Crowd can’t stop Koepka
BATTLES THROUGH PGA ‘CHOKE’ CALLS
It’s about time Brooks Koepka got some love.
For a guy who has won four majors in rapid succession and put his name up there with golf ’s immortals, it’s almost as if he’s treated as an interloper. Even as he marched into the history books Sunday, New York golf fans were reluctant to cheer him on. When Koepka began to falter, they got behind Dustin Johnson.
There’s nothing wrong with pulling for Johnson but there is something wrong with shouting, “D.J., D.J., D.J.” as Koepka, struggling to hold onto his lead, was attempting to hit a pressure-packed chip
back to the 14th hole.
Instead of rooting for an unprecedented achievement, the Bethpage galleries were hoping for a biggest collapse since they started playing the majors 159 years ago. It was pretty dis- graceful, to be honest. It’s as if some of these fans had a reputation to uphold, being rowdy New Yorkers. Really. Does Koepka play for the Red Sox? Even Harold Varner III, Koepka’s playing partner, took notice.
“I thought it was pretty weird how they were telling Brooks to choke,” he said. “That’s not my cup of tea. I was pulling for him after that. I have a few choice words for that.”
To his credit, Koepka, who thrives on negative criticism, didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he said he needed a kick in the backside at the time.
“It’s New York. What do you expect, when you’re half-choking it away?” he said. “I think I kind of deserved it. You’re going to rattle off four (bogeys) in a row and it looks like you’re going to lose it; I’ve been to sporting events in New York. I know how it goes.
“It was at a perfect time because I was just thinking, O.K., all right. I’ve got everybody against me. Let’s go.”
Koepka probably could have anticipated the reaction when he bogeyed the first hold and Harold Varner III, his playing partner, birdied for a two-shot swing. Everyone became Harold Varner III fans even if they had never heard of him before this week. And even after Koepka took back control of the tournament, he was jeered after making a bogey on 17.
It’s hard to think that Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson would have been treated in the same fashion if they were struggling on the back nine trying to protect the lead. But golf fans don’t embrace Koepka. And it’s not just New York.
They want him to be more emotional. They want him to show some joy. But that’s not how he’s wired and to change his demeanor would be to mess with a winning formula. He’s not Woods, fist-pumping his way through his victories and he’s not Mickelson, handing thumbs-ups out to the galleries.
Perhaps it’s how Koepka got to the PGA Tour, fighting his way through the European
Challenge Tour after failing to get his card. He was a relative unknown when he won the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, which some considered a oneoff because he was able to overpower the wide-open course with his length, the ultimate Bomb and Gouge player. But then he won another U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and a second 2018 major at the PGA Championship at Bellerive. And if people doubted him, so be it.
“There's always a chip. I think every great athlete always has a chip, whether it be somebody saying you can't do something -- it doesn't matter,” he said. “Look at Michael Jordan. I've heard him talk about having a chip on his shoulder and I think that's important.”
Maybe it will change after this last win. Maybe galleries will start to appreciate Koepka for his mental toughness. New Yorkers certainly should have related to the way he stepped up the 15th tee and nuked one down the fairway, perhaps his most important shot of the day.
Koepka knows too, that things will be different at Bethpage when he plays for the U.S. in the 2024 Ryder Cup.
“Good luck to Europe with the fans,” he said. “I can't wait to play it. I hope I'm on the team. If not, I just want to be here. I'm excited already thinking about it. This is one hell of a place to play Ryder Cup.”