Open for glory

Royal Golf Club member Farooq Ahmed won the club’s version of the US Open this weekend after pulling the name of real US Open competitor Tommy Fleetwood out of the hat.

Ahmed’s score of 37 stableford points was added to Fleetwood’s Saturday score of 40 to give a combined score of 77.

Youngster Sebastian Woodrow (39) was runner up after being “paired” with Jason Kokrak (34) for a combined total of 73.

The 2017 US Open was played at Erin Hills, Wisconsin and was won by Brooks Koepka who travelled around the world to find his game and found stardom right at home.

Koepka broke away from a tight pack with three straight birdies on the back nine Sunday at Erin Hills and closed with a 5-under 67 to win the event for his first major championship.

A par on the final hole tied Rory McIlroy’s record score to par at 16 under for a four-shot victory. Not even the wind could stop the onslaught of low scores at Erin Hills. And nothing could stop Koepka. “What I’ve done this week is amazing,” he said.

Tied for the lead with six holes to play, Koepka made an 8-foot par putt on the 13th hole. As contender Brian Harman began to fade, Koepka poured it on with birdies over the next three holes, lightly pumping his fist after each one.

His reaction was subdued, just like his close friend and last year’s US Open champion, Dustin Johnson. They spend time a lot of time together on the course, in the gym and at home, so Koepka has seen that trophy plenty at Johnson’s house in south Florida.

And now he gets to keep it for a year, with his name on it.

It capped quite a journey for the 27-year-old Floridian. Without a card on any tour when Koepka got out of Florida State, he filled his passport with stamps from the most unlikely outposts in golf while playing the minor leagues on the European Tour — Kazakhstan and Kenya, Portugal and India and throughout Europe.

It was at the US Open three years ago when Koepka tied for fourth that helped earn a PGA Tour card, and he powered his way from obscurity to his first PGA Tour victory in Phoenix, his first Ryder Cup team last autumn and now a major championship.

Fleetwood, who played alongside Koepka and closed with a 72 to finish fourth, played the Challenge Tour a year before Koepka arrived. “It gives you a good grounding,” Fleetwood said. “Obviously, Brooks dealt with it amazingly. He came and kicked everyone’s behind over there, didn’t he? But he’s proven for a long time how good he is. Now he’s done it in a major.”