Koepka sets sights on Big Three
Golfer sharpens game by playing around world
An adventurous soul, Brooks Koepka hasn’t shied from traveling into the unknown. A modernday Magellan, if you will, he has worn out his passport in pursuit of triumph on golf courses the world over, from Kenya to Kazakhstan, from Norway to Finland, from Qatar to India.
Along this circuitous route, Koepka grew more as a man than a player and built up a cache of confidence as he tackled currency demands, time zone changes, dining challenges and every golf course condition one can think of en route to winning four titles on the European Tour’s Challenge Tour and the Turkish Airlines Open on the European Tour.
Last year, the Floridian, who lives in Jupiter, broke through for his first PGA Tour title in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
“You are the odd man out everywhere you go,” Koepka, 25, said of his days across the pond. “I remember being three deep in a taxi with luggage piled everywhere for a two-hour drive to the middle of India. ...
“I learned how to pack for months on end. I didn’t get homesick. I experienced different cultures, and it was the coolest experience in my life.”
He also got an advanced course in the ABCs of golf on courses not exactly manicured like Augusta National, honing all aspects of his game.
“You just learn to play,” Koepka said. “You just go hit the ball and go find it and go hit it again.”
You adapt, improvise and overcome, in other words. And you surround yourself with people you believe in — swing coach Claude Harmon III, short-game guru Pete Cowen and putting coach Jeffrey Pierce.
With each step and stroke, Koepka, a powerful player who’s 6-0 and 195 pounds, steadily ascended the world golf rankings, moving from No. 433 at the start of 2013 to No. 86 at the start of 2014. Then he went to No. 32 at the start of 2015 to his current rank of No. 16 as he tees off Thursday in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii.
Coming off his best season — he had top-10s in the last two majors of 2015 besides his first Tour title — his sights are set on reaching the rarefied air occupied by No. 1 Jordan Spieth, No. 2 Jason Day and No. 3 Rory McIlroy.
“I definitely believe he can be the next big thing,” said Rickie Fowler, who at No. 6 also is trying to join the Big Three. “Hopefully not bigger than me. I feel like his game is similar to Dustin (Johnson’s). He’s powerful. He can attack golf courses. He makes a lot of birdies.
“He can go. He’s not afraid. He puts in the time. He grinds it out. And in the good and right kind of way, he believes in himself.”
Koepka’s belief is at an all-time high, especially after a visit two months ago to The Oven, Nike’s research and development center in Fort Worth. Immediately impressed by the company’s latest line of clubs, Koepka decided to get new luggage for 2016.
“Every club in the bag is improved,” Koepka said. “I’ve never hit a driver this good. ... The ball doesn’t move in the wind. I’m about 10 yards longer with the driver, and it has a piercing flight through the air.
“I’m much more confident, especially off the tee.”
He also has another year of experience to call upon. Last year he burned himself out in an unsuccessful pursuit of making The Presidents Cup team (he played 13 of 16 weeks). He won’t make the same mistake again despite his desire to make this year’s Ryder Cup team. For instance, it is doubtful he’ll play more than four weeks in a row.
But above all, he just wants to keep getting better. And chase the Big Three.
“I’m not in that group, but I see myself in that group,” Koepka said. “My mind works 10 steps ahead. I see myself winning multiple majors. I believe in myself.
“I’m not there now, but I see myself getting there.”