Brooks Koepka won the U.S. Open for the second year in a row Sunday, and that provided a makeup opportunity for lead Fox announcer Joe Buck. Last year, Buck infamously said that Koepka gave a celebratory kiss to Becky Edwards, a U.S. women’s soccer player; Koepka had previously dated Edwards, but they’d broken up, and the woman he was kissing was his current girlfriend, model Jena Sims. Buck went on to apologize on-air, downplay the mistake, and meet up with Koepka at the MLB All-Star Game to apologize, and he got a chance to make up on-air this year. When Koepka won this year’s title, he walked off the 18th green and again kissed Sims, and this time, Buck initially stayed away from identification:
Joe Buck wasn’t even taking a chance this year pic.twitter.com/C1ereOIxpo
— Andrew Joseph (@AndyJ0seph) June 17, 2018
But, as per Andrew Joseph of For The Win, Buck made sure to get Sims’ identity right later:
Later in the broadcast, though, Koepka and Sims were shown together. Buck emphasized “Jena.”
“Now, he and JENA again celebrate the U.S. Open championship,” Buck said.
And for her part, Sims spoke to Josh Peter of USA Today afterwards, and said she didn’t hold a grudge against Buck over last year’s mistake:
“It was fine. I’m tough. I can handle it.’’
So she has forgiven Buck?
“Of course,’’ Sims said. “He clarified my name this week, so I appreciate it. But I didn’t really care. …
“He talked to Brooks. They met up at that baseball game last year, but I was working so I didn’t get to go and experience that.’’
So all seems well there, and Fox’s telecast this year won’t be remembered for a misidentified girlfriend. This broadcast may still be remembered for explicit sex talk and complete audio loss, though…
