The 2018 United States Open Championship was the 118th U.S. Open, held June 14–17 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Shinnecock Hills, New York, about eighty miles (130 km) east of New York City on Long Island; it was the fifth time the U.S. Open was held at this course.

2018 U.S. Open
Tournament information
DatesJune 14–17, 2018
LocationShinnecock Hills, New York
40°53′38″N 72°26′24″W / 40.894°N 72.440°W / 40.894; -72.440
Course(s)Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Organized byUSGA
Tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par70
Length7,440 yards (6,803 m)
Field156 players, 67 after cut
Cut148 (+8)
Prize fund$12,000,000
10,244,150
Winner's share$2,160,000
€1,843,947
Champion
United States Brooks Koepka
281 (+1)
Location map
Shinnecock Hills is located in the United States
Shinnecock Hills
Shinnecock Hills
Location in the United States
Shinnecock Hills is located in New York
Shinnecock Hills
Shinnecock Hills
Location in New York
← 2017
2019 →

Defending champion Brooks Koepka shot a final round 68 for 281 (+1) to win his second straight U.S. Open, one stroke ahead of runner-up Tommy Fleetwood, who closed with the sixth round of 63 in U.S. Open history. Koepka was only the third to successfully defend the title since World War II, following Ben Hogan (1951) and Curtis Strange (1989).

The USGA changed the playoff format in February, from a full round (18 holes) to a two-hole aggregate playoff.[1] Previously, playoffs at the U.S. Open were 18 holes, followed by sudden-death, if needed. The last 18-hole playoff was in 2008, won by Tiger Woods on the first sudden-death hole.

Venue

edit

Course layout

edit
Hole Name Yards Par Hole Name Yards Par
1 Westward Ho 399 4 10 Eastward Ho 415 4
2 Plateau 252 3 11 Hill Head 159 3
3 Peconic 500 4 12 Tuckahoe 469 4
4 Pump House 475 4 13 Road Side 374 4
5 Montauk 589 5 14 Thom's Elbow 519 4
6 Pond 491 4 15 Sebonac 409 4
7 Redan 189 3 16 Shinnecock 616 5
8 Lowlands 439 4 17 Eden 175 3
9 Ben Nevis 485 4 18 Home 485 4
Out 3,819 35 In 3,621 35
Source: Total 7,440 70

Lengths of the course for previous major championships:

2018 yardages by round
Round Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Out 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 In Total
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 35 4 3 4 4 4 4 5 3 4 35 70
1 Yards 407 252 510 478 592 452 184 439 487 3,801 418 157 462 374 536 404 620 185 491 3,647 7,448
2 Yards 411 234 499 476 583 492 184 448 482 3,809 404 153 476 360 511 420 610 169 490 3,593 7,402
3 Yards 409 239 495 481 591 486 166 448 486 3,801 416 159 465 366 529 416 627 150 485 3,613 7,414
4 Yards 399 264 495 471 597 494 180 435 478 3,813 411 159 472 367 512 408 621 182 486 3,618 7,431
  • Scoring average: 74.650
    • by round: 76.474, 73.595, 75.327, 72.180
  • Most difficult holes in relation to par: 14, 3, 2, 10

Source:[2]

Field

edit
 
The first tee and clubhouse
at Shinnecock Hills

About half the field consisted of players who were exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Open. Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, and other categories are shown in parentheses.[3]

1. Winners of the U.S. Open Championship during the last ten years

2. Winner and runner-up of the 2017 U.S. Amateur, winner of the 2017 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur

  • Doc Redman forfeited his exemption as winner of the U.S. Amateur by turning professional in May 2018.[4]

3. Winner of the 2017 Amateur Championship

4. Winner of the 2017 Mark H. McCormack Medal (men's World Amateur Golf Ranking)

5. Winners of the Masters Tournament during the last five years

6. Winners of The Open Championship during the last five years

7. Winners of the PGA Championship during the last five years

8. Winners of The Players Championship during the last three years

9. Winner of the 2018 European Tour BMW PGA Championship

10. Winner of the 2017 U.S. Senior Open Championship

11. The 10 lowest scorers and anyone tying for 10th place at the 2017 U.S. Open Championship

12. Players who qualified for the season-ending 2017 Tour Championship

13. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of May 21, 2018, in the Official World Golf Ranking

14. The top 60 point leaders and ties as of June 11, 2018, in the Official World Golf Ranking

15. Special exemptions given by the USGA[5]

The remaining contestants earned their places through sectional qualifiers.

