Brooks Koepka’s PGA Championship win validates his return after injuries, struggles: ‘I’m back’
Brooks Koepka’s still got it.
There have been plenty of reasons to doubt Koepka in recent months and years. He’s been injured, repeatedly. He left for LIV Golf and hasn’t played much outside of the new controversial circuit. He blew a legitimate shot at a green jacket last month, too.
On Sunday, though, Koepka put all of that to bed.
Koepka fended off Viktor Hovland and now top-ranked Scottie Scheffler at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, to win his third PGA Championship. It marked his fifth major title in seven years, which matched legends like Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson and brought him just a win from tying Phil Mickelson.
“It feels damn good. Yeah, this one is definitely special,” he said. “I think this one is probably the most meaningful of them all with everything that’s gone on, all the crazy stuff over the last few years.”
In the immediate aftermath of leaving for LIV Golf last June, Koepka struggled to keep up. He missed the cut at both the Masters and British Open last year, and finished in 55th at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.
That also came just after a stretch where Koepka kept re-injuring his knee and even came close to considering retirement — something shown in great detail in “Full Swing” on Netflix earlier this year.
“I just think, I guess, [it] validates it for myself,” Koepka said of the win. “I guess maybe if anybody doubted it from Augusta or whatever, any doubts anybody on TV might have or whatever, I’m back. I’m here.”
The win is undoubtedly impressive. Winning a major is no easy feat. But in reality, this win should have been Koekpa’s second in as many months. He entered the final round at Augusta National with a two-shot lead over Jon Rahm, and seemed poised to win his first Masters.
But Koepka stumbled late, ended up going 3-over in the round and losing by four strokes.
“I definitely wouldn’t have, I don’t think, won today if that didn’t happen, right?” Koepka said. “Definitely take it and keep using it going forward for each event, each major, any time I’m in contention, but I’m not going to share. I can’t give away all the secrets.”
