Golf: Top Brits flounder in Koepka's wake

Rory McIlroy finished in the top 20 after a slow start. Photo / AP

Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose completed a miserable week for the United Kingdom's top-ranked golfers at the 101st US PGA Championship, finishing up their majors a long time before Bethpage witnessed its climax.

At least McIlroy could take the positives from a weekend in which he shot two 69s and moved from outside the top 50 into the top 20.

Granted, the world No 4 arrived on Long Island with much grander ambitions but this was his best placing in a major since last year's second at the Open at Carnoustie, and there is optimism to take into next month's US Open.

"I stuck at it the whole way," McIlroy said. "It's a 72-hole tournament and you've got to try till the very end and I did that. It wasn't good enough to be up there in contention, but I made improvements each and every day, which is a good thing.

"I played the last 45 holes in six under par, which is good on this tough course on a tough weekend. I could have let my head drop during the second round and be back in Florida now. But I gave myself the chance to play two more rounds. I just needed to play the first 27 holes better."

The weekend was not kind on world No 2 Rose. Starting the third round in ninth, he fell out of the top 25 courtesy of a 73 on Saturday and then going through his first 17 holes in four over to stand on four over.

Having missed the cut at the Masters, Rose — the 38-year-old who has established himself as the game's most consistent performer, with an incredible run of 30 top 10s in his past 45 events, including six wins — has suffered a woeful start to his major campaign and he will endeavour to put himself back on track for the US Open by competing at the Memorial in Ohio in two weeks, a tournament he has won before.

Brooks Koepka won after setting a record for the fewest shots (128) in the first two rounds of any major championship. His ball-striking has shocked nobody but his putting has been a surprise to those who believed his short game was his weak point.

But as well as a long relationship with Pete Cowen, the Yorkshireman who helps him with his chipping and bunker play, the 29-year-old has linked up again with putting coach Jeff Pierce, and together they plotted their way around Bethpage's greens each night in the cellar of Koepka's rental home.

"It was nice to get his input again, because I was doing it on my own, and my putting had become too mechanical. It felt great to have him back, to just kind of touch up some speed control, and zero everything out."