Alternates who gained entry:

(a) denotes amateur
(L) denotes player advanced through local qualifying

Round summaries

edit

First round

edit

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Conditions were extremely difficult as gusty winds hung around all day with sunny skies, making the course firm and fast.[6] Only four players broke par, including Dustin Johnson, one of the tournament favorites. The scoring average for the round was 76.47.[7][8]

Place Player Score To par
T1   Russell Henley 69 −1
  Dustin Johnson
  Scott Piercy
  Ian Poulter
5   Jason Dufner 70 E
T6   An Byeong-hun 71 +1
  Sam Burns
  Charley Hoffman
  Charles Howell III
  Matthieu Pavon
  Justin Rose
  Henrik Stenson

Source:[9]

Second round

edit

Friday, June 15, 2018

Dustin Johnson held the lead after shooting a 67, four shots ahead of Charley Hoffman and Scott Piercy.[10]

Place Player Score To par
1   Dustin Johnson 69-67=136 −4
T2   Charley Hoffman 71-69=140 E
  Scott Piercy 69-71=140
T4   Tommy Fleetwood 75-66=141 +1
  Henrik Stenson 71-70=141
  Justin Rose 71-70=141
  Brooks Koepka 75-66=141
  Ian Poulter 69-72=141
T9   Rickie Fowler 73-69=142 +2
  Russell Henley 69-73=142

Source:[9]

Amateurs: Grimmer (+5), Gagne (+7), Parziale (+7), Thornberry (+9), Strafaci (+10), Ghim (+13), Rasmussen (+14), Hagestad (+15), Bergeron (+16), Humphrey (+16), Yu (+17), Huang (+18), Lumsden (+18), Rank (+18), Reitan (+18), Wiseman (+18), Ban (+19), Ellis (+19), Goodwin (+19), Barbaree (+21)

Third round

edit

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Second round leader Dustin Johnson shot a seven-over 77 to fall into a four-way tie with Daniel Berger, Tony Finau and defending champion Brooks Koepka. Johnson double bogeyed the par-3 2nd and went six-over on the front-nine. He made his only birdie of the round at the 11th to get back to the top of the leaderboard, but three-putted for bogey on 18 to settle for a share of the 54-hole lead. Berger and Finau began the round in 45th place and 11 shots behind, but each shot 66 (−4) for the low round of the day.[11][12][13][14]

Scoring conditions got more difficult as the day went on. Koepka's two-over 72 was the lowest score among the final four groups. Only three rounds in the 60s were recorded, two of them by Berger and Finau. The scoring average for the round was 75.3.[15]

Phil Mickelson incurred a two-shot penalty on the 13th when he walked after his ball which was running slowly away from the hole after his putt and deliberately hit the ball backwards towards the hole while it was still moving. He ended up shooting 81 (+11), equalling his highest score at the U.S. Open.[16][17][18]

Place Player Score To par
T1   Daniel Berger 76-71-66=213 +3
  Tony Finau 75-72-66=213
  Dustin Johnson 69-67-77=213
  Brooks Koepka 75-66-72=213
5   Justin Rose 71-70-73=214 +4
6   Henrik Stenson 71-70-74=215 +5
T7   Kiradech Aphibarnrat 76-72-68=216 +6
  Jim Furyk 73-71-72=216
  Patrick Reed 73-72-71=216
T10   Brian Gay 73-74-70=217 +7
  Branden Grace 76-69-72=217
  Tyrrell Hatton 75-70-72=217
  Charley Hoffman 71-69-77=217
  Dylan Meyer 77-69-71=217
  Ian Poulter 69-72-76=217

Source:[9]

Amateurs: Parziale (+11), Gagne (+12), Grimmer (+13)

Final round

edit

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Summary

edit

Brooks Koepka shot a final round 68 (−2) to finish one ahead of Tommy Fleetwood and win the U.S. Open for the second straight year. He was the first to successfully defend the title in 29 years, since Curtis Strange in 1989.

Koepka began the round in a four-way tie for the lead with Dustin Johnson, Daniel Berger, and Tony Finau. He got off to a good start with birdies on three of his first five holes to get to even par and take the lead. At the par-3 11th, his tee shot went into the rough over the green. After chipping into a greenside bunker, he holed a 12-foot (3.7 m) putt to save bogey. At the following hole, he made a six-foot par putt, then at the 14th he got up-and-down to save par from short of the green with an eight-foot putt. Hitting his approach at the par-5 16th to within four feet, he made the birdie to open up a two-shot lead. Despite a bogey at the 18th, Koepka held on win by one.[19]

Fleetwood shot the sixth round of 63 in U.S. Open history to finish in second. He began the round six behind and began by sinking a putt from 56 feet (17 m) at the 2nd and three more birdies on the front-nine. He made four straight birdies on holes 12–15, with putts of 17 feet (5 m) at 12, 20 feet (6 m) at 14, and 29 feet (9 m) at 15. Fleetwood had an eight-foot putt at the 18th for the first 62 in U.S. Open history, but it slid past the hole that would have forced the first two-hole playoff.[20]

Johnson made birdie at the 5th but three-putted for bogey at the 7th, 11th, 14th, and 17th. He birdied the last to shoot an even-par 70 and finish two shots behind Koepka. Finau bogeyed three of his first four holes but got back to even for the round with a 26-foot birdie at the 11th. He came to the 18th two back of Koepka but made double bogey and ended up in fifth place, four behind. Berger also started his round with two bogeys and finished with a three-over 73 to tie for sixth. Patrick Reed began three shots behind but birdied his first three holes and five of the first seven to tie for the lead. He made four bogeys the rest of the round, however, to fall back to fourth place.[21][22]

With the win, Koepka becomes the seventh player to win consecutive U.S. Opens, and the first since Curtis Strange in 1989.

