{"id":1311323,"date":"2019-06-12T15:56:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T21:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/koepka-facing-long-odds-for-another-us-open-title\/"},"modified":"2019-06-12T15:56:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T21:56:00","slug":"koepka-facing-long-odds-for-another-us-open-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/koepka-facing-long-odds-for-another-us-open-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Koepka facing long odds for another US Open title"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Brooks Koepka hits out of the bunker on the first hole during a practice round for the U.S. Open Championship golf tournament Tuesday, June 11, 2019, in Pebble Beach, Calif. (AP Photo\/Matt York)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Brooks Koepka should already have enough motivation for this U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

At stake is a shot at a U.S. Open record not touched in 114 years \u2014 three straight victories by Willie Anderson.<\/p>\n

On his mind was a Fox Sports preview that Koepka interpreted as another example of him not getting the credit he deserves, another chip on his broad shoulder, another chance to prove everyone wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cA bunch of people on Twitter I think tagged me in it \u2014 in the promo \u2014 and I guess they were amazed that I wasn\u2019t in it,\u201d Koepka said Tuesday. \u201cI just clicked on the link and watched it. Just kind of shocked. They\u2019ve had over a year to kind of put it out. So I don\u2019t know. Somebody probably got fired over it \u2014 or should.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it a slight?<\/p>\n

Fox had four U.S. Open promos, three of which included Koepka, one of them devoted entirely to Koepka and the history he can match. The other was entirely about Tiger Woods, the Masters champion who returns to the scene of his record 15-shot victory at Pebble Beach.<\/p>\n

Koepka wasn\u2019t clear about what shocked him. If there is any cause for a beef in the Woods promo, it was talk about passing the torch to the next generation and showing images of Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth \u2014 but not Koepka.<\/p>\n

The good news for Koepka?<\/p>\n

He says it\u2019s getting harder for him to hide when he\u2019s out in public. He can feel eyes on him when he walks into a restaurant, and he\u2019s not sure why all the fuss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just view myself as a regular guy, just like everybody else,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I just happen to be really good at golf. And that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was hard not to notice, maybe even appreciate, the interview room. Only six people attended his pre-tournament news conference last year at Shinnecock Hills when he was the defending champion, although it was late on a Wednesday afternoon. This time, it was hard to find six empty seats.<\/p>\n

Koepka has everyone\u2019s attention at Pebble Beach. He has won four of his last eight majors, a stretch of success only Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan have equaled in the era of four majors.<\/p>\n

Even so, it\u2019s another name that enters the equation this week.<\/p>\n

Koepka recalls seeing Anderson\u2019s name on a building in Scotland last summer, right after Koepka won his second U.S. Open. By then, Koepka was vaguely aware that the Scottish-born Anderson had won the U.S. Open in 1903, 1904 and 1905.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just try to put that in the back of my mind,\u201d Koepka said in a tone nearly as flat as his heart rate. \u201cIt\u2019s just another golf tournament. I have to go out and do what I\u2019m supposed to do. It\u2019s going to be a tough test this week \u2014 we all know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four players have had a shot at three straight U.S. Open titles since then. None came particularly close. The most recent opportunity fell to Curtis Strange in 1990 at Medinah, where a 68 brought him within two shots of the lead until he faded to a 75 in the final round and tied for 21st.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says it\u2019s another day, another round, another tournament,\u201d Strange said. \u201cIt\u2019s not. It\u2019s the U.S. Open. He\u2019s going for three in a row. But of anyone I\u2019ve seen who walks the walk, it\u2019s Brooks Koepka. He goes about his business in a professional way every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koepka realizes history is against him, and not just because it has been 104 years since anyone won a third straight U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

The last player to win any major three straight times was Peter Thomson in the British Open (1954-56). Take even a stock PGA Tour event, and it has been eight years since Steve Stricker was the last to win the same event three years in a row at the John Deere Classic.<\/p>\n

Woods won at least three straight years six times in five tournaments (he had two stretches of three straight wins at Firestone).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not thinking about it,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cI know the odds are stacked up probably even more against me now to go three in a row than to back it up. It\u2019s hard to win the same event three times in a row.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spieth got a close look at Koepka last month at Bethpage Black when they played in the final group of the third round, when Koepka maintained his seven-shot lead with an even-par 70 as the course began to toughen.<\/p>\n

Spieth was on a roll like this a few years ago. He won the Masters and U.S. Open and was close in the other two majors of 2015. He lost a five-shot lead on the back nine at the Masters the following year. He won the British Open in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe may be stoic on the golf course. I think that\u2019s his level of confidence that he has and his level of focus that he\u2019s been on,\u201d Spieth said. \u201cThat mentality on the golf course seems to be coming from the confidence in every swing that he\u2019s making. I\u2019ve been in similar situations. And it\u2019s really fun. And it\u2019s also sometimes even more difficult to stay as focused as he\u2019s been able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spieth doesn\u2019t like to hear phrases like Koepka being on a run because it speaks more of good fortune than simply good golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a run. This is who he is,\u201d Spieth said. \u201cAnd he\u2019s going to be a force to be reckoned with for decades. So get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooks Koepka hits out of the bunker on the first hole during a practice round for the U.S. Open Championship golf tournament Tuesday, June 11, 2019, in Pebble Beach, Calif. (AP Photo\/Matt York)AP | AP PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. \u2014 Brooks Koepka should already have enough motivation for this U.S. Open. At stake is a shot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1311323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 23:59:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}