Brooks Koepka did what he had to do. At the 100th PGA Championship Koepka had to feel like he was the underdog…despite his two stroke lead to start the final round. He knew that the stage was set for a legendary comeback from his idol Tiger Woods and that his other hero Adam Scott had found his form.
Koepka knew they would be coming at him. They always do. Whether it’s Woods or Scott or Rickie or Jordan or Dustin. They come at him and when his game is on he swats them away. As easily as he strokes in a gimmie putt he makes light work of all comers and today his game was on.
“I just went out and did what I was supposed to do. Got off to a little bit of a rocky start. Missing a short one and making a bogey there got me a little more refocused. Settled me in a little bit and got to what I was supposed to do. I knew I had chances. It is one of those things that I’m going to go out and play the best that I can and not worry about anybody else.”
Koepka’s four under 66 gave him two shot margin over Tiger and his legendary comeback and three over a resurgent Scott. It’s his third major win in his last six attempts at a major. That’s not luck or coincidence. That’s a Tiger like dominance. And tomorrow he could still walk through downtown St. Louis and go unnoticed.
You see Brooks Koepka is the antithesis of the modern day golfer. While so many golfers and athletes spend more time in self-promotion than they do on their game Koepka chooses to shun the spotlight and be content with himself… and his trophies. He begged off the traditional U.S. Open media tour after both his wins and his anemic Twitter account has him posting 2435 Tweets and 104,000 followers. Fowler has nearly eleven thousand Tweets and 1.6 million followers. When asked in his press conference if he cares what other people think of him he made it simple, “No.”
He spent two hours in the gym before his final round today building those ever bulging biceps. He has the frame of a NFL linebacker and needs it to carry that chip on his shoulder he plays so well with. If a two time major winner (back to back U.S. Opens) can fly under the radar he did that at the start of this week.
The pundits were promoting DJ and JT and Spieth and Woods and so on and so on. Koepka is fine with that. He let’s his clubs do the talking and they spoke loudly today. Turning back challenges from heroes he grew up watching. His driver is the weapon of grass destruction as he bombs it far and sure and his short game ranks with the best. But what may have separated him from the rest today and won him this major and probably a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame was his temperament.
He stumbled early with back to back bogeys but righted his ship and proceeded to pound his driver and finally started to make his short putts on the back nine.
“I definitely knew on the back side that I had to pick it up a little bit to keep it going. You definitely heard Tiger’s roars. The fans, you can tell right away. They are quite loud, especially when he is making birdies. Playing with Adam Scott kind of helped a little bit. You knew what he was doing and what I was up against. To do it in this fashion with playing against Tiger and Scotty down to the wire there it is really incredible. I really can’t put it into words.”
Over the next few days we will read so much about Tiger’s comeback and we should. Tiger has a major championship quality game once again and he’ll be at the Ryder Cup with a club and not a walkie talkie. And there will be plenty written about Koepka and his place in golf as the best player right now. And we should, three majors at twenty eight gets attention.
But we probably won’t hear much from the PGA Champion himself. Maybe one of his crew will post a pic of them celebrating. But he won’t be doing any major media requests and he won’t be out there self promoting.
He’ll be back in the gym busting his ass and thinking about the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the Ryder Cup. And how he can kick more ass.
He’s a beast, a hungry beast…but a quiet one.
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