In the end, Brooks Koepka composed checks that his video game simply could not cash.
For the previous 3 years, Koepka has actually swaggered around the playing golf world with an air of superiority as if he had found the secret to contending and winning significant championships. An elixir to greatness understood just to him.
Koepkas act was at first new and rejuvenating and he backed it up, winning four majors in two years, consisting of back-to-back U.S. Opens and back-to-back PGA Championships.
Koepka talked the talk– and for a time walked the walk– attempting to encourage individuals he was an invincible force at significant championships that it would take a Herculean effort to best. The four-time major champion spent the last two major seasons playing remarkable golf and consuming his own Kool-Aid, buying into the myth he had actually been crafting, that he had something every other gamer simply did not.
” Every time I struck it in the rough today, I got most likely the worst lie Ive had all week,” Koepka stated after shooting a 4-over-par 74 to complete 10 shots back of winner Collin Morikawa.” I suggest, its my very first bad round in a while in a significant,” Koepka stated attempting to brush off his poor play as he would on a Thursday at the Zurich Classic. There is no secret sauce to Koepkas major success.
His consistent significant success turned his confidence to conceit. He pretended to not appreciate competing at regular trip occasions as if it were beneath him to fret about contending versus his contemporaries more than four times a year. He declared that he discovered competing at and winning majors to be easier due to the fact that he entered the week thinking he just needed to beat a handful of players, thinking most either werent at his level or didnt have the psychological fortitude to compete and grow on the biggest stages as he had.
Koepka talked the talk– and for a time walked the walk– trying to encourage people he was an invincible force at major champions that it would take a Herculean effort to finest. That he, like Tiger Woods in his prime, was unfazed by the major moments that make most gamers buckle. The four-time major champ invested the last two significant seasons playing extraordinary golf and drinking his own Kool-Aid, buying into the misconception he had actually been crafting, that he had something every other player simply did not.
Koepkas act reached an unbearable level of conceit Saturday when he walked off the green after the third round of the 2020 PGA Championship and right away started ignoring 54-hole leader Dustin Johnson, a 21-time PGA Tour winner and U.S. Open champion.
Like a high school jock who bullies kids to make himself feel much better, Koepka acted like it was an inescapable conclusion that he would overtake Johnson on Sunday at TPC Harding Park to win his 3rd consecutive Wanamaker Trophy to become the first player to three-peat at the PGA Championship since Walter Hagen won four in a row from 1924-27.
As it ends up hubris does not make you a significant champion. The appeal of golf is that there is no hiding when your video game leaves you, and the game delivered Koepka a massive dosage of reality Sunday on Lake Merced.
Koepka opened the day two shots back of Johnson but nearly immediately fell out of contention, going out in 4-over par, that included carding 3 straight bogeys on holes seven, eight and 9, to drop to 3-under for the tournament.
His chance at immortality was gone. His aura of invincibility shattered.
” Every time I hit it in the rough today, I got probably the worst lie Ive had all week,” Koepka stated after shooting a 4-over-par 74 to complete 10 shots back of winner Collin Morikawa. “You understand, if youre going to put it in the rough out here, its pretty difficult. And simply never quite got putts to the hole to make anything.
Even after Sundays final-round flop, Koepka fasted to deflect the attention back to his recent significant performance history.
” I suggest, its my very first bad round in a while in a major,” Koepka said trying to reject his bad play as he would on a Thursday at the Zurich Classic. “You understand, hey, wasnt implied to be. Three in a row, youre not really supposed to do two in a row looking at history, however thats all right.”
After having plenty to state before the last round, Koepka didnt use much Sunday evening. He was complimentary of Morikawa, who won the title in simply his second profession start, and exited phase left.
All the verbal jabs and extreme conceit couldnt spark Koepkas video game Sunday. Karma and the golf gods poked holes in his function as golfs unbeatable alpha male.
There is no secret sauce to Koepkas significant success. Having supreme self-confidence in yourself does not make you bulletproof on major Sundays.
Koepkas major run was brilliant, of that there is no doubt. His four major wins currently have him ticketed for the golf Hall of Fame, and he is more than capable of adding more majors to his resume.
However the fancy persona hes built over the past 2 years vaporized Sunday when he split up like a wet paper sack as TPC Harding Park handed him his lunch. His 4-over-par 74 was the second-worst rating in the field Sunday, ahead of just Jim Hermans 75.
[RELATED: Rory takes jab at Brooks following dig at DJ] Koepka gotten in Sundays last round overconfident and left deflated after giving in the weight of significant history.
A mortal much like the rest of us, Koepka now need to prove the success he revealed over the previous two years is real and sustainable.
Only his game can do the talking this time around.
Brooks Koepka given dosage of truth while folding at PGA Championship originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
