OAKMONT, Pa. — Don’t look now, but that fiery, fierce, ticked off, on-a-mission Brooks Koepka has arrived at the 125th U.S. Open.
You remember this version, right? He has five major titles. The brashness. The swagger. The testiness. That guy just shot two-under 68 at the U.S. Open on Thursday. He finished birdie-birdie to became just one of a handful of players to finish in red numbers, and he starts Friday two off the 18-hole lead held by J.J. Spaun and with only two players in front of him.
And, if you are perusing the first page of the leaderboard on Thursday night, it’s Koepka’s name that might be the most universally feared. Remember those days? It used to always be like that — Koepka the major killer coming for the weak yet again. And based on his play and press conference on Thursday here at Oakmont, that guy has returned.
First, let’s rewind to that famous pre-tournament press conference ahead of the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Koepka explained why he believed majors are easier to win than normal PGA Tour events.
“There’s 156 in the field, so you figure at least 80 of them I’m just going to beat,” he said. “From there, you figure about half of them won’t play well from there, so you’re down to about maybe 35. And then from 35, some of them, the pressure is going to get to them. It only leaves you with a few more, and you’ve just got to beat those guys.”
Spoiler: he won that week.
He was asked about that quote on Thursday, if he still thinks that way.
“I mean, I don’t talk about it, you guys talk about it,” he said.
“It was your quote, though,” the reporter said.
“It was,” Koepka said. “I said it once, and now everybody repeats it.”
He smirked, kinda. Now that’s the guy we remember!
That’s the version that angered Bryson DeChambeau during their feud, making some fans love him and others loathe him. He was cocky and blunt. He was also just confident. He piled up major titles and went about his business ready to stuff naysayers into lockers.
But that guy, that Koepka, hasn’t been around the last couple of years.
Koepka tied for second at the 2023 Masters and won the 2023 PGA Championship a month later. Since then, he hasn’t been much of a factor in the last eight majors, the events he lives for.
Last year, he finished between 26th and 45th at all four. This year he missed the cut in both the Masters and PGA Championship. It was just the second time he’s missed back-to-back major cuts in his career. The only other time it happened was in 2012-13, in his first two major starts of his career, which were separated by more than a year.
