U.S. Open Recap: Koepka Captures First Major

Before we give Brooks Koepka his due for winning his first major title, a few words about Erin Hills: birdie, birdie, birdie. The course was so defenseless and had such little bite that it gave out red numbers the way Oprah Winfrey gives out cars: "YOU get a birdie and YOU get a birdie and YOU get birdie …"

It's hard to see what made the USGA think this was a U.S. Open-caliber track. The fairways were as wide as John Daly, the greens were the size of Beef Johnston. The much-discussed fescue was as thick as a receding hairline. Even the supposedly diabolical sand traps were like a day at the beach.

Koepka won the 117th U.S. Open at Erin Hills on Sunday with record-tying 16-under total, eliminating any remaining suspense with birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 16.

We could go on and on with all the records set, but here's just a taste, courtesy of the PGA Tour: Koepka is the first U.S. Open champion to hit both 80 percent of fairways and greens, including an all-time best 87.5 percent driving accuracy. And he was far from alone: Justin Thomas shot a 9-under 63 on Saturday and there were a record 133 sub-par rounds throughout the tournament.

Clearly, Erin Hills did not meet U.S. Open standards. Regardless, this was the U.S. Open and Koepka is now a major champion The 27-year-old Floridian fulfilled what many have been expecting from him. He clearly has remarkable talent, yet had won only once in 79 prior PGA Tour starts, at Phoenix in 2015. Just three months ago, Koepka looked lost. In a six-tournament stretch over the winter, he had four missed cuts, a T42 and a T48. Clearly, he's found his way again.

So now how do we view Koepka, who is up to a career-best 10th in the world rankings? Well, in some ways, the same as all along. Is he going to start winning more tournaments, including majors? Probably more than once every 79 starts. But the talent level is so wide in professional golf, winning once or twice a year can be considered great. No. 4 Jason Day hasn't won in more than a year. No. 7 Henrik Stenson is coming up on 12 months. No. 3 Rory McIlroy? Nine months. Winning a major doesn't guarantee future success. Or even measure present success – three guys in the top-10 and 11 in the top-20 have never won one. Koepka is now the seventh consecutive first-time major champion. Truthfully, there may be some regression with Koepka in the short-term, as winning a U.S. Open is so life-altering that a champion's golf game can suffer.

Surely, though, the future is brighter for Koepka than Erin Hills. Its defenders will say there was too much rain and too little wind. A U.S. Open course needs to stand on its own, regardless of the elements. Yes, the top-3 in the world -- Dustin Johnson, McIlroy and Day – missed the cut for the first time ever in a major, as did eight of the top-12. But that to us says the course was easy, not hard. When a course is easy, it brings secondary and tertiary players into the mix. Look at who wins the birdie-fests year after year. It's usually not the top guys.

In fairness to Erin Hills, though, we have heard that once the snow hits this winter, it will be a real bear.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Hideki Matsuyama

One of the ramifications of the top-three in the OWGR missing the cut is that they all aren't in the top-three anymore. No. 4 Hideki Matsuyama tied for second to leapfrog to a career-high No. 2 in the rankings. Somewhat like Koepka, the Japanese star went through a fallow period following his repeat win at Phoenix in early February. But combined with his tie for 11th at the Masters, Matsuyama has reinforced his standing as an elite golfer, albeit one still without a major.

Brian Harman

Harman is a very nice player who played the tournament of his life, tying Matsuyama for second. He was going toe-to-toe with Koepka on Sunday until finally blinking with bogeys at 12 and 13. Harman won the Wells Fargo just six weeks ago, and he now has a half-dozen top-10s on the season. He's clearly playing the best golf of his life and there's no reason to believe it won't continue. Does that mean he'll be a factor in the remaining majors? Maybe, but it's probably closer to the truth that he'll never get this close again.

Rickie Fowler

Fowler had the lead after the first round and was near the top of the leaderboard all four days. But yet again, the best player in the world without a major still doesn't have a major. He tied for fifth. Unlike Harman, we have no doubt it will happen for Fowler, probably sooner rather than later, maybe even next month at Royal Birkdale.

Xander Schauffele

The rookie finished tied for fifth in his second tournament of the season, the Sanderson Farms back in October and hadn't sniffed the top-10 again until this week. Schauffele tied Fowler and Bill Haas for fifth, and that's what's called coming out of left field. He's only 23 and played last season on the Web.com Tour. Really, this was a complete fluke, and we don't believe this would've happened on a traditional, tough U.S. Open track.

Justin Thomas

We had not been high on Thomas all year, but we were heading into the Open. Thomas does most things on a golf course well. One thing he doesn't do well is hit the fairway. But with Erin Hills so wide, Thomas could let fly. And he did, with a record-setting 9-under 63 on Saturday. It's almost impossible to follow such a round with another good round, and Thomas faltered to a 75, leaving him tied for ninth. This may have been his best shot at a major for some time.

Trey Mullinax

C'mon, be honest. You didn't have Mullinax tying for ninth in his first major, alongside Thomas and Brandt Snedeker, right? Mullinax starred on the Web.com Tour last season but had done little on the PGA Tour. In fact, this was his first top-10. But he did end a horrid four-month stretch just a week ago with a T18 at Memphis. Sometimes it takes a rookie six months, or eight, or even year to get the hang of things. Maybe that's what's happening with Mullinax. He's in the field this week at Hartford, but don't hold a poor showing against him. Mullinax is only 24 and just had the best week of his professional life.

Paul Casey

If at the beginning of the week you'd have said Casey would tie for 26th, we'd have said: not bad, decent week. But the golfer who began the week in the top-15 in the world and was in the final group on Saturday proceeded to shoot 75-74 when everyone all around him was going low. It's always been a wonder why Casey has won only once on the PGA Tour (in 2009), much less never having won a major. He entered this week playing some of the best golf of his life and he faltered miserably. This has to be a real hit to Casey's psyche, and we'd tread lightly in the weeks ahead.

Jon Rahm

Rahm was one of the eight golfers in the OWGR top-12 to miss the cut, so he clearly wasn't alone. But we'd all probably become a bit too conditioned to thinking Rahm will finish top-five every week … mostly because there was a stretch where he finished top-five almost every week. It's easy to forget that the No. 11 golfer in the world is a rookie just like Schauffele and Mullinax. But Rahm's clearly hit a rough patch. Yes, he tied for second just last month at the Dean and Deluca, but in recent tough fields, Rahm was T72 at The Players, MC at the Memorial and now MC at the U.S. Open.

Rory McIlroy

As mentioned, McIlroy missed the cut. It was his first start in a more than a month after the recurrence of his winter rib injury. It's hard to make any determination about his game other than it's rusty. McIlroy has played in only seven tournaments all of 2017. He's in the field for this week's Travelers, and that's good. He needs reps. And we'll see how much he plays and how well he does before looking at him for the Open Championship.

RotoWire Value Picks

Last week: One top-5, three top-10s, four top-25s, two MDFs, six missed cuts.
This week: One top-10, three top-25s, 10 missed cuts.

We won't recap each of the 16 guys. Fair enough to say, 10 of them trunk-slammed, and that's not good. But this was a rugged week for the golf prognosticating business, and that happens. Justin Thomas tied for ninth, Sergio Garcia tied for 21st and Louis Oosthuizen tied for 23rd. Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry and Branden Grace also made the cut from our group.