Brooks Koepka has arrived.
In fact he arrived awhile ago when he won his first U.S. Open at Erin Hills. But his win there was attributed to runway wide fairways and friendly landing areas. He came into Shinnecock off a wrist injury ready to defend and was considered an afterthought by the media. He showed up at the PGA Championship listening to the talk about DJ, JT, Spieth, Tiger and every other player beside himself.
He left St. Louis toting the hardware.
Talk is cheap, actions speak louder than words and Koepka is a man of few words but astonishing actions.
He revels in the fact that he is not the favorite at the majors. He prefers to show up on the first tee carrying an attitude rather than a huge social media following.
Three major wins puts him in rare company and he is just twenty eight. If he can maintain his flexibility (part of his daily gym routine) and his health he can certainly add a bunch more majors to his count.
Alan Shipnuck recalls his run in with Team Koepka and how he wanted him booted from his press conference. He calls him a “self styled underdog” with an attitude. “I use it as motivation,” Koepka said. He took solace in the simple fact that his scores were too good to ignore: “You can’t hide when you’re on the top of the leaderboard. You can’t hide my name.”
Brian Wacker doubles down on Koepka’s under appreciated self image. “Brooks Koepka does not care what you think about him. In and of itself that doesn’t mean a whole lot, until you consider it’s coming from someone who feels that he doesn’t get asked enough questions, isn’t featured high enough on ESPN.com’s home page or gets annoyed when he’s not listed as a “notable” when the tee times come out at a major championship.”
Steve DiMeglio says Koepka is what Tiger Woods used to be and with a streak like he is on who can argue with that. “Brooks Koepka is what Tiger Woods used to be. At least in majors. And Tiger isn’t far from being that old Tiger again.
Just like Tiger was back in his heyday, Koepka is a physically imposing, supremely confident, ultra-cool presence who dismantles the toughest tracks in golf and the most star-studded fields in the game.”
Much is being made of Tiger’s near miss and watching Woods battle back from so many issues both physical and mental has captivated the golf world but right now, at this moment THE golfer, the best American and the best on the planet is Brooks Koepka.
But don’t tell him. He likes the underdog role and it may just ruin his attitude.
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