LOS ANGELES — For a time on Saturday, the U.S. Open began to feel like a Hollywood sequel as Brooks Koepka made his move at a major championship, stealthily maneuvering himself toward the upper reaches of the leaderboard, or at least close enough to alert the other primates to the presence of a silverback.
He began the third round at Los Angeles Country Club 10 strokes behind overnight leader Rickie Fowler, but the two-time winner – who has also won three PGA Championships on U.S. Open venues – knows that the score leading Saturday morning is often lower than what wins Sunday night. Posting a number would put him in the mix for a sixth major title and second of the season. For a while, he was doing exactly that.
Four birdies against one bogey moved Koepka to 3-under, and from tied-30th at daybreak into the lower rungs of the top 10. But the steely competitor who has often seemed impervious to the struggles that doom mortals on weekends in majors hit a pothole. Then another. By the time he signed for a round of 70, he was back where he began the day and his hopes of a third Open were all but extinguished.
Earlier this week, Koepka had proclaimed himself a fan of L.A.C.C.’s North Course, if he was playing a round with his buddies. But as a U.S. Open venue? Not so much. Three rounds in and the vagaries of Gil Hanse’s restored layout are still flummoxing him. “On eight, you can hit it where it barely lands on the left side and still miss the fairway right,” he said. “And everybody hits it to the same spot on three. Like why don’t we just play it from the wedge area? It makes no sense.”
But does it rise to the level of being unfair?
“No, I don’t think it’s unfair at all,” he quickly replied. “It’s plenty fair enough.”
I asked his opinion of the short 15th hole, which played 81 yards Saturday to a treacherous pin location on a small sliver of green.
“Which one is 15?” he said, thinking.
“The one you four-putted.”
He laughed. “Honestly, it’s fine. I just hit it long and hit four putts.”
“It’s tricky because of the wind. The wind is not consistent,” he continued. “The guys who teed off in front of us got it when it was calm, then we got it straight downwind. I put it up and it sailed.”
I asked when he had last teed up a lob wedge. “I must have been a young kid. It was definitely like 12 or under.”
When he arrived at the 15th tee, Koepka felt he was where he wanted to be. “I thought if I made…
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golfweek…