It was just about as good a round as has been played in a U.S. Open — and it still wasn’t enough.
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood tied an Open record with a 7-under 63 in the final round Sunday at Shinnecock Hills, getting into the clubhouse early at 2-over for the tournament. He had an 8-foot putt on the last hole to be the first person in the 118-year history of this tournament to shoot 62, but he missed it to the right.
Somewhere, Johnny Miller let out a sigh of relief, his final-round 63 at Oakmont in 1973 still being the only one that has won the tournament. Somewhere nearby, Jimmy Dunne also let out a sigh of relief, as the famous Shinnecock member retains a share of the course record.
“All the way around, I always felt like I could get myself back in it,” Fleetwood said. “It’s funny, though, when you finish, you always feel like you’ve kind of missed your shot, but we’ll see.”
From there, Fleetwood watched and waited, hoping he had at least a chance at a playoff for his first major championship. When he became the No. 1 player on the European Tour earlier this year, his wife, Clare, had very recently given birth to their first son, Frankie. Now on his first Father’s Day, the 27-year-old Fleetwood went and spent time with his new young family.
“I’ll try to spend some time with Frankie and Clare and just wait and see,” he said immediately after his round. “There’s nothing I can do now.”
What happened was Brooks Koepka played a steady round of golf from the penultimate group, shooting 3-under 67 to finish at even-par for the tournament, becoming the first back-to-back U.S. Open winner since Curtis Strange in 1988 and 1989. While the rest of the field faltered, it left Fleetwood in solo second.
While Koepka was preparing to hit his tee shot on the final hole and while USGA staff brought the shining silver trophy down the hill toward the 18th green, Fleetwood was the lone person on the driving range, banging balls while barely holding on to his hope for a playoff.
Soon, he stopped. Soon, Fleetwood could hear the nearby roar as Koepka shut the door with a safe bogey on the final hole to finish the tournament 1-over.
“It wasn’t great for me,” Fleetwood said of watching the telecast, “but it was great for a golfer to watch how [Koepka] did it and how he closed it out.”
One thing Fleetwood took away from the week was the fact that he did everything he could to put a scare into the leaders, and it was another good performance in a major championship despite coming up just short.
“I honestly never really thought I was out of it,” said Fleetwood, who shot a third-round 78 in the brutal Saturday conditions that seemingly put him out of the tournament. “I just needed a good start. You never know what’s going to happen.
“And obviously, we knew they would have made it a bit softer today. Looking at the pins, you knew they were going to be more accessible. I knew I was kind of in it teeing off, but you still have to get off to that good start. Four-under through seven, and it was game on.”
That would be four birdies for Fleetwood in the first seven holes, with a bogey on No. 9 souring it a bit to make the turn in 32. But then he ran off four consecutive birdies from Nos. 12-15, which got him to 7-under on the day, and the watch for 62 was on.
But disappointing pars on the par-5 16th and par-3 17th set the stage for the final hole. He split the fairway, then hit a towering high-hooking 6-iron just underneath the hole. But his putt trailed just off to the right, and a guttural groan came from the huge gallery.
“I wanted 62,” Fleetwood said.
He also wanted the U.S. Open trophy, but it wasn’t meant to be. At least not on this day.
