That his final-round 65 on Sunday in the British Open was too little, too late was not lost on Brooks Koepka.
Instead of waxing on about his best round of the week, Koepka told it like it was.
“Definitely a missed opportunity,” Koepka said. “Didn’t play good enough Saturday. Doesn’t really matter what I finished today. I didn’t have a chance to win. That’s disappointing. (I) played solid today. Can’t complain. Just wish I could have yesterday back.”
Koepka’s 65 got him to 8-under for the week and inside the top five at the time he was finished. But Koepka shot himself out of contention to win his first British Open victory with his third-round 72.
The problem on Saturday?
“Probably just the iron play,” he said. “I was pulling shots with my irons just making poor swings. We talked about it a little bit of it was just maybe a little bit of alignment. It’s always something simple with me. It’s never really like swing mechanics or anything like that. It’s always setup.
“Then, all week except for today I felt like I struggled getting the ball to the hole. Today I told myself no matter what I was going to get it to the hole. Didn’t care if I three-putted, but the ball was going to get to the hole.”
Koepka is a remarkable 92-under par in major championships since 2016, 65 shots better than any other player in that span.
“I like these weeks,” he said. “I like when it’s tough. I like when everything is on the line. I like when the most pressure is on. I enjoy that. I think it’s fun. It’s exciting for me. I think something just clicks, focus, just understanding where to hit golf shots. This week, I mean, I wouldn’t call it I competed. It was more of a back-door Top 10 maybe, so wasn’t the best.”