Blake Davis
LOUISVILLE – Ten golfers have won six or more majors since World War II. They are all one-name players, legends, among the best to ever do it.
Brooks Koepka is 72 holes away from making this 10-player club an 11-odd while adding to his already ridiculous legacy.
Here are the names.
- Jack Nicklaus
- tiger woods
- Sam Snead
- Ben Hogan
- Player Gary
- Lee Trevino
- Nick Faldo
- Phil Mickelson
- Tom Watson
- Lee Trevino
With a win this week, Koepka joins that exclusive club. There are a number of potential historic results this week – Rory McIlroy winning a fifth major, Jordan Spieth completing a career Grand Slam, Scottie Scheffler continuing his bid for the annual Grand Slam – but Koepka getting to six a year after winning his fifth would be fine at the top of the list.
Here’s the crazy part: Koeka just turned 34, the same age Mickelson (six majors) won his first. Koepka takes more wear and tear than Mickelson did at the same age, but suddenly his claim that double digits isn’t a crazy number doesn’t seem as crazy as it once did.
“The majors are different from everything else,” Koepka said. “The majors… they just have a different feel than any other golf tournament. I’ve always enjoyed it and they’re always tougher golf courses. That’s something I stand by. It’s the same thing, right? It’s always the peak of our sport or the four times a year we play in major championships. That’s the only thing.
Koepka, who is trying to join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen with four or more PGA Championships to his name, vowed not to finish the same way he did at the Masters (T45). Brooks noted multiple times that he would not let his team down this week.
Koepka has finished in the top two in four of the last six PGA Championships and nine times overall in majors since the start of 2017. No one else has achieved more than four such finishes in that same time window.
“I’m looking forward to a major championship,” he said Wednesday. “It… adds to my excitement. Something I’ve been looking forward to all year. So, yeah, look, I always like competing against these guys, and whenever you get the best, it’s always good. You just want them to play their best.” your best, too. You want to go out and win.
Interestingly, after Koepka won LIV Golf Singapore a few weeks ago, he explained that he is able to get into a different mindset and go to a place that many other players cannot in terms of commitment to their shots and mental focus. He referred to tunnel vision again on Wednesday.
“I’ve heard from people around me, it’s just different,” he said. “Like my behavior and focus is different. I can’t explain it. I don’t know how to do it or what I actually do differently. But everyone on the team can see that and they know that I can get past them and sometimes I don’t even know if they’re there.
“You have to be completely locked in. I feel like you can’t even fire a shot.”
Whether Koepka will turn that insane club of 10 players into 11 remains to be seen. There is a lot of luck involved in winning a major tournament. But what seems unquestionable is that Koepka, who brings momentum and plenty of PGA history to this week, will find himself in the mix at some point this week. And when that happens, it’s rare for him to leave.
The majors may pass on Scheffler now, but the PGA belongs to Kopeka until further notice.
