U.S. Open: Big dog Brooks Koepka lurks after tongue lashing from coach
OAKMONT, Pa. — The last couple years have been so full of Rory-Scottie, Scottie-Rory that golf has collectively forgotten about a third major warrior: Brooks Koepka. On Thursday at the U.S. Open, Koepka reminded everyone that he holds five majors — two more than Scheffler, the same number as McIlroy — and when he's on, he's tough to beat.
Koepka finished his round at a 2-under 68, good enough to put him within striking distance of Round 1 leader J.J. Spaun at 4-under. More than that, Koepka halted a slide of futility that extended all the way back to his victory in the 2023 PGA Championship. Coming into this week, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Koepka had played 28 rounds in majors — every single one since that victory — without finishing the day in the top 10. That's the longest drought of his career.
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'It's nice to put a good round together. It's been a while. I've been working hard, just got into some bad habits and bad swing positions,' Koepka said. 'It's been so far off, it's on opposite sides, but now it's starting to click."
It didn't come without a tongue lashing from one of his coaches.
On Monday, Pete Cowen laid into him during a practice session. It lasted 45 minutes, Koepka on the receiving end of a scolding from Cowen. Things got so heated, Koepka said, Justin Thomas — practicing on the opposite side of the green — thought about intervening.
"I wasn't happy with it, but it was something you need to hear or I needed to hear," Kopeka admitted Thursday after his round. "I don't like having yes people around me. I just want people to tell me the truth. Tell me what's going on. What they see. If I start swaying from being Brooks Koepka, then I want them to call me out on it. He did a hell of a job on it."
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Apparently.
One stroke behind Koepka stands Jon Rahm, a fellow U.S. Open winner, fellow LIV Golf'er, and fellow recent struggler. Rahm bounced back from as high as +1 to as low as -2 thanks to an eagle on the par-5 4th. He couldn't hold onto that score, though, and wrapped the day at -1.
'If you're making par, you're gaining pretty much half a stroke on every hole. It's one of the craziest things that you can see,' Rahm said. 'So pars are always good. And knowing that if you make a bogey, you're not losing too much.'
Spaun posted an early number that held up throughout the day, quite the achievement for a player whose highest previous leaderboard position at a major was T6 at the Masters in 2022.
Brooks Koepka lines up a putt on the ninth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
'I kind of came out here with no prior history at Oakmont, not really knowing what to expect even U.S. Open-wise. This is only my second one,' Spaun said after his round. 'I don't know if that freed me up in any aspect, but I just tried to kind of take what the course gave me … I'm just overly pleased with how I started the tournament.'
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He's one of the few. Only 10 players finished the round under par, and recent history suggests that the winner will come from that crew. The last four winners of the U.S. Open were in the top seven after the first round, and 24 of the last 26 were in the top 20.
That doesn't bode well for other big names coming into the tournament. Rory McIlroy followed a 2-under first nine with an ugly 6-over second nine to finish the day at +4. Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau were only a single stroke better at +3.
'For whatever reason, just couldn't get the speed of the greens dialed in,' DeChambeau said. 'I mean, it could have been a couple-under round pretty easily.'
Scheffler broke down the course like he was doing algebra: 'There's not a ton of strategy, I would say. You just step up on the tee box and go, 'What club can I get into this fairway?' And then try and hit that club in the fairway, and if you don't, it's like, 'How am I going to get out of this rough and get the ball back in the fairway so I can have a shot at the green?' It's not like an overly strategic golf course where you know there's a lot of club options off the tee and stuff like that. It's just a golf course where you step on the tee box, look at that fairway and you're like, all right, get the ball in that thing.'
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The most real reaction came from Si Woo Kim. 'Honestly, I don't even know what I'm doing on the course,' he said. 'Kind of hitting good, but feel like this course is too hard for me.'
For the record, he's two strokes off the lead at -2 — same as Koepka, who was asked when was the last time he received a tongue lashing like the one he got on Monday.
"Erin Hills," he said.
That would be the 2017 U.S. Open ... which he won.
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