TOMMY FLEETWOOD almost pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in Major championship history with a spectacular finish to the US Open.
Fleetwood really put the cat among the pigeons with a sensational final round 63 at Shinnecock Hills equalling both the tournament and course records - only to find reigning champion Brooks Koepka was in no mood to give up his title.
Koepka, one of four men sharing the lead at three over par at the start of the day, kept looking at the leaderboard and shaking his head in disbelief after Fleetwoods charge saw him finish at two over.
But Kopka held on grimly and a closing 68 gave him a one stroke victory over the English ace, making him the first man to win back to back US Opens since fellow American Curtis Strange did it 29 years ago.
He was just a shot clear for most of the back nine, and he could not breathe easily until a stunning approach to the 16th set up a tap-in birdie, giving him a crucial cushion for the demanding finishing holes.
Phil Mickelson admits to hitting a moving ball on US Open day threeFleetwood teed off in a share of 23rd place at nine over par, six shots off the lead.
But after telling himself he needed to shoot the round of his life to pull off a win for the ages, he almost managed it.
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He refused to believe he was out of the running when he teed off and was thrilled to mount a such fantastic challenge on his first Fathers Day as a dad.
He said: Someone just told me I am only the sixth player to shoot 63 in a US Open but I wanted to be the first to shoot 62.
"It sounds stupid, but I actually said to myself last night just go out and shoot the greatest round in US Open history, and you will have a chance.
I made so many good puts today, but wish I had given the eight footer I missed on the last hole a bit more pace. But I can go an enjoy being a dad knowing I gave it everything I had.
Fleetwood, 27, showed his liking for the extreme test posed by US Open by finishing fourth behind Koepka a year ago, and he came hurtling out of the blocks this time.
He set the ball rolling by holing a monster putt from just inside sixty feet on the second hole, the fearsome 252 yards par three, and picked up three more birdies in the first seven holes.
Jena Sims, girlfriend of US Open champion Brooks Koepka, in trailer for Attack of the 50 Foot CheerleaderThe Southport star suffered a blip when his approach to the ninth came up short, a mistake that cost him a bogey, but he quickly jumped back on board the birdie express.
He made four in a row from the 13th to charge to one over par and incredibly, he was just a stroke off the lead at that stage.
The drawback was that the US Golf Association had soaked the greens to make sure the farcical putting conditions of 24 hours earlier were not repeated.
That meant plenty of other players were making birdies - including Koepka, another of the 54 hole joint leaders.
Fleetwood could hardly believe it when he left a 12 footer for yet another birdie a few inches short of the hole on the long 16th.
That meant he had failed to make birdie on both par fives at Shinnecock, otherwise he would have been on course for the first ever 61 in a Major just 11 months after Branden Grace shot the first 62 at Royal Birkdale.
Fleetwood could have equalled that effort, but his eight footer to sign off in style slipped agonisingly past the hole.
He finished almost two and a half hours before the leaders, and watched he closing stages on TV with wife Clare and their nine month old son, shaking his head ruefully when Koepka made that all-important birdie on the 16th.
He still went to the range to practice for a possible play-off, but had to settle for second place and the biggest cheque of his career he pocketed 970,00, while Kopeka collected 1.63million for the second year in a row.