Brooks Koepka Erases Any And All Doubt In Memphis

It was supposed to be a heavyweight battle between the world’s No. 1 and No. 3 Sunday at the WGC St. Jude Invitational.

By day’s end, it was more like a seal-clubbing with Brooks Koepka once again proving that he can bury all challengers when he wants to.

This day in Memphis was a display of everything that has made Koepka the world’s No. 1.  A near-flawless round, no bogeys, five birdies and clutch par saves when they were needed.

Rory McIlroy was supposed to put up a battle with his considerable talents but a missed four-footer for birdie at the third hole pretty much set the tone for Rory.  The wedge and short putting game that is the Achilles Heel for McIlroy, once again proved to be just that.

Three front nine birdies by Brooks put the handwriting on the wall.  Another at the 10th let everyone else know they were playing for second and Rory wasn’t good enough for a runner-up.

Koepka led the field in putting and scrambling.  Add that to his considerable ball-striking skills and it was Brooksie in a runaway.  And add to the incredible performance was the fact that Koepka was a bit under the weather — wasn’t feeling well but it did not matter.

The PGA Champion went 64-65 over the weekend to notch his first WGC win and his first three-win season.

The final winning number was 16-under, three better than spunky Webb Simpson, who earned himself a solo second with a closing 64, a number McIlroy could only dream of.

Rory’s 71 dropped him from the 54-hole lead into a tie for fourth.  Ugh!

Koepka, who normally doesn’t pay much attention to regular tour events, had special motivation for this one.

“So special here with St. Jude and FedEx.  To win there, this is real special to me,” Koepka said.  “This has always been one of my favorite stops.  I’ve visited the hospital (St. Jude Children’s) and it changed my life.   You see those kids struggling for their lives.”

A motivated Brooks Koepka is a very, very tough Brooks Koepka.

“I’ve been playing so well as of late,” he acknowledged.  “You keep putting yourself in contention and good things will happen.”

Plenty of good happened for Brooks over the weekend and with the McIlroy pairing, the eyes of the golf world were on that twosome.

Once again, the stage looked to be too much for McIlroy.  After 11 straight pars, he suffered his first bogey at the par four 12th then another at the 15th.  His only birdie of the round came at the par three 14th when he managed to sneak one in from just inside 19 feet.  One birdie would never cut it against Koepka and the gap between the two players looked larger than the two spots in the world rankings.

This was also a major financial bonanza for Koepka.

Along with the $1,745,000 first place check for the WGC win, Koepka will collect another $2,000,000 from the Wyndham bonus pool for winning the regular season FedEx Cup points race.

Total payday — $3,745,000.

Oh yes, and this one moved along at Koepka’s idea of what the pace of play should be.  He and McIlroy played the front nine in one hour, 48 minutes.  The final nine took two hours, one minute thanks to a couple of long waits on the group in front of them.

Three hours, 49 minutes and the world’s No. 1 hitting on all cylinders.

Great day for golf and an even greater day for the wonderful place that is the St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Final WGC St. Jude Scoreboard: