Koepka takes twostroke lead
ST LOUIS: Brooks Koepka went largely unrecognised when he went to a local fitness centre with Dustin Johnson before the third round of the PGA Championship yesterday but by day’s end he was on the threshold of golf’s most elite club of young players.
The 28yearold opened a twostroke lead at Bellerive in the final major of the year, and a victory today would sequal Jordan Spieth’s haul of three major titles and be one shy of Rory McIlroy’s tally.
Despite defending his US Open title in June, Koepka remains something of an afterthought with the golf public. But he will be very much front of mind for more heralded rivals on course.
‘‘If I do what I’m supposed to, I should win,’’ he said confidently after carding 66 for a 12underpar total of 198, two strokes ahead of Australian Adam Scott (65) and three in front of Spain’s Jon Rahm and Americans Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland.
Tiger Woods, in search of a 15th major title, was four behind on a day when the cream bubbled to the top.
‘‘There’s a lot of star power, and there should be — it’s a major championship,’’ Koepka said.
‘‘You should see the best players in the world come to the top.’’
Koepka was waltzing along with a fiveshot lead until his flawless 43hole stretch ended with a bogey at the parfour 14th.
A second bogey followed on the 15th, where his drive finished behind a tree, prompting him to take a penalty stroke.
‘‘I don’t know how it got behind that tree with so many people on the righthand side [of the fairway],’’ he said.
‘‘You would think it would have like hit somebody’s foot and just kind of gone to the side, but to go right in that little wedge of the tree, I don’t know how it did that.
‘‘But you just get on with it. You try to make the best of a bad situation and just keep rolling with it.’’
Koepka said his form at the World Golf Championships event from August 25, where he finished fifth, had been better than in either of his US Open victories, except for his putting.
‘‘I like the way I’m hitting the ball, I’m putting much better and my short game’s on point this week. So when all those add up, I could see why I played so well,’’ he said.
As for that gym visit with world No 1 Johnson, Koepka had to laugh at the disparity in the players’ profiles.
‘‘Everybody wanted a picture with Dustin,’’ he said.
‘‘They were talking about him as we left and I was just standing there laughing. They were like, ‘Did you see that the No 1 player in the world was here?’
‘‘I don’t know what to say to that.’’ — Reuters