Brooks Koepka Seems Certain He’s Rediscovered His Major-Winning Formula

Brooks Koepka loves the chaos.

It’s that attitude, the attitude the Jack Nicklaus took into majors, that makes the five-time major winner so special.

The 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills stands as validation for his claim of loving chaos, as the one-shot victory over Englishman Tommy Fleetwood made Koepka a two-time U.S. Open winner.

Just two months later a third major at the PGA Championship at Bellerive continued a run that would end with Koepka’s successful defense of his PGA title in 2019 at Bethpage, his fourth major title in three years.

“Everybody was bitching, complaining,” Koepka said Tuesday of a perfect example of his chaos theory at Shinnecock. “I just felt like it was—they were all so focused on the golf course they kind of forgot about what was going on, that they were there to play a major championship instead of, okay, the greens are pretty fast.”

Nicklaus has talked about how most of the field in majors can be discounted, leaving a small group in the field left to address.

With 18 major wins and 19 runner-up finishes, the Nicklaus way is not a proven theory, but a fact.

“The more chaotic things get the easier it gets for me,” Koepka explained of his theory that is evolving into fact. “Everything starts to slow down, and I am able to focus on whatever I need to focus on while everybody else is dealing with distractions, worried about other things.”

Since he was a kid, Koepka knew the importance of winning majors.

It wasn’t the fact that Sam Snead had won 82 PGA Tour wins that made Koepka interested in the man from Virginia, but the seven major titles.

Koepka knew how many majors, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Nicklaus won.

“I could tell you going down the list each of them had won, so that was kind of —it's pretty obvious, right, that's what you're judged on,” Koepka said. “It's major championships. You look at basketball, you're judged on how many championships you've won, not how many games you've won. Same thing in every sport.”

Koepka comes to Los Angeles Country Club with a fifth major title after his PGA Championship victory at Oak Hill, healthy after coming off a right knee surgery that included repairing a dislocated kneecap and ligament damages that was debilitating and mentally draining, and armed with the confidence he possessed in his run from 2017 to 2019.

The 33-year-old has swagger like a gun slinger, outwardly displaying a quiet poise that few in professional golf possess.

During his past run and his win last month in Rochester, N.Y., Koepka showed that same walk of conviction while most of the field were just trying to survive.

Par is Koepka’s friend, and he embraces it, to the point he loves playing venues that he can par to death and slowly move him up the leaderboard. Part of making par in Koepka’s mind is staying patient and knowing when to go after a flag or when to play cautious.

Caution is generally your friend in majors, but at the Masters in April, it was caution that cost Koepka a green jacket when he took a two-shot lead over Spain’s Jon Rahm into Sunday and shot a three-over 75, losing by four shots.

It was his worst final round at the Masters by three strokes.

“I told everybody at PGA I was never going to let it happen again,” Koepka said of his process at Augusta that was more tentative, playing not to lose attitude. “I know how to make adjustments and really figure out what goes on, and that's I think probably one of my biggest attributes that I think I have.”

Koepka believes double-digit major wins are not out of the question. With his age, talent and belief system in himself, six majors are on the horizon—but will that and a third U.S. Open title come this week at LACC?

“I'm pretty sure I know what it takes to compete in majors,” Koepka said with a smile. “I've won five of them and been second four times. And just over my track record how to prepare when you're here, how to prepare when you're home for it, I've got that, I guess, on lock.”

The George Thomas design, which was spruced up by Gil Hanse before the 2017 Walker Cup, is unique and at times difficult to attack.

It’s also a track where Koepka has not spent any time, but his process will not change and his confidence seems unfazed.

“I'll just tell you what I do every hole. I kind of figure out—once I get to the fairway, just figure out what's the best spot to look, going for the green,” Koepka said of his approach to preparing to play in a major. “With certain pin locations figure out what's the best side to miss. There's always one side that's better than the other. Honestly, I just stand in the middle of the green ... look back, and it's clear as day. I just play the hole backwards.”

Again, in the winner’s circle, Koepka seemed extremely confident Tuesday when addressing the media’s questions.

And while LIV Golf was discussed and put in the rearview, the focus for Koepka seems clear—he wants the chaos and the more the better.

“They all mean something different, but this last one, for all the stuff I had to deal with, all the pain, the tears, all the stuff that went into it, like I said, there's probably five, seven people in this whole world that really know what I went through and that were there kind of every step of the way,” Koepka said of the knee injury and its toll on him. “I think they enjoyed it maybe even more than I did.”