The torment of Koepka is in ‘Full Swing’
There are occasions during “Full Swing,” the Netflix series chronicling the 2022 PGA Tour season, when ardent golf observers will cringe.
Taking cues from the streamer’s foray into Formula One racing, executive producer Chad Mumm and his crew explained some basics to fit narratives and educate those unfamiliar with the game.
And so we are told what birdies and eagles are — with graphics! — and a what tournament cut is — twice! — and that a caddie does more than carry clubs. We’re also informed that the RBC Heritage, won by Jordan Spieth, is an important early season event, even though it falls past the midway point of the schedule and after the Players Championship and Masters.
Somewhat nauseating, but evidently necessary, documentarymaking devices.
But if part of Munn’s mission was to capture the pitfalls of golf, and the plight of those who play it professionally, he shot a 59 — Narrator: “A 59 is considered golf’s magic number because a score under 60 happens so rarely” — when he shone the spotlight on Brooks Koepka. This is the second episode of the series and, in my mind, the best.
As you the keen golf watcher know, Koepka was largely unstoppable in winning four majors in three years, his success rate matched only by his considerable swagger. The Floridian brought a baseball player’s body and machismo to the sport, a tobacco-chewing long bomber who revealed little about himself apart from a burning desire to crush his competition. “I don’t care,” was a phrase he repeated when reporters reached for revelations. Sometimes more words followed, sometimes not.
Then injuries interrupted Koepka’s reign and the major titles ceased. He contended, but he did not conquer, notably losing to 50year-old Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship. He wasn’t a factor in any of the four majors last season and, before departing the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, he netted just two top-10 finishes in 13 starts.
This is the state in which the “Full Swing” cameras find him, and the contrast between the confidence he once oozed and the depression over his struggles now is startling and fascinating.
“This (bleeping) thing can consume you,” Koepka says of his slump.
Smartly, Mumm juxtaposes Koepka’s slide with the sudden rise of Scottie Scheffler. The Bible-abiding Texan outplays Koepka and others at the WM Phoenix Open for his first PGA Tour victory and takes off from there, winning three more times, including the Masters, over the next two months. His run is reminiscent of Koepka’s but the two men are polar opposites. Of his new-found fame, Scheffler smiles and says aw-shucks whereas Koepka wanted us to believe he never gave two … well, you know.
In “Full Swing,” the usually cryptic Koepka is brutally honest and despondent.
“I’ll be honest with you, I can’t compete with these guys, week in, week out,” Koepka foreshadows during dinner at the 2022 Masters, where he misses the cut with scores of 75-75. “A guy like Scottie, he can shoot 63 every day. I don’t know.”
A cynic might suggest those words were scripted but Koepka still had to say them. In this scene, he speaks of the success he craves again. He was never a country club kid. Never a junior sensation. Never a can’tmiss prospect. He went to Europe and played golf’s minor leagues there before earning his PGA Tour card with a tie for fourth at the 2014 U.S. Open. And then he skyrocketed and surpassed the likes of Spieth and Dustin Johnson and held off Tiger Woods to win the 2018 PGA. He was ruthless as he ruled.
Fast-forward a few years and he’s embarrassed. He doesn’t hit the hole doing a putting drill. He doesn’t remember it was Scheffler who won the Masters, or at least he pretends not to. He doesn’t understand why he’s in such a funk, except to know that golf is forever fickle. And then, to conclude the episode, he drops the juiciest quote of all.
“Being at the low point, you can either just give up and lay there or you can figure it the (bleep) out and I think that’s where … I don’t know.”
A few months later Koepka quits the competitive PGA Tour for the guaranteed riches of LIV.
“Full Swing” has other nice moments, with the self-deprecating Joel Dahmen and the family man Tony Finau, and getting lucky, or choosing wisely, by following Matt Fitzpatrick during his run to the U.S. Open. But of everything the series sets out to show, the torment of golf is what it captures the best. The mental angst it can levy. The loneliness of losing. The shocking decline that can follow an awesome ascent.
It is harsher than any other sport in this way and here, the frustration it can inflict is exemplified by a guy who once seemed impenetrable to such pain.
Bites and Bites
Max Homa won $2.13 million (U.S.) for his runner-up at the Genesis Invitational but broke down over not winning his hometown event. Pro golf, to the contrary to what some have shown, is not all about money … Jon Rahm probably has three more starts to make before the Masters. How many of them will he win? … One of those events will be the 64-player WGC Match Play Championship, where, if held today, there would be four Canadians in the field. Amazing …
This week’s Honda Classic, a topnotch event not long ago, will show the starkest contrast between being a have and have-not PGA Tour event, following two designated tournaments and preceding another as it does … Of note, the RBC Canadian Open will follow a designated event and precede two more, one a major, come June. It does have one heck of a defending champion, however … Can’t figure out if it was smart, stupid or not of its choosing for Honda to have both its PGA Tour and LPGA Tour sponsored events taking place the same week …
Brooke Henderson is back in action this week in Thailand, where last year she finished tied for fourth with a 23-under-par total … Tiger Woods still has the shots to win on the PGA Tour, doesn’t he? Does he have the endurance? Maybe not.