GolfPlus- Dec19 Digital Edition (Dec 19) | Page 34

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Brooks Koepka, casual in a grey Nike hoodie and light
blue workout shorts, eased back in his plush leather seat
aboard a private jet bound for South Florida from
Memphis, surrounded only by the night sky and a few of
those closest to him – girlfriend Jena Sims, caddie Ricky
Elliott and swing coach Claude Harmon III. Earlier that
afternoon, he’d dispatched of Rory McIlroy (and
everyone else) in such cold, ruthless, effi cient fashion, that
if his third victory of the year, at the World Golf
Championships-FedEx St Jude Invitational, was a
heavyweight prize fi ght, he would have won by TKO. And
that’s when it hit Koepka, who turned to Harmon and
said, “I’m starting to fi gure this out.”
Starting to? Well now.
Over the last three seasons, no one has been better
in the game’s biggest moments than the 29-year-
old Floridian, who won back-to-back US Opens
(and almost a third) and two straight US PGA
Championships en route to becoming the No. 1 player in
the world and the game’s most intimidating if
not most dominant presence when the lights are at
their brightest.
“He’s one of best I’ve ever seen at managing chaos in
major championships,” Harmon says of Koepka, who
over his last 10 majors played has won four of them,
including earlier this year at the US PGA at Bethpage
Black, and in the process has ascended to the unquestioned
best player on the planet – even if Rory took the PGA
Tour Player of the Year trophy, much to even the
Irishman’s surprise. “Butch is the best at managing the
chaos since Tiger,” believes Harmon.
While comparing anyone to Woods is a fool’s errand,
when it comes to Koepka there are similarities that ring
true, including the athleticism that he brings to his trade
and, more importantly, his mental toughness, something
that is so often the separator between the very good and
the all-time greats.
“The game slows down for the greats,” Harmon
continues. “They fi gure out how things work. He’s been
trying to do what golfers and tennis players have been
trying to do since the beginning of time and that’s peak
four times a year. And he has fi gured it out.”
It’s not just those employed by Koepka who have
noticed, either.
“They are more similar than anybody is talking about,”
says sport psychologist Gio Valiante of Koepka and
Woods. “It goes very deep. It even shows up in their
38
GolfPlus
DECEMBER
2019
Koepka is the first golfer to
hold back-to-back titles in
two majors simultaneously.