The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Anyone for a 3-peat? Doubters fuel Koepka
He has won four of last eight majors he has played.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Brooks Koepka should know as well as anyone that nothing in golf comes easily.
His well-documented journey to the PGA Tour took him to remote outposts like Kenya and Kazakhstan. Even after Koepka won a second straight U.S. Open last summer, which no one had done in 29 years, it didn’t seem enough to be the first name mentioned among the next generation of stars.
So he spent three days setting records at Bethpage Black in the PGA Championship — the first player to shoot 63 in consecutive years in the majors, the lowest 36-hole score in major championship history and a seven-shot lead, the largest ever for 54 holes in the PGA Championship.
And then he endured the toughest day of his career Sunday, which turned into the most rewarding.
“I’m glad I’ve got this thing sitting next to me,” Koepka said as he looked at the shiny Wanamaker Trophy. “It’s very satisfying, this one. This is definitely the most satisfying of all the ones I’ve won.”
Koepka closed with a 4-over 74, the highest final round by a PGA champion in 15 years, and he didn’t care how it looked.
His place in history was secure. He joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win back-to-back in the PGA Championship since it switched to stroke play in 1958. He became the only player to hold back-to-back titles in two majors at the same time.
Four years ago, he had one PGA Tour title in his first full season as a full member. Now he has four majors out of the last eight he has played, a stretch not seen since Woods won seven out of 11 after capturing the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
“I just don’t understand why he doesn’t do it more often,” said Rory McIlroy, who won his four majors in a span of 15. “He obviously gets into these mindsets of the majors, and he really goes and gets into a different state. You’d obviously have to ask him. But it’s awesome. It’s great to watch.”
What more does he have to do?
Koepka seems to be finding his voice, and if you pay attention, he’s worth listening to.
In a February radio appearance, Koepka pointedly criticized some of his tour brethren for their “embarrassing” slow play, and he recently got into a heated Twitter feud with Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee. During the Masters, the commentator wondered if Koepka had gone soft by losing weight to pose for a magazine photo shoot.
Koepka responded by posting photos of Chamblee with a clown nose.
Asked on Sunday night when he has felt most disrespected, Koepka bowed his neck and said with some heat in his eyes, “Telling me I wasn’t tough. That pissed me off. That really pissed me off.”
Asked to identify the specifics, Koepka said, “I think we all know.”
Anger and resentment seem to fuel him. Graeme McDowell, the Irishman whom Koepka has credited with giving him insight into how to focus in majors, said Sunday, “You can’t teach somebody to think the way Brooks Koepka thinks. I wish I could think that way — use negativity the way he’s able to use it.
“He just drives himself to another level. Tiger was very different from that. He didn’t seem to need negativity. He could go to a different place, mentally, than the rest of us could go to. But Brooks gets himself there via little chips, via negative comments he gets from people, and he’s able to take himself to places we’ve only seen from guys like Tiger.”
Woods twice won back to back in the PGA Championship, with tight battles in 1999 and 2000, comfortable wins in 2006 and 2007. Koepka was starting to draw comparisons with Woods for the way he obliterated the competition at Bethpage Black, much like Woods used to do.
In the end, there were no style points, only the trophy.
But that trophy spoke volumes.
No sooner was the PGA Championship over that Koepka was installed as a 5-1 favorite to win the U.S. Open next month at Pebble Beach.
No one has won three straight U.S. Open titles since Willie Anderson in 1905. That might be all the motivation Koepka needs.