Brooks Koepka Comes Out Firing in Winning Third PGA Championship, Fifth Major Overall
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The landscape has changed so much that we tend to forget the simpler times when a major golf feud meant a couple of hotshot golfers spewing social media venom in each other’s direction while spectators took sides by shouting mean things at them.
And so it was fitting to note the gesture early Sunday evening by Bryson DeChambeau, who left the scoring area after his final round at the PGA Championship, walked to the 18th green and congratulated Brooks Koepka on his victory.
While they might not ever be close friends, they are allies in the LIV Golf League, and those tussles of two years ago are but child’s play now.
"You’ve got to give credit where credit is due," DeChambeau said as he walked to the parking lot. "He’s obviously ball-striking it and he’s able to hit it really consistent in every single condition. He’s got the whole kit and kaboodle.
"He’s got everything going for him. Putting it really consistent. He’s got control of his emotions and that’s what you have to do to win major championships."
For Koepka it was his fifth, putting him among some elite company. Only Tiger Woods (15) and Phil Mickelson (six) have more among active players. And it made him the 20th male golfer to get to five or more, a list headed by Jack Nicklaus at 18.
He also became just the sixth player to win the PGA three or more times, joining Nicklaus and Walter Hagen (five each), Woods (four) and Gene Sarazen and Sam Snead (three).
"Yeah, it's crazy," Koepka said. “I try not to think of it right now. I mean, I do care about it. It's just tough to really grasp the situation kind of while you're still in it. Probably when I'm retired and I can look back with (wife) Jena and my son and kind of reflect on all that stuff, that will be truly special, but right now I'm trying to collect as many of these things as I can. We'll see how it goes."
Koepka, 33, shot a final-round 67 that included a near-clinching birdie on the 16th hole, where Viktor Hovland ran into bunker trouble and made a double-bogey 6 to provide the a cushion after a tight back nine.
Hovland tied for second with Scottie Scheffler, whose final-round 65 matched the low score of the week. They were two back, while DeChambeau was in a tie for fourth, six back.
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The victory helped Koepka atone for a poor final day at the Masters last month, where he held a two-shot 54-hole advantage and said he "choked" in shooting a 75, finishing second to Jon Rahm by four strokes.
Koepka vowed to not let the same thing happen here, saying his poor mindset going into the final round at Augusta National—he would not disclose exactly what it entailed—would not be repeated.
Perhaps he was determined to be more aggressive. Koepka came out firing, birdieing three holes in a row from the 2nd through the 4th, giving himself a cushion that came in handy when he bogeyed the 6th and 7th holes.
"I've always learned more from the four times I finished second than the five times I've won now," he said. “I think failure is how you learn. You get better from it. You realize what mistakes you've made. Each time I've kind of made an adjustment.
“It's more mentality than it is anything. It's not really golf swing or anything like that. You're going to play how you play, but mentally you can kind of figure things out, and I'm always trying to get better. Just trying to find that different little edge just to poke and try inside my head. Really, I think the big key is just being open and honest with yourself, and if you can do that, you'll be miles ahead of everybody else."
Koepka was clearly bothered by what went down at Augusta National. He held a four-shot lead during the third round when play was suspended due to bad weather on Saturday afternoon. During the completion of the third round, he saw his lead slip to two strokes. Then, through nine holes, he had fallen behind by two, never to recover.
"I think he hadn’t been there for awhile," said Ricky Elliott, who began working as Koepka’s caddie 10 years ago when the PGA was played at Oak Hill in 2013. “It’s as simple as that. He hadn’t been in that position for a while. And I think the delay might have caught him off a bit.
“I think this one’s going to be very special for him. He’s been through a lot injury-wise. The doubts creep in as you get a little bit older. He’s fought through it. He’s worked very hard on his fitness. He’s proven what he can do."
Koepka was in a dark place a year ago, as he outlined in the Netflix series that chronicled the year in golf. He spoke about the doubts he had about his future and wondered if the numerous injuries—including a right knee issue that hampered him throughout 2022—meant his best days were behind him.
From the beginning of 2017 through 2021, Koepka won four majors. He also finished second at the Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship during that stretch.
Then the injuries changed his outlook.
"I don't know if I considered retiring, but I knew I wasn't—if I couldn't play the way I wanted to play, then I was definitely going to give it up," he said. "I mean, the thought definitely kind of crossed my mind."
Pete Cowen, a longtime coach who works with Koepka on his short game, recalled a few times when attitude adjustments were needed, especially before he went on his majors-winning run. The week before winning the U.S. Open at Erin Hills in 2017, Cowen recalled telling Koepka that he couldn’t win the way he saw him acted at the tournament the week prior.
Koepka won the U.S. Open and gave Cowen the pin flag with a message: "Thanks for the bollocking. I couldn’t have done it without you."
"He’s always been the man who is comfortable in uncomfortable situations," Cowen said. "He was uncomfortable with his fitness and he was uncomfortable with the way things were going. You can’t swing as well as you want to when your fitness is poor. All credit to him getting back. It’s all Brooks Koepka."
Koepka started to see some success last October when he won the LIV Golf event in Jeddah. He said he could sense things changing as he began the new year, then won the week before the Masters in Orlando, becoming the first player to win two LIV Golf events.
Of course, those were 54-hole tournaments, and there was considerable doubt as to his readiness at the Masters, where he shared the first-round lead after a 65. Failing to get it done in the final round did not help the 54-hole narrative.
But Koepka never believed the number of the holes was ever the issue. It was simply his approach to them. He didn’t let that become an issue on Sunday.
DeChambeau could only marvel, those skirmishes of earlier days seemingly long ago.
"He’s a five-time major champion," DeChambeau said. "I’ve got nothing else to say but 'huge respect.'"