First things first, Brooks Koepka is a very deserving U.S. Open Champion. It’s never easy to survive a USGA setup, even when they get it right, and in spite of their botched Saturday setup Koepka persevered. Driver may be his money club but it was his all around game that had him beating his work-out buddy and going back to back.
Dustin Johnson displayed his all around game in the first two rounds as he got up and down from all over the course. He showed up on Saturday with his C game and by the time he settled down the course was lost and so was he. He could never recover from Saturday’s poor round.
Long before the New Bash Brothers teed it up together in the penultimate pairing on Sunday (we knew one of them would be the winner) a gang of big names had been sent home early. Tiger Woods still showed he was lacking a complete game but has improved. Rory McIlroy needs a mental coach more than any golfer right now. John Rahm may win many majors but the U.S. Open may be his toughest task. His hot temper is tested on every hole at the Open. Sergio, Scotty, Day and Kuch all were hitting the beach on the weekend but the most painful of missed cuts had to be Golden Child, Jordan Spieth. He staged a valiant charge on his back nine with four straight birdies to climb inside the cut line only to finish bogey, bogey to miss the cut by a single shot. Yikes!
The coverage by Fox has improved…but still needs work. They like to be cutting edge and have presented us with plenty of enhanced viewing. They seemed to have microphones all over and caught a lot of on course chit chat. But with that comes the danger of “over-sharing” as they caught two guys bragging about their sexual escapades, yowser! 
I love Paul Azinger, he may be the best thing about Fox but he was playing the company man as he defended the USGA’s dangerous Saturday setup. He usually calls it how he sees it but I couldn’t help but think he was playing spin doctor for his bosses.
As far as Joe Buck goes…he’s a great baseball broadcaster…golf, not so much. I imagine it’s difficult to try and jump into that chair when you only do golf a few times a year. It’s obvious that golf is the sport he knows the least about and if I was Fox I would be transitioning over to Shane Bacon as their full time man. He had an expanded role this Open and this is a golf first guy. He knows the game and the players and for a young up and comer looks as smooth as any veteran on that set.
Early on in the week both Fox and the USGA’s website had multiple issues with their broadcasts. USGA’s online viewing was up and down and Fox lost their audio for awhile,,,maybe that wasn’t too bad after all.
Phil Mickelson, and I love Phil, but he burned up a lot of the good will he has amassed over the years with his Saturday shenanigans. He purposely broke a rule to better his chances. DQ him. He admitted as such afterwards. DQ him. He tried to say he used the rule to his advantage but he had other rules alternatives that would have resulted in less of score (declare the ball unplayable). DQ him. He appeared to be lying about knowing the rule and had wanted to do this for some time. DQ him. He actually thinks there was no harm done, he’s wrong. DQ him. He needs to be taken down a peg and the USGA acted like they were his bitch. DQ him. And then ban him from Pebble Beach next year for his blatant disregard for his partner, his colleagues, the rules and the game.
Shinnecock is a special place and I read and watched all week how the USGA and the maintenance staff were so prepared to present a perfect setup. They had learned from ’04 and had so much new technology that they could spot a blade of grass that was getting a degree too hot and react. And then it hit the fan on Saturday. All the blame here goes to the USGA and not the Shinnecock staff as for this week they are in control of the course. They set up the course to squeeze every last birdie out of it, it got some wind and was over the edge before the leaders hit the course. Just because you can push the course to the edge doesn’t mean your should. A Ferrari doesn’t go 150 all the time. The issue here isn’t the technology or the weather…it’s the USGA’s philosophy. Sure, they want to be the toughest major but how about a bit of self restraint and make the championship tough but fair. They have lost their way and that’s a shame.
I appreciate the Coore and Crenshaw re-do of Shinnecock and it looks as much like a links as a faux links course can be. But I wasn’t envious of those fans baking in that shade-less layout.
Props to those amateurs that survived to play on Sunday. Luis Gagne and Matt Parziale tied for 48th and Will Grimer finished 66th. Not bad.
Pet Peave: Koepka played great and deserved to win but he was bailed out by the grandstand when he hooked his approach into eighteen. I always wince when a player is given a drop when he airmails one into the stands or gets a bounce like he did. I know it is how they have to play it but if that grandstand wasn’t there…that ball is long gone into the stuff and double bogey is in the game. Oh well, good for Brooks that he got the bounce he did.
Early in the week Koepka declared he was the most confident player here and he should say that. He may have taken some heat for that but what’s he supposed to say,”I’m not confident.” Who would ever say that. What he didn’t say was that he was the best in the world. That title belongs to his buddy DJ. But with play like this week it may not be too long before he can.
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