US Open, PGA champion ready for new challenges
No. 1, 3-peat targets for Player of Year Koepka
Two majors, one player of the year award.
In a vote of his peers, Brooks Koepka added to his trophy trove as he was named the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year on the strength of wins in the U.S. Open at Shinnicock Hills in New York and the PGA Championship at Bellerive in Missouri. With his win in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, Koepka has won three majors in his last six starts in golf ’s four biggest events.
Koepka became the first to win the U.S. Open in back-to-back years since Curtis Strange in 1988-89. Koepka also became the fifth player to win the U.S. Open and PGA in the same season, the first since Tiger Woods in 2000.
And now Koepka will receive the Jack Nicklaus Trophy, named in honor of the all-time leader in major championship victories.
“Looking at the list of the guys who have won this, Mr. Nicklaus, Tiger, so many Hall of Famers, that’s what you wanted growing up, that’s what you dream of,” Koepka said in a phone interview. “It’s an honor.”
This coming year, he’ll be asked over and over about another major champion — Willie Anderson, the only player to win the U.S. Open in three consecutive years. Anderson accomplished the feat from 1903 to 1905.
“Yes, I know who Willie Anderson is, and the questions have already started,” Koepka said. “I’m excited to try and do it. The first time I defended a major I won it. I’m looking forward trying to win three in a row, especially at Pebble (Beach, home to the 2019 U.S. Open). You don’t put any added pressure on yourself, that’s not me, that’s not my personality. I’ll embrace everything and go from there.”
Koepka, 28, missed nearly four months early in 2018 — he didn’t play in the Masters — with an injured left wrist. He said he no longer has any issues with the wrist and will begin his 2018-19 season next week at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in South Korea.
He’ll begin his season looking at another mountain to climb.
“There is always something on the course or off the course that you want to achieve. Right now, it’s trying to get to No. 1,” said Koepka, who is No. 3. “From there, you find something else and you try and build on it.
“I’ve always been a pretty good putter, but this year I didn’t putt as well as I would have liked. Obviously, I putted well in the majors, but other than that it wasn’t up to my standards and I’m working to improve that.”