koepka lost a two-shot lead in the final round by playing tentatively and was overrun by Jon Rahm. Not getting any better than this - no way in hell.”īlock charges $125 a lesson at Arroyo Trabuco in Mission Viejo, California. “I’m living a dream and making sure I’m enjoying the moment. “The most surreal moment I’ve ever had in my life,” Block said. ![]() It was the best finish by a club pro since Lonnie Nielsen tied for 11 in 1986 at Inverness. He tied for 15th, giving him a return date to the PGA Championship next year at Valhalla. Block made a hole-in-one on the 15th hole while playing with Rory McIlroy, and then made two tough par putts at the end for a fourth straight 70. Koepka had to share the loudest cheers with California club pro Michael Block, who put on an amazing show over four days. He can only early points in the majors, and two more are still to come. The top six automatically qualify, and it would be hard to fathom leaving Koepka off the American team. “To look back to where we were two years ago, I’m so happy right now,” Koepka said. Koepka looked as powerful as ever and left little doubt about his place in the game with his two-shot win over hard-luck Hovland (68) and Scottie Scheffler, who closed with a 65 and returned to No. “I’m not even sure I dream of it as a kid, that I’d win that many,” he said. Among active players, only Woods (15) and Phil Mickelson (6) have more. His five majors are as many as Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson. Koepka is in pretty heady company just about everywhere he looks. He now has won five of his last 22 majors, a rate exceeded only by Woods, Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Nick Faldo and Ben Hogan in the last 75 years. ![]()
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