Brooks Koepka has provided an emphatic response to many of his LIV Golf doubters after winning his third US PGA Championship to join an exclusive club. Koepka’s final round 67 saw him clinch a fifth major title after finishing two shots ahead of Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler.
Koepka’s triumph sees the 33-year-old cement his spot amongst the legends of golf, with only 12 players having won more major trophies in the history of men’s golf. Koepka joins Seve Ballesteros, Byron Nelson and Australian Peter Thomson as men who have claimed five major championship triumphs.
“I don’t know the list of guys who have won five times but to be in those groups of names is absolutely incredible,” Koepka said. “I’ll be honest, it’s something I’m not even sure I dreamed of it as a kid, that I was going to win this many.”
By joining Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in having his name etched on the Wanamaker Trophy at least three times, Koepka also atoned for his self-confessed Masters “choke” and became the first LIV Golf player to win a major since last year’s formation of the Saudi-backed league. Koepka had already gone some ways to dispelling the notion that the 54-hole, no-cut format of LIV Golf would leave players on the rebel circuit underprepared or not battle hardened enough to compete on golf’s biggest stages.
Koepka’s late collapse in the Masters – where he let a four-shot last-day lead slip by finishing runner-up to Jon Rahh at Augusta National – could have been viewed as evidence of that LIV Golf narrative. However, the American’s incredible display at the PGA Championship has dispelled that myth as the 33-year-old became the first LIV Golf star to win one of the four majors since defecting to the PGA Tour’s rival competition for a reported $100 million.
