RECORD SETTING KOEPKA
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) >> Brooks Koepka had the biggest stage all to himself, with Tiger Woods at his side.
At times overlooked even after winning three majors in the last two years, Koepka gave thousands of fans a round to remember Thursday morning at brawny Bethpage Black with a record-setting start to his title defense in the PGA Championship.
Koepka delivered a 7-under 63, making him the first player in 101 years of the PGA Championship to shoot that score twice. He broke the course record at Bethpage Black and became the first player to post 63 at a major in consecutive years.
It gave him only a one-shot lead when Danny Lee birdied his last two holes in the afternoon for a 64.
“That was one of the best rounds I’ve played probably as a professional,” Koepka said. “This golf course is brutal.”
It felt that way to Woods, who was along for the ride.
Fresh off his emotional Masters victory, Woods opened with a pair of double bogeys on the back nine, and ruined a torrid start to the front nine with a pair of three-putt bogeys. It added up to a 72, leaving him nine shots behind and ending 12 consecutive rounds at par or better in the majors.
Make no mistake: A gallery that trudged through muddied walkways to the 10th tee in the early morning was there primarily for Woods, who created
a new era of Tigermania with his stirring comeback following four back surgeries to win a 15th major.
What they saw was a major performance.
So special was this round, even on a course still soft from rain earlier in the week, that only six other players from the 78 who played in the morning broke par. Tommy Fleetwood had the next best score from that group at 67. And as the opening round headed for a conclusion, Koepka was nearly 10 shots better than the average score for the first round.
“He’s pretty darned good at majors,” Rickie Fowler said after his 69. “I think over the last couple years, it’s something that everyone has gotten used to.”
Woods is the only player to win back to back at the PGA Championship in stroke play — he did that twice — and Koepka had an ideal start in a bid to catch him. He won at Bellerive in steamy St. Louis last August by two shots over a hard-charging Woods. Koepka played in the group in front of Woods at Augusta National and finished one back.
This time they were together, along with British Open champion Francesco Molinari (72), and it was a one-man show.
It began with a 40-foot birdie putt from just off the back of the 10th green. It ended with a birdie putt from just inside 25 feet on the ninth hole for the 17th score of 63 in the PGA Championship.
“I think that was probably the highest score he could have shot today,” Woods said.
Koepka failed to birdie the two par 5s, missing a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 13 and scrambling for par on the easier fourth hole. He also missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the 11th and an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 2. Yes, this could have been special. Then again, he also made four birdie putts of 15 feet or longer, including the long ones at the start and end of his round.
“When that putt went in on No. 10, that was kind of the momentum that set me,” Koepka said. “But I never once thought about the course record or anything. I was just trying to shoot the best I could. Simple as that. Just keep going and total them up at the end.”
He is the ninth player to open a major with 63, and only two of them went on to win — Jack Nicklaus at Baltusrol in the 1980 U.S. Open, and Raymond Floyd at Southern Hills in the 1982 PGA Championship.