In the midst of what appeared to be a giant choke-fest, cool-hand Brooks Koepka eagled his way to victory Sunday at the Phoenix Open.
Koepka, who missed the cut in his last three events, made his return to the winner’s circle with a furious back-nine rally at the TPC Scottsdale and nabbed his eighth PGA Tour win with a memorable come-from-behind performance.
It was a strange day as one-by-one, the leaders fell apart, contenders emerged then retreated and the door was open for someone to come up with some big shots over the final nine and the man for the job was four-time major champ Koepka, who has now answered the questions concerning his health and the physical state of his body.
Brooks had a relatively quiet front nine with the exception of a 24-foot putt he made for eagle at the par five third hole. Still, he was one-under at the turn and only 14-under par. His day started five off the pace of overnight leaders Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth. Both Spieth and Schauffele found the going tough. Spieth, who shot 61 on Saturday, couldn’t find a single birdie over his first nine holes and a pair of bogeys dropped him to 16-under at the turn. Almost the same for Schauffele. He was one-over through nine, 17-under.
James Hahn came out on fire. Five front nine birdies produced a 30 going out and another at the 10th got him to 19-under and in control of the tournament. Hahn’s collar got tight in a hurry once he worked his way into the lead. He was a stud on the front, a dud on the back as he played his final eight holes in four-over.
Kopeka got to work starting at the 13th and three straight birdies got him to 17-under par. At the 17th hole he produced the shot of the day when he drove just short of the green with a three-metal. He was looking at 32 yards to the hole but was still in an tough spot that required a precision shot just to get in birdie range. Koepka’s second was uber-precise. It hit on a perfect line and started tracking to the hole. When it was six feet out, it looked absolutely perfect. It was. It touched the flagstick and fell into the cup for eagle and got Brooks to 19-under. He parred 18 and posted the number then waited as the rest to fall apart down the stretch.
After birdies at 15 and 16, Schauffele’s hopes were still alive. But he drowned them when he hooked his tee shot at 17 badly and it found the water. He walked off with a bogey and had to hole out his second at 18 to tie Koepka. He gave it a try and got it close for a closing birdie and the sting of another runner-up finish. He ended up sharing second with K.H. Lee.
While most of the contenders looked in need of a Heimlich Maneuver, it was Koepka who once again showed that he can handle the heat of the moment.
“I always thought I had a chance,” Koepka said. “I like the way I finished that off. Hit a lot of quality golf shots down the stretch. I haven’t been in contention in God knows how long, so to actually hit golf shots like I’m accustomed to seeing when the pressure is on, it’s a good feeling.”
Koepka was very honest about where he’s been mentally during his rehab from a number of physical issues including knee and hip injuries.
“There was a period maybe for about two months where I just questioned whether I was ever going to be the same, whether I was even going to be somewhat remotely the same golfer that I ever was,” Koepka admitted. “My knee, no matter how much work and pain I was doing with Derek (Samuel), my trainer, it just felt like it wasn’t progressing. And that’s the frustrating part, when you feel like it’s not going anywhere. But we stuck with it. Those dark places, a lot of tears, questioning yourself, and in dark places mentally. You’ve got to come out of that.
“I’ll tell you what, it takes a lot of effort just do get out of those places,” Koepka said in his typical reserved tone.
“I always felt like I was capable of winning,” he said. “My body wasn’t letting me. Everything that was going on I wasn’t capable of doing it. So mentally, yeah, I was always there. I’m like, ‘Okay, if I put myself in somewhat of a chance, I’ll finish it.’”
And finish he did.
While the rest were choking, Brooks came up with the big shot (17th) at exactly the right moment.
4 Comments
RM
Glad to see him back in the hunt. Always impressive when a player comes back from an injury or other problem, and it makes for a more interesting year when more of the superstars are in the mix.
Tom Edrington
A lot of people share the same sentiments as you RM; That shot at 17 was difficult just to get close but Brooks hit a PERFECT shot — we don’t see many of those when the heat is turned up do we?
baxter cepeda
We really don’t. But Brooks is one of the few who’s proven a number of times he can.
baxter cepeda
It is all in how you look at it tom.
Look at it this way Xander like Tony are super clutch at getting second; both making birdie at their finishing holes to achieve those feats yet again. You cannot make this stuff up.
Imo At the end of a weekend of amazing story lines in golf — ending with DJ taking care of just enough business in Saudi Arabia to The former number 1s BFF Brooks stealing the show in an unbelievable Scottsdale event — it was these two American bridesmaids continuing their ways which is the most incredible and unbelievable.
Maybe they could both make cameos in the next flick from that bridesmaids franchise.
Jordan spieth and Steve stricker were great stories even Sans wins. These two ultra loveable tour pros found their pga tour games in such different ways.
While everyone especially spieth was on a roller coaster all week Steve steady eddied himself to contending all the way to the last hole. In the end they both needed a bit of clutch that never came. But it’s hard to say they choked considering their situations.
Hahn’s jeckyl and Hyde round was memorable for at least trying to be clutch only to crash and burn in the tightest of collars sort of way.
DJ won thanks to whom knows how much euro choking at the sight of the real cool hand Golfer. DJ not only lulled the euros to sleep he put me to sleep two different times trying to watch that finish.
Brooks woke everybody up with the way he finished. Koepka clinically noticed all the chocking going on— even Hahn whom playing alongside Brooks was the only one not chocking— and had no choice but turning on the burners.
The best part for Brooks was basically avoiding playing with the pressures of leading.
In a sad day where we learned of the death of JTs grandpa, It’s great to see Brooks and Jordan back, as not too long ago some people were writing their Golf Eulogies (as so often happens).
Both miraculously are back from the dead. Both have a ways to go but no one is looking at these two as sad stories anymore, are we now?
But while we can look at second as a good thing; we are increasingly looking at Xander and Tony as first losers; which is never good.