PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – As his 9-foot birdie putt on the final green momentarily crept toward the hole before slipping past the right edge, Brooks Koepka doubled over.
Finally, the man who has built a legend by conquering one major after the next bared his mortality for all to see. The U.S. Open trophy, in his possession for the last 24 months, was heading for a new home. But while Koepka’s bid for three straight wins and a piece of sporting lore came up three shots short, the effort he put forth was nothing short of valiant.
“He’s like a cockroach,” said Xander Schauffele. “He just won’t go away.”
Koepka certainly didn’t go away Sunday at Pebble Beach, methodically stalking the leaders like a shark might take to a school of fish in the waters off the eighth fairway. Facing a four-shot deficit heading into the final round, Koepka had two stated goals: get off to a hot start on the easiest section of the course, and get within three of the lead when he made the turn. At that point, he’d take his chances.
He ticked off both of those boxes, rolling in birdies on four of his first five holes around a brilliant par save at No. 2 where it seemed for a moment like bogey might be something of a small victory. The Koepka Express was running full speed ahead as he trudged up the hill toward the sixth green, with the galleries buzzing at the prospect of history in the making.
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“It kind of felt like, all right, man, we’ve got a ballgame now,” Koepka said. “It was fun. Some excitement around the golf course, and that’s what you want.”
Though he fell short of the three-peat, the legend of Koepka’s recent run in majors continues to grow. He has alternated wins and runner-up finishes over the last four events, defeating hundreds of potential foes while looking up at just two names on the scoreboard: Woodland on Sunday and Tiger Woods at the Masters.
“He’s definitely found the recipe to make himself perform at the big ones,” said Adam Scott. “Of course, not everyone does that and it’s very hard to consistently play this well. But he mustn’t be changing too much, because he’s running with it.”
Others have had a shot at three U.S. Opens in a row, the last being Curtis Strange in 1990. But none went out while flashing the level of bravado with which Koepka played his final hole, lashing a 3-iron that sailed across Stillwater Cove and nearly toppled the flagstick on the fly.
When he looks back on what might have been, Koepka will likely rue some errant tee shots down the stretch that limited his ability to create scoring chances on some of Pebble’s most demanding holes. His birdie on No. 11, the one that brought him within a shot of Woodland’s lead, proved to be his last of the week.
Even that 9-footer on 18 became a footnote once Woodland buried a lengthy putt of his own, turning a tense finish into a three-shot margin of victory.
And while Koepka was in the unfamiliar position of talking to media as another player prepared to put his hands on a major trophy, there was no sense of regret or disappointment. He had shot his proverbial shot, devised a game plan and stuck to it. Each swing was executed as well as he’d hoped, even the ones where the results didn’t live up to expectation.
Koepka is a big-game hunter, and he has an equal appreciation for the fact that sometimes you just get beat on the big stage.
“You kind of realize, wow, I was just that close to accomplishing something that hasn’t been done in over 110 years. And that’s special,” Koepka said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get it done, but I mean, I don’t think anybody in the world played as good as Gary did this weekend. It was cool to see.”
Koepka’s matter-of-fact dissection of the prospects for the rest of the field at Bethpage drew some quizzical looks, up until the moment he grabbed the tournament by the throat en route to a wire-to-wire PGA Championship repeat victory. That same clinical approach brought him to the cusp of a historical achievement Sunday, but it also helped to keep any sense of bittersweet disappointment at bay.
Sure, four major trophies help cushion the blow when the quest for a fifth comes up short. But this is more about a man honing an incredibly productive approach, all while realizing that it may sometimes produce runner-up medals instead of victory speeches.
“Seeing Brooks Koepka do it today, he was trying to three-peat, all the pressure on him. He’s playing like he plays on Tuesday,” said Sunday playing competitor Chez Reavie. “I played with him Monday here, and he played exactly the same as Monday. There’s zero difference, no matter the stage, no matter what the situation.”
Earlier in the week, Koepka lamented the fact that he was hitting it “horrible” during early-week practice. A pedestrian showing last week in Canada hadn’t garnered much momentum, and he had found it difficult to get the crisp, driving contact he sought while banging balls on the Pebble Beach range.
So instead he sought to hone his swing during his actual competitive rounds, treating his first two trips around the course as an opportunity to “find (his) game.” The ascent of his name up the leaderboards was merely a welcome byproduct of those efforts.
It was with the same relative nonchalance that he swept away the three-peat that wasn’t, knowing full well that it won’t be long before he has another chance to contend for some more major glory. The three-peat bid may be dead, but the game’s current alpha isn’t going anywhere.
“It’s awesome to come this close to three in a row. It’s incredible. Anytime you can compete in a major is special, and to have a chance to go back-to-back-to-back, that was pretty cool,” Koepka said. “Just wasn’t meant to be this week.”