KOEPKA IN LEAD AT PGA CHAMPIONSHIP
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Tiger Woods’ victory in the Masters a month ago was a sporting earthquake.
Brooks Koepka made Bethpage Black history on Thursday in the 101st PGA Championship, and it was as if the golf world felt a slight bump in the night and turned over to go back to sleep.
The 29-year-old has become a majors monster, dominating them the way Woods once did, but with a fraction of the fanfare.
Koepka has won three of the game’s biggest titles in fewer than two years, and he made No. 4 a very real possibility by shooting a stunningly good 7-under-par 63 — a course record — that gave him a one-shot lead over 28-yearold Danny Lee.
It was Woods who staved off Koepka, world No. 1 Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele at Augusta to win his 15th major.
The payback came quickly on Long Island,, with Koepka displaying his power and an unusually deft putting touch while his playing partner, Woods, made a pair of double bogeys and struggled on the greens in shooting a 2-over 72 that put him far behind.
The rout didn’t take long to develop. Starting the morning on the 10th hole, Koepka hit his tee shot in the fairway, and after he muscled a 200-yard 5-iron onto the green, he drained a 40-foot putt for one of only seven birdies on the day there.
Woods drove into the rough, and after slashing out to the fairway, his approach went long into the deep grass, leading to a double bogey.
One hole in, Koepka led Woods by three.
Koepka, who had to overcome raucous cheering for Woods in the final round to win last year’s PGA at Bellerive in St. Louis, insisted, rather convincingly, that he didn’t pay much attention to the hype surrounding Woods in his first round since the Masters.
Woods didn’t give the usually boisterous fans much reason to cheer, other than making a long eagle putt at the fourth that briefly put him in red numbers.
“You know what you’re doing to get when you play with him,” Koepka said. “Obviously, everybody in New York is going to be cheering for him, and it’s going to be loud, especially when he makes a putt. You’ve just got to keep battling and find a way to get through it.”
Koepka put on a relentless display, with three birdies on Bethpage’s more difficult back nine, followed by four birdies on the other side, capped with a 32-foot make on his last hole.
Woods, who is 14 years Koepka’s senior, could only marvel.
“He hit a couple of loose tee shots
that ended up in good spots, but I think that was probably the highest score he could have shot today,” he said.
Crazy, but true. Koepka didn’t birdie either of the course’s par-5s, handcuffed by a bad hook into the rough at the 516-yard fourth and a drive that found a bunker at the 13th.
Throw in a 7-foot miss for birdie at No. 11, and it seems wholly possible that Koepka could have blitzed the alltime majors scoring record of 8-under 62, recorded by Branden Grace in the 2017 British Open.
“That would have been nice to shoot 60,” Koepka said with a slight smile.
Koepka’s 63 marked or matched plenty of high standards. The previous low score at 83-year-old Bethpage Black was 64, and with Koepka also carding 63 in last year’s PGA, he joined Vijay Singh and Greg Norman as the only players to notch that score twice in majors.
The average score in the first round at Bethpage was 73.04, or 10 strokes worse than Koepka.
“This is such a tough golf course,” said Paul Casey, who shot 70. “Brooks has played an unbelievable round of golf — displayed how good he can be, how good he is.”