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 birdie there, maybe made one coming in, get to 5-under par.” The double-bogey ended his hopes, though he was loath to admit as much as he stood outside the clubhouse. “Two people shot 8 under on Thursday,” he said with a shrug. “You never know.”
Is that what you think you need on Sunday? “Probably more, to be safe,” he replied.
When he signed his card, Koepka led the field in strokes gained around the green and was ranked in the top 10 off the tee, but that doesn’t add up to a realistic shot at winning Sunday. “It’s just uncharacteristic mistakes. I hit it good, I’m just doing some stuff that I don’t normally do in majors or when I’m clicking on all cylinders,” he said. “I’m definitely hitting it good enough and putting good enough to compete, it’s just the small stuff.”
“I like playing the week before to get all this stuff out,” he added. LIV staged tournaments the week before the Masters, where Koepka finished second, and before the PGA Championship, which he won, but his last competitive outing before coming to L.A. was three weeks ago at a LIV stop in Washington, D.C. He won’t see action in the week before the next major either. LIV will play in Spain and the U.K. then have an off week before the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
Koepka is famously disciplined during majors, known for adopting a game plan and sticking to it with the slavish devotion of a true believer. He insisted that’s true this week too, he’s just not executing. “I’ve stuck with it. I didn’t have 100 percent control of my ball at Oak Hill [where he won the PGA Championship]. I mean, I didn’t know where the ball was going on Saturday or Sunday, but I willed it around. This one is like…. aarrghh!”
Even par through 54 holes is usually enough to put a man in contention at a U.S. Open, but this year it leaves Koepka well off the pace and rueing a missed opportunity. He began Saturday as a long shot, briefly became a contender, but ended it knowing he’s just making up the numbers on Sunday. What did you need to post to have other players thinking about you tomorrow? I asked.
He flashed his Chiclet teeth. “There’s a lot of people who think about me every day,” he laughed. “Let’s be real.”