Brooks goes back to back…

Last week saw the playing of the 101st US PGA Championship from Bethpage Black which is also set to host the 2024 Ryder Cup. The tournament being a major was always going to be a huge event and thousands of Americans came to New York to witness a Masterclass from the eventual winner Brooks Koepka. Brooks bullied Bethpage over the first two days opening the tournament with a course record 63 and backing that up on Friday with a 65, meaning that at the half way stage he was a staggering 7 shots clear of the field. A steady even par third round still meant that he was 7 shots clear going into the final round. Koepka finished Sunday off nervously bogeying 4 holes on the bounce which didn't help as an inspired DJ was shooting a good round in front applying pressure. However Koepka finished the tournament of in style with a terrific up and down par save from 100 yards to win the tournament by 2 shots, becoming only the second player in the history to have won the US PGA back to back, the other being Tiger. Brooks is also the first player ever to win two majors back to back in successive years winning the US Open and US PGA. That takes Brooks' major haul to four and they have all come within the last eight majors. Only six players managed to stay under par for the tournament and there is no surprise that Brooks, Rory and DJ all finished in the top ten being three of the biggest hitters on tour. Bethpage played over 7400 yards as a par 70 which is staggeringly long. To put that into perspective, Bethpage plays 700 yards longer than us here at Orsett and the par is two shots lower, terrain is much hillier and of course the fairways narrower and rough considerably deeper!

Is Brooks the new Tiger Woods?

A big statement but could Brooks Koepka be the man to beat at the Majors for the foreseeable future? The American just lets his clubs do the talking and is able to simply overpower courses no matter how difficult they seem, something Tiger seemed to be able to do regularly in his pomp. Only time will tell and he has a long way to go to get near Woods' Major tally but is certainly making waves when it comes to the biggest events. He is one of a new generation of Tour players who aren't apparently phased by the stature of the tournament and simply go out, play and compete, almost oblivious to the gravity of the situations they find themselves in. It will be interesting to see how he handles an Open Championship when the wind and rain set in on a cold links course.