Brooks Koepka lurks after another special U.S. Open round

SAN DIEGO – Brooks Koepka’s sensational U.S. Open form continued at Torrey Pines Thursday as the two-time champion fashioned his sixth straight round in the 60’s in his national championship.

Koepka, who won the 2017 and 2018 U.S. Open’s before being runner up in 2019, carded a 2-under 69 to sit just two shots off the pace when darkness halted play.

In his six previous U.S. Open’s as a professional (he missed the cut as an amateur in 2012) Koepka has never finished worse than 18th and has been under par in 15 of 25 rounds despite the tournament often referred to as the toughest on the PGA TOUR.

“I've just got a good game plan, focused, I know what I'm doing, and I don't try to do anything I can't. It's just all about discipline in a U.S. Open,” Koepka said.

“It's pretty simple. It's a lot simpler than what guys make it. I think a lot of guys make it more difficult than it needs to be. Just got to understand where the flag is, what you're doing and where to miss it.”

Koepka missed the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot with a knee injury, ironically doing months of rehab just a solid five-iron away from Torrey Pines in La Jolla. The injury has been a bug bear for some time but the 31-year-old says it is no longer of concern.

The eight-time PGA TOUR winner is also coming off a runner up finish at the PGA Championship last month at Kiawah Island where he fell just shy of a third Wanamaker trophy.

On Thursday he found himself notching up four birdies, hitting the lead at one point, before two bogeys took a little shine off his efforts. Regardless of the finish Koepka knows he’s exactly where he needs to be.

“You can't win it today but you can definitely lose it. It was nice to get off to a good start,” he said.

“You're going to make mistakes out here. You can't make double bogeys. If you can limit those to just bogeys, you're going to be alright.”

At U.S. Open’s Koepka is seemingly alright, alright, alright.