CNN
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For Brooks Koepka, selecting his favourite main win is akin to selecting a favourite youngster.
Or at the least, what he imagines the sensation is like. The 32-year-old has no youngsters of his personal, however the 4 glistening trophies displayed in his residence are equally cherished all the identical.
The matching pairs of US Open and PGA Championships cups had been all scooped in an unprecedented stretch between 2017 and 2019 that noticed the American develop into the primary golfer in historical past to win back-to-back titles in two totally different majors concurrently. Earlier than Koepka, no one had ever received their first 4 majors inside two years.
It signifies that, of the eight PGA Tour wins he has to his identify, half are main triumphs. For Koepka, it’s a ratio he’s greater than content material with.
“Nothing fairly feels the identical, the majors are so totally different. It’s the top of our sport, it’s what you’re judged by,” Koepka informed CNN.
“In the event you have a look at all of the greats which have ever performed this sport, most individuals can’t let you know what number of PGA Tour occasions or what number of European Tour occasions this particular person’s received or that particular person’s received, however they know precisely what number of majors you’ve received.
“So, to me, that’s what you’re outlined by.”
They’re phrases that make for powerful studying for the host of supremely gifted golfers who by no means clinched, or are nonetheless chasing, a serious win. With 11 runner-up finishes between them, Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood, and Rickie Fowler are simply three acclaimed gamers for whom majors have proved elusive regardless of a plethora {of professional} wins.
Koepka has beforehand defined how majors are the simplest tournaments to win. It’s a attribute candidness that he makes no apologies for. The truth is, he sees it as a energy.
“I’m fairly blunt, I don’t like beating across the bush. I simply say it how it’s, I’ve at all times been that means,” he stated. “I do know my monotone can come off a little bit little bit of a ache within the butt for folks, however that’s how I really feel.
“I like it when athletes get cocky or assured in themselves – I feel that’s essential. All people wants that, it doesn’t matter what career, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing.
“In the event you really feel you’re one of the best then go forward and say it after which simply return it up.”
And Koepka has actually backed it up. The Floridian has completed contained in the top-five in 12 of his 34 profession main begins, together with three runner-up finishes.
Solely 5 instances has he missed the minimize, and two of these got here throughout an excruciating season final 12 months.
Koepka’s present Official World Golf Rating (OWGR) No. 85 standing is the bottom place he has held since 2014 – albeit with the caveat of his involvement within the LIV Golf Sequence which, due its exclusion from the OWGR weighting system, has adversely affected the rating of gamers who’ve joined the Saudi-backed sequence.
Damage woes have compounded a painful fall from the summit for the previous World No. 1. After tearing the patella tendon in his left knee in 2019, Koepka revealed this previous October that he had “dislocated and shattered” his proper knee in 2021. The accidents had been so extreme that the American puzzled if his profession was over.
His battle to return to phrases together with his lack of kind was laid naked in Netflix’s new fly-on-the-wall golf documentary sequence “Full Swing,” the place Koepka admitted his hunch was “the worst” he had ever suffered in his life.
“There was loads of stuff … simply in (my) private life, had gone on. Lots of down instances, man,” Koepka informed CNN.
“The accidents, you look again at it and loads of time you’re simply sitting there. There’s loads of ache, loads of stuff you’ve simply acquired to endure, simply to make it higher. It’s not at all times enjoyable, not at all times glamorous.”
But Koepka nonetheless carries good reminiscences of 2022, specifically his marriage to Jena Sims and a cathartic win on the remaining particular person occasion of the LIV Golf Invitational Sequence in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in October.
Alongside brother Chase, he additionally secured victory within the corresponding workforce occasion. Given Koepka had promised to purchase his youthful sibling a Lamborghini in the event that they received, it put a dent in his $4 million particular person winner’s earnings, however in the end ensured a cheerful ending to a disappointing marketing campaign.
“To have the ability to lastly have some comfortable instances, some success with all of the down stuff, it was very pleasant … one thing I can actually, actually look again on,” Koepka stated.
“I might really feel the development coming upwards, (throughout) the center of the 12 months – I used to be getting out of the funk and simply comfortable to be out of it now.
“Hopefully put all that stuff behind me and keep wholesome for some time, that’s the aim.”
Naturally although, that isn’t Koepka’s solely aim for 2023. A self-confessed “sluggish starter,” he’s trying to be up to the mark by the point The Masters rolls round in April.
Runner-up to Tiger Woods in 2019, a inexperienced jacket would put Koepka on observe for what he considers to be a “good” 2023.
“Hopefully a number of wins, after which a serious – that’s the aim yearly,” he stated.