U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka personifies new breed of PGA player
Brooks Koepka used both power and touch to win the U.S. Open Sunday at Shinnecock Hills for the second straight year. The powerfully built Koepka shows that even golfers can be great athletes.
If you are looking for the prototype of the future PGA Tour player, look no further than Brooks Koepka.
Koepka, now a two-time U.S. Open champion after his victory at Shinnecock Hills on Sunday, is the perfect example of the type of player that is taking over the PGA. Powerfully built, more of an all-around athlete than a golfer. These players, which include Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau, who each were in contention at the U.S. Open, are proving wrong the adage that golfers aren’t athletes.
The U.S. Open used to be won by precise and calculating players. Diminutive Corey Pavin won at Shinnecock in 1995. The 28-year-old Koepka, however, is symbolic of the new breed. Last year at Erin Hills he overpowered the longest course in Major Championship history, tying the tournament scoring record at 16-under.
At this year’s event at Shinnecock, Koepka again showed off his power. He finished second in driving distance for the week. But it wasn’t just his strength that was on display. He also showed he has the touch and guile to work his way around a difficult golf course. Nowhere was that more clear on Sunday than on the par-three 11th.
Koepka hit his tee shot well over the green into the rough. Accepting that going for the pin was out of the question, he played into a greenside bunker. Facing a 12-foot putt just to save bogey, Koepka wasn’t rattled and calmly holed it. He believes it was the turning point of the tournament.
“From where it was, I would have taken double [bogey]. Definitely would have taken bogey,” he said after the round, via golf.com. “I think that was like making a birdie, maybe even making an eagle, because it could have been a big momentum shift there…To make bogey there was pretty incredible and I think kind of the reason why we won.”
At the 14th he was again faced with a difficult putt, this time from eight feet to save par. Again he made it. Despite a bogey at the 18th, Koepka held on to win by one shot over Tommy Fleetwood and become the first golfer to take the U.S. Open two years in a row since Curtis Strange in 1989.
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His one-over score of 281 doesn’t look as good as his finish at Erin Hills last year. But given how difficult Shinnecock Hills played this week, it was perhaps more impressive. Fast conditions on the greens, particularly in the third round, led some players to say the USGA “lost the golf course.” Koepka wasn’t fazed, however. In fact, he admits he enjoys the challenging courses even more.
“I enjoy being pushed to the limit. Sometimes you feel like you are about to break mentally, but that’s what I enjoy. I enjoy hard golf courses. I enjoy playing about the toughest in golf you are ever going to play.”
Now that he is one of the top players in the world, it is surprising that Koepka didn’t intend to become a golfer. His first love growing up was baseball. He comes from a baseball family, his great-uncle being former National League MVP Dick Groat. Koepka admits he would rather be playing baseball than golf.
“If I could do it over again, I’d play baseball — 100 percent, no doubt,” he told Golf Digest in 2017. “To be honest, I’m not a big golf nerd. Golf is kind of boring, not much action. I come from a baseball family, and it’s in my blood.”
Playing multiple sports growing up helped Koepka become the all-around athlete he is now. Six feet tall and 186 pounds, he has the build of a linebacker. It is fitting he was paired with Johnson on Sunday. He and Johnson are training partners showing a dedication to physical fitness that was unheard of in past generations.
Koepka and Johnson train together with Joey “Joey D” Diovisalvi, where they push each other to get the most out of their bodies. Golf.com‘s Alan Shipnuck chronicled their exercise routines earlier this year.
“We’re always chirping. It’s one of those things where we try to make each one of us better,” Johnson told Shipnuck. “We’re chirping at Joey. Joey’s chirping at us. Lift harder, whatever it is. It works for us.”
As for the notion that golfers aren’t athletes, Joey D says one look at Koepka and Johnson will disprove that notion.
“I would challenge anyone, anywhere to step into the gym with DJ and Brooks and say these guys are not hardcore jocks,” he said.
Koepka took a long road to become a two-time Major Champion. He started his career on the European Tour after graduating from Florida State, winning his first major professional tournament at the Turkish Open in 2014. In 2015 he finally joined the PGA Tour full-time. His brother, Chase, is currently playing in Europe trying to take the same path that Brooks took.
Koepka also has a self-belief in his own abilities that allows him to perform under adversity. “There’s nobody more confident,” he declared after the third round, via Newsday. Time and again on Sunday he faced challenging par putts. He made them all. His confidence allowed him to regain his form quickly after missing four months with a wrist injury earlier this year.
He thought that injury might have ended his career. Not only is he healthy again, his U.S. Open performance shows he is only getting started showing what an athlete can accomplish on the PGA Tour.