Is Koepka really built to last like hard-headed McIlroy?
BROOKS KOEPKA ought to be more careful when it comes to his airy dismissal of a rivalry with Rory McIlroy. After all, it didn’t end well for any of Rory’s rivals in the past.
Stretching back to his days as a top amateur, McIlroy has seen them come, and, without exception, seen them go. Indeed, some of them have gone so far it’s astonishing they were once considered in the same breath.
In McIlroy’s final days before turning pro, it was Englishman Oli Fisher who was proposed as an adversary for world domination. Oli has one notable achievement that has remained beyond McIlroy, in owning the only 59 posted on the European Tour — but he’d be the first to admit that’s about it.
A much worse fate befell the next contender, Matteo Manassero. I remember walking around Augusta in 2010 with an esteemed chief sports writer, as he assembled an argument as to why the Italian would be more successful than Rory.
To be fair, Manassero would go on to win not one but two tour events at a younger age than any other European — but what a long time ago that now seems. At the age of
HEADING into the three play-off events to conclude the European Tour season, a notable landmark has moved into view. On top of the pile is passionate skier Bernd Wiesberger, and whoever thought an Austrian would finish No 1 in this summer pastime?
The 34-year-old from Vienna is determined to give himself every chance of completing this singular feat in the history of Austrian sport. The Turkish Airlines Open this week will not only be his 250th tour event, but his 27th of this season.
With nearly £19million on offer over the next three weeks, and significantly increased amounts of Race to dubai points, Wiesberger is aware that his lead of 340,000 points over Jon Rahm and 650,000 over Open champion Shane Lowry 26, the broken soul is now ranked outside the world’s top 1,200.
Jordan Spieth might be the one to wrinkle the brow of Koepka (below). Even McIlroy privately considered him the real deal, saluting his teak-tough mentality as he racked up four majors to match the Northern Irishman’s haul. But once the putts stopped falling, not even that brilliant mind could cope. A two-year slump has seen him drop back to 42nd in the world. Much has been made of McIlroy’s five-year drought in the majors, and understandably so, but it’s not as if he has ever fallen off the planet like others. Salute his brilliant driving and iron play as reasons why, but McIlroy’s durability and hard-headedness are two priceless qualities often overlooked.
This season, following a wonderfully consistent campaign, he’s gone from ninth in the world to move on to Koepka’s shoulder. It will be fascinating next season to see what happens between the pair in the majors and at the top of the rankings.
Koepka’s done it for three years but is he built to last, like McIlroy? Will he be Rory’s first true rival or in third is healthy but far from decisive. With a first prize of £1.7m, and even bigger winners’ cheques on offer over the next two weeks in South Africa and dubai, there’s plenty of potential for change.
Offering further encouragement is the fact Wiesberger isn’t one of those players who collects top 10s to keep their totals moving. He either wins — he has three victories to his name this season — or he generally finishes in the pack.
Among the home players still firmly in with a shout, therefore, and playing this week are Matt Wallace, currently sixth, ninthplaced Robert MacIntyre, whose debut season is already the stuff of dreams, and danny Willett, who won the final event in dubai last year and is presently 11th.