Final leaderboard

edit
Champion
Silver Cup winner (leading amateurs)
(a) = amateur
(c) = past champion
Place Player Score To par Money ($)
1   Brooks Koepka (c) 75-66-72-68=281 +1 2,160,000
2   Tommy Fleetwood 75-66-78-63=282 +2 1,296,000
3   Dustin Johnson (c) 69-67-77-70=283 +3 812,927
4   Patrick Reed 73-72-71-68=284 +4 569,884
5   Tony Finau 75-72-66-72=285 +5 474,659
T6   Daniel Berger 76-71-66-73=286 +6 361,923
  Tyrrell Hatton 75-70-72-69=286
  Xander Schauffele 72-74-72-68=286
  Henrik Stenson 71-70-74-71=286
T10   Justin Rose (c) 71-70-73-73=287 +7 270,151
  Webb Simpson (c) 76-71-71-69=287

Scorecard

edit

Final round

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Par 4 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 5 3 4
  Koepka +3 +2 +1 +1 E +1 +1 +1 +1 E +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 E E +1
  Fleetwood +9 +8 +7 +7 +7 +6 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6 +5 +4 +3 +2 +2 +2 +2
  Johnson +3 +3 +3 +3 +2 +2 +3 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +3 +3 +4 +3
  Reed +5 +4 +3 +3 +2 +2 +1 +1 +2 +2 +3 +4 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +4
  Finau +3 +4 +5 +6 +5 +5 +6 +5 +4 +4 +3 +4 +4 +3 +3 +3 +3 +5
  Berger +3 +4 +5 +5 +4 +5 +5 +5 +5 +4 +4 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6
  Hatton +7 +7 +6 +6 +7 +8 +8 +7 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6
  Schauffele +7 +6 +6 +6 +7 +7 +7 +6 +6 +7 +7 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6
  Stenson +5 +5 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6 +6 +7 +7 +7 +6 +5 +5 +6 +5 +6
  Rose +4 +4 +4 +6 +7 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +6 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6 +7 +7

Cumulative tournament scores, relative to par

Birdie Bogey Double bogey

Source:[9]

Media

edit

This was the fourth U.S. Open televised by Fox and FS1.

References

edit
  1. ^ "U.S. Open abandons 18 holes for 2-hole playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. February 26, 2018. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  2. ^ "118th U.S. Open Championship – Course Statistics". USGA.
  3. ^ "118th U.S. Open Championship – Entry Form" (PDF). USGA. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  4. ^ Herrington, Ryan (May 30, 2018). "U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman and Western Amateur champ Norman Xiong announce plans to turn pro". Golf World.
  5. ^ Herrington, Ryan (March 14, 2018). "USGA gives Ernie Els, Jim Furyk special exemptions into 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills". Golf Digest.
  6. ^ Murray, Scott (June 14, 2018). "US Open 2018: first round: Dustin Johnson shares lead after brutal day – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  7. ^ "Dustin Johnson tied for lead after 69". ESPN. June 14, 2018.
  8. ^ "118th U.S. Open Championship – Course Statistics, Round 1". USGA. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d "U.S. Open: Leaderboard". ESPN. June 15, 2018.
  10. ^ Murray, Scott (June 15, 2018). "US Open 2018: second round – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  11. ^ Herrington, Ryan (June 16, 2018). "U.S. Open 2018: Four players share the 54-hole lead after a crazy Saturday at Shinnecock Hills". Golf Digest. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  12. ^ Shedloski, Dave (June 16, 2018). "U.S. Open 2018: Dustin Johnson falls back to earth with 77, but still has great chance at title". Golf Digest. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  13. ^ Kilbridge, Dan (June 16, 2018). "Daniel Berger tames Shinnecock to get in the mix in Round 3 of U.S. Open". Golfweek. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  14. ^ Murray, Scott (June 16, 2018). "US Open 2018: third round – as it happened". The Guardian. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  15. ^ Weinman, Sam (June 16, 2018). "U.S. Open 2018: A stark contrast between morning and afternoon conditions leaves certain players fuming". Golf Digest. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  16. ^ Lavner, Ryan (June 16, 2018). "Phil takes 2-shot penalty for hitting moving ball". Golf Channel. Retrieved June 16, 2018.
  17. ^ "US Open: Phil Mickelson apologises for putting moving ball". BBC Sport. June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  18. ^ "Phil Mickelson says he's sorry for hitting moving ball during US Open". The Guardian. Press Association. June 20, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018.
  19. ^ Ritter, Jeff (June 17, 2018). "Back to back! Brooks Koepka outlasts Tommy Fleetwood to win 118th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills". Golf.com. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  20. ^ Hoggard, Rex (June 17, 2018). "Fleetwood fires 63, but comes up short at U.S. Open". Golf Channel. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  21. ^ Herrington, Ryan (June 17, 2018). "U.S. Open 2018: Brooks Koepka wins U.S. Open, repeats as champion after shooting closing 68 at Shinnecock Hills". Golf Digest. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
  22. ^ Murray, Ewan (June 18, 2018). "Brooks Koepka makes history in holding off Fleetwood to retain US Open title". The Guardian. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
edit