Defending PGA Champion Brooks Koepka insists he’s not going to be intimidated playing with Tiger Woods this week at Bethpage Black
Playing in the final group on Sunday at the PGA Championship last August, Brooks Koepka was a man on an island. He had the lead, but the attention of the raucous gallery at Bellerive was not on him. Instead, it was on the group ahead, where Tiger Woods was making a charge to win his first major in a decade.
Koepka, though, was never fazed by all the praise heaped on Woods. Even when Woods birdied the 15th hole to get within a shot of the lead, Koepka responded with two birdies of his own to open up a three-shot advantage. He went on to beat Woods by two, setting a PGA Championship scoring record in the process.
Koepka returns to the PGA Championship this week at Bethpage Black as the defending champion, but again he’s overshadowed by the looming presence of Woods. Fresh off a historic victory at the Masters last month, Woods is the favorite at Bethpage, both among oddsmakers and the huge gallery that will converge on Long Island starting on Thursday. Koepka, once again, is being overlooked.
He’ll finally get his chance to go head-to-head against Woods on Thursday. Koepka is paired with Woods, along with Open Champion Francesco Molinari, in the traditional grouping of the previous three major champions. But don’t count on him being intimidated by the 15-time major champion.
“What’s the point of fearing anybody? We’re not fighting,” Koepka said at his pre-tournament press conference on Tuesday. “Unless I was standing there and not prepared for a punch, I might be like, whoa. But, other than that, he’s not going to knock my teeth in. He’s not going to hurt me. So what’s there to be afraid of.”
Since the start of 2017 Koepka has established himself as a man to be feared in majors. He’s won three of the last seven majors he’s played in. He has the best cumulative score to par at 46-under. He has nine straight under-par rounds in majors, the longest active streak. Only an erratic tee shot at the par-three 12th that found Rae’s Creek prevented him from winning the Green Jacket. He finished second at the Masters, behind Woods, of course.
Koepka is quick to dismiss talk of a budding rivalry between him and Woods, although he admits he enjoys hearing himself mentioned in the same sentence as one of the legends of the game.
“I don’t see it as a rivalry,” he said. “Although it is fun to play against him. You know, best player to ever play the game. You guys want to talk about rivalry, that’s pretty cool to hear. It’s exciting for me. But I’m just looking forward to this week, to playing with him.”
Koepka’s self-confidence against Woods is a sentiment that never would’ve been uttered a decade ago. When Woods was in his prime players shied away from playing him. For all his talent, arguably the biggest factor to his success was his intimidation and how he played into the minds of his opponents.
Four back surgeries later, however, that Woods seemed to be gone forever. A new generation of players, including Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy, emerged who had no experience of dealing with Woods in contention on Sunday at a major.
That changed on Sunday at the Masters, when Woods won his first major in 11 years. It was a remarkable, even miraculous, comeback from everything he’s been through in that time. Koepka and company finally got the opportunity to feel what it used to be like playing against him.
Koepka may have held off Woods at Bellerive last summer, but now that the 15-time major champion has figured out how to win again, his intimidation factor will only return. Koepka says he’s ready for it, and he’ll find out at 8:24 a.m. on Thursday if he can avoid that fear and lift the Wanamaker Trophy for the second straight year.