NEWLY-CROWNED US Open champion Brooks Koepka has revealed he almost quit golf while leading a tournament in Scotland.
Koepka carded a closing 67 at a windswept Erin Hills to finish 16 under par, matching the tournament scoring record set by Rory McIlroy at Congressional in 2011.
The 27-year-old has been tipped for the top since winning three tournaments on the Challenge Tour in 2013 to earn instant promotion to the European Tour, but the third win was in serious danger of never happening.
“I called [agent] Blake Smith the night of the third round [of the Scottish Hydro Challenge in Aviemore],” Koepka said after collecting a record first prize of £1.6 million at Erin Hills.
“I called him and I was like, I don’t even want to play. I just want to go home. I was kind of, I don’t want to say homesick, it was just tired of golf. Tired of travelling.
“I just wanted to be home, even though I think I had the lead at that point and was about to win the third one. For some reason I just wanted to get out and go home.
“I’ve never felt that way. I don’t even know what was going on. I think I had played so many weeks in a row, not a day off, it really got to me.”
Koepka decided to play the final round and went on to win by three shots, before attempting to drive through the night to contest final qualifying for the Open Championship.
However, after his car suffered a tyre blowout near Edinburgh, he was forced to change plans, get a few hours sleep in a hotel and catch a 6:30am flight to Heathrow, arriving at Sunningdale shortly before his tee time.
Undeterred, Koepka shot rounds of 69 and 65 to win the qualifier and book his place at Muirfield, where he and Dustin Johnson played Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in one of the game’s most competitive practice round matches.
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