Current PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka had a solid performance on the first day at Valhalla. He shot a 4-under 67, leaving him five shots behind leader Xander Schauffele.
Koepka had to fight for strokes on the course. His efforts ultimately paid off with eagles and birdies on the par-5 seventh and par-3 eighth.
Even as he watched the players around him drop in the standings, the three-time Wanamaker Trophy winner stayed true to his strategy.
“I thought it was solid. [round]. I felt like I was just hanging in there the whole time,” Koepka said.
“I had a pretty bad situation. I hit one bad drive and bogeyed the 17th. I hit a pretty bad lie in the right rough. But the only time I made a birdie was when I hit a 5-footer. I felt like I didn’t putt bad, but I didn’t hit any particularly close shots. Well, I think I was lucky to finish the way I did.”
Every player will struggle at some point in a major championship. Therefore, it is important to stay the course and remember that it is only the first day of the event.
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
“I think that’s what a major is about,” he said.
“You can’t win today, but you can just hang around and try to give yourself a chance or you can get into a good position on Sunday… [my caddy] ricky [Elliott] All day long I kept telling them to be patient and wait their turn. I think that’s one of the things I’m very good at. You have to wait your turn and catch that run like I did with the eagle birdie. ”
Last year at Oak Hill, Koepka shot an opening two-over 72 on Thursday. Things didn’t seem too good for him, but he still persevered.
The five-time major champion followed that 72 with consecutive 66s and a 67 on Sunday, winning by two strokes over Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland.
Koepka is always waiting her turn, but she knows she’s impatient. There he started watching other players like Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell and understanding how they made things roll.
“It would drive me crazy. I was striving for perfection,” Koepka said.
“I was watching the WGC DJ in Mr. Trump’s home, Doral. He hit it into the trees. I’ll never forget it. He hit it, and it hit a curve in the cart path, and It came back to me and he was laughing at it.”
“And as I’ve gotten to know DJ over the years, and the way he thinks and approaches things, I’ve learned that his biggest quality is that when something bad happens, he just lets it go. And when something good happens, you don’t go up too much, you don’t go down too much, you just stay there and ride the wave a little bit.”
Koepka has three rounds left in his title defense at Valhalla Golf Club. He was also there in 2019 when he won his second straight PGA Championship.
Can he do it again and take sixth place in the majors?
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
