US Open: Yorkshire coach Pete Cowen the man behind Gary Woodland’s triumph

Woodland carded a final round of 69 at Pebble Beach to finish 13 under par and three shots clear of Koepka, who had threatened to become just the second player to win three straight US Opens and claim an amazing fifth major victory in his last nine starts.

England’s Justin Rose was tied for the lead after a birdie on the opening hole but faded on the back nine to share third with Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Chez Reavie, while the expected challenge from Rory McIlroy never materialised after a double bogey on the second.

Woodland had failed to convert any of his seven 54-hole leads on the PGA Tour into a win, but the 35-year-old from Kansas withstood the stubborn challenge of Rose and early charge from Koepka to land the title and first prize of 2.25m US dollars.

After Koepka made a flying start with four birdies in his first five holes, Woodland responded with birdies on the second and third and twice enjoyed a three-shot lead before carding just his third bogey of the week on the ninth.

Koepka closed to within a shot of the lead for the first time with a birdie on the 11th, only to promptly bogey the next after finding sand off the tee.

Woodland was starting to feel the pressure and dropped his second shot in four holes on the 12th, but then struck what proved to be the vital blow with a stunning approach from 263 yards on the 14th which landed just over the greenside bunker and ran a few inches off the green.

From there, the world No 25 chipped to three feet and tapped in for his first birdie since the third hole and he effectively sealed victory with a sublime pitch from the corner of the 17th green which span to a halt just two feet from the hole.

Woodland, who has worked hard on his short game with renowned Yorkshire coach Pete Cowen, then put the icing on the cake by holing from 30 feet for birdie on the 18th.

Sheffield’s former US Masters champion Danny Willett followed his third-round 65 with a 71 to finish in a tie for 12th alongside fellow Yorkshireman Matt Fitzpatrcik,who carded a final round 68.

Final scores (USA unless stated, par 71 (a) denotes amateur):

271 Gary Woodland 68 65 69 69

274 Brooks Koepka 69 69 68 68

277 Justin Rose (Eng) 65 70 68 74, Xander Schauffele 66 73 71 67, Jon Rahm

(Spa) 69 70 70 68, Chez Reavie 68 70 68 71

278 Adam Scott (Aus) 70 69 71 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 66 70 70 72

279 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 68 69 70 72, Chesson Hadley 68 70 70 71, Henrik Stenson

(Swe) 68 71 70 70

280 Matt Wallace (Eng) 70 68 71 71, Viktor Hovland (a) (Nor) 69 73 71 67, Danny

Willett (Eng) 71 71 67 71, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 71 72 68

281 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 72 71 70, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 69 70 70 72,

Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 70 72 68 71, Matt Kuchar 69 69 70 73, Webb Simpson 74 68 73

66

282 Jason Day (Aus) 70 73 70 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 69 73 70 70, Tiger

Woods 70 72 71 69, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 70 74 69 69, Paul Casey (Eng) 70 72 73

67, Patrick Cantlay 73 71 68 70, Alex Prugh 75 69 70 68

283 Jim Furyk 73 67 72 71, Sepp Straka (Aut) 68 72 76 67, Shane Lowry (Irl) 75

69 70 69, Nate Lashley 67 74 70 72

284 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 74 70 74 66, Billy Horschel 73 70 71 70, Patrick Reed

71 73 72 68

285 Dustin Johnson 71 69 71 74, Brandon Wu (a) 71 69 71 74, Jason Dufner 70 71

73 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 69 74 70 72, Aaron Wise 66 71 79 69, Collin Morikawa

71 73 72 69, Bryson DeChambeau 69 74 73 69, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 75 71 70

286 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 72 71 73 70, Andrew Putnam 73 71 73 69, Nick Taylor

(Can) 74 70 70 72, Rickie Fowler 66 77 71 72, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 71 73 72 70,

Tom Hoge 71 73 71 71

287 Daniel Berger 73 70 74 70, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 74 68 69 76, Kevin Kisner 73

70 75 69

288 Haotong Li (Chn) 71 70 72 75, Phil Mickelson 72 69 75 72, Sergio Garcia

(Spa) 69 70 75 74, Carlos Oritz (Mex) 70 70 75 73, Scott Piercy 67 72 72 77,

Charles Howell III 72 70 74 72

289 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 68 74 74 73, Adri Arnaus (Spa) 69 75 73 72, Andy Pope

72 71 75 71, Charlie Danielson 72 70 77 70, Zach Johnson 70 69 79 71, (a)

Chandler Eaton 72 70 73 74, Harris English 71 69 76 73

290 Brian Stuard 71 73 74 72, Kyle Stanley 71 73 75 71, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)

71 73 73 73, Justin Walters (Rsa) 72 72 77 69, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 70 74

74 72, Jordan Spieth 72 69 73 76

291 Rhys Enoch (Wal) 78 66 71 76

292 Billy Hurley III 73 70 73 76, Cameron Smith (Aus) 71 72 77 72, Clement

Sordet (Fra) 76 68 74 74, Luke Donald (Eng) 72 70 77 73

294 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 73 78 72

295 Brandt Snedeker 75 69 74 77

297 Chip McDaniel 71 73 76 77

304 (a) Michael Thorbjornsen 71 73 84 76