“This could be a helluva championship.” — Tiger Woods on Tuesday
Tiger Woods saw it first-hand and you can bet it made him gulp.
Woods saw one helluva round on Thursday at the 101st PGA Championship as his playing partner — defending champion Brooks Koepka — picked up Big Bad Bethpage Black by the nap of its neck, slung it around, smashed it a bit and generally gave it a good going-over.
Put simply, Brooks Koepka got Bethpage Black in a tight headlock for nearly five hours and didn’t let up.
By early afternoon as his round ended, he went bogey-free, threw in seven birdies and then declared: “I have some things to clean up.”
Meanwhile, all Woods could do is sigh and say: “I’m a long way back.”
And just like that, Koepka put up a 63 at the PGA Championship for the second straight year. He shot 63 at Bellerive last year on his way to that win.
His start on day one got everyone’s attention.
Imagine showing up for your afternoon round and seeing that 63 staring at you.
Some doubters might ask if Brooks played all 18 holes. Yes he did and the scary thing about what transpired during this first round is that it could have easily been a couple if not three shots better.
Koepka’s formula was exactly what is required at Bethpage Black — long, accurate drives, good irons shots and really good putting.
“I drove the ball pretty well today. My iron play was solid. My putter was hot today. I’m not gonna lie but it’s the best it’s felt in a long time,” he said.
Then came the surprise declaration of the day.
“It could have been a helluva round,” Koepka said matter-of-factly.
And 63 wasn’t a helluva round?
“Don’t get me wrong,” he continued. “I need to clean a few things up.”
Seriously? How does this bode for the rest of the field.
Not well, you’d think.
Keopka was quick to point out that he parred both the par fives and that didn’t appear to sit very well with the kid whose biceps that stretch the sleeves of his golf shirts.
“And I missed a five-footer for birdie,” he added.
Another scary thing is that he started on the back nine, which is a far difficult start than on the front. In fact, the first six holes are where you need to make some birdies if you’re going to find some on this golf course that has an aversion to birdies.
Truth be known, things started incredibly well for Koepka. At that 489-yard 10th, he left his second on the back fringe and promptly ran in a 45-footer for his first birdie of the day to set the tone and cut playing partner and Masters champion El Tigre by three shots right out of the box.
Two more birdies and Brooksie would turn in 32 — six better than Tiger, three better than Francesco Molinari, the third wheel in the group.
Koepka’s biggest disappointment had to be a par at the 517-yard par five fourth. It’s not much more than a long par four for him. He made par there and you know it ticked him off. His best save came at the short sixth, just 392 yards where he missed the fairway with an iron off the tee. Obviously one of those “clean-up” items that bugged him. His second was short of the green, he hit a sloppy chip 15-feet past the hole and bogey looked a certainty. But no, he poured the par-saving putt dead in the heart.
It was that kind of day for Brooks Koepka.
“A crazy day,” was how he described it.
Yeah a crazy day and the kind of day that will absolutely drive the rest of the field crazy.
