Sunday at the U.S. Open. It’s the toughest day perhaps in all of golf — and perhaps it’s finally about to live up to the reputation it’s built over the last century or more. Wild winds are the story of the morning at Erin Hills, and scores are expected to balloon on Sunday. That’s a change from the past few days, especially Saturday, which saw Justin Thomas break Johnny Miller’s long-held U.S. Open single-round scoring record. He’ll start the day in the final pairing, where he’s set to tee off at 3:54 ET alongside Brian Harman, who leads the championship by one shot. With a number of big names absent, Rickie Fowler will be the headliner for most casual fans. He’ll start the day 2 off the lead at around 3:30 eastern.
We’ll have full coverage here throughout the day.
Brooks Koepka wins the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills
Brooks Koepka wins his first major, and does it running away in the 117th U.S. Open. Geoff Burke-USA TODAY SportsBrooks Koepka may confirm the biases that many had coming into this U.S. Open that Erin Hills would set up as a bombers’ paradise. Koepka is an American masher — he murders the ball off the tee with the best of them, including his friend, mentor of sorts, and defending U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson. We can exaggerate how pro golfers are athletes these days, but not with Koepka. He looks like a linebacker and has the power game of one, too.
But Koepka’s first of what could be multiple major championships was more than just force on the longest course in the history of the U.S. Open. The length of the course obscured the strategy it demanded and we got the kind of eclectic leaderboard that brought this out over four days in Wisconsin. More than just power players competed here and for most of Sunday, Koepka’s primary challenger, the diminutive Brian Harman, represented the opposite of the power game.
Read Article >U.S. Open sets new record with massive purse increase for 2017
Photo by Rob Carr/Getty ImagesIf Brian Harman hangs on to win the U.S. Open on Sunday, his cut of the record-setting $12 million purse — more than $2.1 million — will almost equal his total 2017 PGA Tour earnings.
The world’s 50th-ranked golfer and 54-hole leader at Erin Hills, who has made almost $2.8 million so far in a year that features one of his two career tour victories and four additional top-10 finishes in 15 starts, would not be the only contestant fattening his bank account. With the USGA announcing in February that the prize money for this year’s national championship would total $2 million more than in 2016 — when golf’s most lucrative tournament awarded winner Dustin Johnson $1.8 million of the $10 million prize package — the runner-up would take home $1.3 million.
Read Article >
