Xander Schauffele rounded off a stunning breakthrough week with a 69 that earned a share of fifth place with Bill Haas (69) and Rickie Fowler (72), who again flattered to deceive on the final day of a major.
It just wasn't enough to faze Koepka.
Without a card on any tour when Koepka got out of Florida State, he filled his passport with stamps from the most unlikely outposts in golf while playing the minor leagues on the European Tour - Kazakhstan and Kenya, Portugal and India and throughout Europe.
The Globe's most recent sports headlines delivered to your inbox every morning. "I've just got to get on the greens and have that cup start to look a bit bigger".
"I was able to get to a few under by just accepting the fact that the putt might miss instead of having to have it be ideal. So I did a really good job of staying present, staying focused on the next shot".
Koepka has been close before to Major victory before: he owns four top-10 finishes in majors during his career, with his previous best U.S. Open finish coming back in 2014 when he tied for fourth place. "When that happened it did give me a lot of confidence".
In the end, the 50-year-old Stricker marveled at the way the young, big hitters handled Erin Hills, which at around 7,800 yards was the longest course ever for a U.S. Open.
Despite the hard finish, Hadwin leaves Erin Hills with a share of the U.S. Open record for consecutive birdies after making six in a row during his four-under 68 on Thursday. This year was also the first time that the runner-up finished double digits below par (the top seven on this year's leaderboard all did so).
Beginning the day a stroke behind Georgia's Brian Harman, Koepka shot 5-under 67 in Sunday's final round at Erin Hills to win his first major by four strokes. Tommy Fleetwood, Patrick Reed, and Si Woo Kim only managed even-par or worse.
Trump Confirms He's Under Investigation, Blames Unnamed Person
But Mr Comey also testified that, to his knowledge, the president had not tried to stop the Russian Federation investigation. Echoing tweets from Thursday, he concludes by adding: "Witch Hunt".
World No.13 Justin Thomas dropped to eight-under with a 75 a day after setting the record for lowest round relative to par in US Open history with a nine-under 63. He ultimately finished in a tie for second at 12 under.
Harman was hoping to become the fourth player in succession to convert a 54-hole lead into victory after Henrik Stenson and Jimmy Walker in the last two majors of 2016 and Sergio Garcia in April's Masters. But it made me feel a lot better seeing Brooks shoot 5-under. "It's pretty cool. To do it here, where I played the US Amateur, is pretty special".
Delight for Koepka meant disappointment for Harman, who topped the leaderboard after the third day But the 30-year-old's dream of becoming the first left-handed golfer to win a US Open were essentially ended on the 15th when his efforts to sink a birdie and ramp up the pressure on his compatriot ended in vain.
Not surprisingly, Koepka also wants to see another Open at Erin Hills.
"We're breaking down all kinds of barriers", said Harman.
"I played really well", said Matsuyama, 25, who put himself in a hole with an opening-round 74. "He went and won the golf tournament on the back nine", Harman said.
Brooks Koepka does things his way, very much his own man.
But the manner in which the 27-year-old pushed clear on the back nine to win by four with an equal tournament record total suggests it won't be his last.
Comments