Brooks of revelation
Koepka doesn’t lack faith despite struggles
SAN FRANCISCO — Who’s the baddest man in golf right now?
With the No. 1 ranking already having changed hands four times this year, that answer is up for debate on the eve of the first major championship to be played in more than a year with this week’s PGA Championship at Harding Park.
There’s no debate in the mind of Brooks Koepka, though.
Koepka doesn’t care who officially holds the top spot — it’s Justin Thomas at the moment thanks to his win Sunday in Memphis. He doesn’t care that Bryson DeChambeau has hogged so much of the attention for the past two months with his bulked-up frame and added length off the tee.
Koepka will walk to the first tee Thursday morning believing he’s the player to beat this week. Because that’s how he rolls.
Koepka held the No. 1 spot for 47 weeks before he lost it to Rory McIlroy in February. McIlroy then lost it to Jon Rahm, who held it for two weeks before Thomas took it on Sunday.
Koepka is going for a PGA Championship three-peat this week, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in 93 years, and he pronounced this on Tuesday: “I feel very confident in myself. I don’t put any expectations on myself. [I] just go out and go play golf exactly like I know how. And if I do that, then yeah, I probably should win.’’
Tiger Woods knows the feeling. Woods, in the height of his powers, once held the No. 1 ranking for a record 281 consecutive weeks.
“There’s probably only been maybe three times where I knew that all I had to do was keep my heartbeat going and I was going to win the tournament,’’ Woods said Tuesday. “In ’97, I felt pretty good at Augusta and then Pebble Beach in 2000, and then obviously at St. Andrews the same year. I had everything rolling.’’
Here’s the rub with Koepka: He hasn’t had everything rolling at all. He’s battled a balky knee, on which he had arthroscopic surgery, and his results for the better part of the past year have been inconsistent.
But he nearly won the WGC-St. Jude Classic last Sunday. Go figure. Just in time for a major championship, Koepka’s in form. He won four majors from the 2017 U.S. Open to the 2019 PGA and, in the 2019 majors, he won once, finished runner-up twice and tied for fourth.
Now he appears to have found his game. Look out.
“Sometimes the results are a little bit slower than what I would like [because] I expect so much of myself — almost too much sometimes — and that can be annoying,’’ Koepka said. “But … I knew this [major] week was a couple weeks away, so I had no other option other than to find it. I’m excited. This is a big-boy golf course. [You’ve] got to hit it straight and put it in the fairway. It’s going to be quite long. I think it kind of plays into my hands.’’
Koepka conceded that his struggles messed with his head.
“As far as confidence, I got frustrated,’’ he conceded. “I think anybody would. Nobody likes playing bad. But … I knew it was only a couple swings away. Once I got the feeling, I’d be off and running, and here we are.’’ Yes. Here we are.
Will Thomas’ second stint at No. 1 (he held the top spot for four weeks in 2018) last past Sunday?
Or will Koepka, currently ranked No. 6, inch his way closer to taking back what he believes he never should have relinquished in the first place?
“The goal is to be the best player,’’ Koepka said. “If you’re not trying to do that, then I don’t know what you’re doing. I’m not out here to just try to compete and have a good time. I’m out here to win. Right now, you’ve got ‘JT,’ Jon, Justin, myself, DJ [Dustin Johnson] all right there. It makes it fun. It’s exciting.’’
Thomas, who’s seeking a longer stint at No. 1 than his first one, said, “Now it’s just about trying to separate and see how long you can hold it. There’s a handful of people that have had it for a short amount of time and I just want to hold it for quite a bit longer.’’
Those footsteps Thomas might be hearing are Koepka’s.
A hungry Koepka can be a dangerous Koepka — especially at a major championship, where he thrives. Baddest man in golf regardless of what the rankings say.