LOS ANGELES — Brooks Koepka was sitting at the bar at Grove XXIII Tuesday morning having breakfast when the news that rocked the golf world came across the television.
Koepka’s reaction: He shrugged his shoulders and went to work. No time to waste any energy on wondering how the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which owns LIV Golf, would work out this shocking union when another major was days away.
“Watched a little bit of the interview, and that was it,” he said Tuesday. “Just went out and practiced.
“I wasn’t going to waste any time on (it). I’m trying to focus on this week.”
About 30 minutes later on the back of the range at Michael Jordan’s exclusive course in Hobe Sound, Florida, Koepka ran into his neighbors Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas — two golfers who, unlike Koepka, resisted the urge to grab the (Saudi) money and run from the Tour.
All three had questions. But no one had answers.
“I asked if they knew, and they said they didn’t know, either,” Koepka said about the stunning vision of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan sitting side-by-side.
Focuses on four weeks a year
Koepka is not going to let a little thing like the entire golf world being in an upheaval distract from his obsession of winning majors. The Jupiter, Florida, resident isn’t concerned about whether Saudi Arabia is investing a couple of billion dollars into the PGA Tour or if LIV could possibly shut down or if he’s “vindicated” from joining LIV because of the news or if the severity of the penalties he could face upon returning to the PGA Tour.
None of that matters when the possibility of getting closer to his goal of double-digit majors is in sight this week at the U.S. Open.
“There’s four weeks a year I really care about, and this is one of them, and I want to play well,” he said.
Koepka is in a good place mentally and physically (and of course financially after receiving a reported $100 million to join LIV), which is not good for the rest of the field as they tried to figure out the challenges of LACC.
Since exposing his soul last year on a documentary, and looking as vulnerable as he ever has since starting his historic run of invincibility at the majors, so much has changed.
Regaining his health had correlated to regaining his confidence. And that is all it took for Koepka to turn back the clock to when he was the game’s most feared competitor on its biggest stages.
Koepka has a Masters runner-up and PGA Championship title in the two majors this year, making him one of 20 golfers with at least five majors. Koepka’s success this year is almost as surprising as the PGA Tour and LIV ending their Civil War considering where he was a year ago, which was 55th place at the U.S. Open, equaling his best finish at a major in 2022.
“I feel like a new person,” he said. “It was definitely more confused last year just trying to figure out why I was feeling the way I was feeling. I felt like I had enough time from surgery to that point. I tried to come back too soon and then it was like, well, if I can walk 18 holes, I can play golf.”
So he kept playing through it, created bad habits, and had to start over again.
“By the time you actually figure out that you’re starting to get healthy, you’ve got to get rid of those bad habits and it’s a whole new process,” he said. “It takes a long time.”
Maybe for us mortals. Or anyone. But not for Koepka.
All that being said, Koepka revealed one of his secrets for his success in majors:
“I enjoy the chaos,” he said.
Like at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. As the complaints rolled in about the difficult set up, Koepka shot a final round 68 to hold off a charging Tommy Fleetwood to capture his first major.
“Everybody was bitching, complaining,” Koepka said. “They were all so focused on the golf course they kind of forgot about what was going on, that they were there to play a major championship instead of … OK, the greens are pretty fast but if you leave yourself with an uphill putt, it’s not too bad.
“The more chaotic things get, the easier it gets for me. Everything starts to slow down, and I am able to focus on whatever I need to focus on while everybody else is dealing with distractions, worried about other things.”
Which mean when Koepka steps up to the first tee box at 4:54 p.m. ET Thursday with Rory McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama, and with the Los Angeles skyline as a backdrop, all the chaos the game has encountered in the last week should make him as dangerous as ever.
