beat with five holes left in his round. He did it with birdies of Nos. 14, 15 and 16 and two closing pars.

The one thing that eluded him was sole possession of the tournament 72-hole scoring record in relation to par. He could only match the standard set by Rory McIlroy at Congressional in 2011.

Still, Koepka had only one 3-putt in the heat of Sunday’s final round and he missed only 10 greens in regulation all week.

“That’s probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced, and to do it on Father’s Day is pretty neat,” Koepka said. “I didn’t exactly get my dad a card, so I hope this works. This is probably the first major that anyone in my family missed. I don’t know if that’s saying anything.”

Well, it does suggest that Koepka can take care of himself, as he did immediately after making an unusual decision to start his professional career.

After playing collegiately at Florida State he turned pro in 2012. Rather than compete for a spot on one of the PGA tours, Koepka opted to start in Europe. Few American players do that, but for Koepka it worked.

He won four times on the European Challenge Tour, then once on the European Tour and once in Japan. His U.S. Open title came after only one win on the PGA Tour.

“I have felt like I’m an under-achiever because I tried so hard to win. I felt like I should be winning more,” he said. “I needed to stay patient and not get ahead of myself.”

For 72 holes at a new U.S. Open venue he was able to do that, and the emotions showed on his cart ride from the 18th green to the scoring tent.

“I played real solid from the moment I got here,” Koepka said, “but that was probably the most emotion I have ever showed.”

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