Brooks Koepka Stays Cool, Confident and Collected

Brooks Koepka is near the top of the leaderboard of yet another major after his first round at Torrey Pines.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Matthew Wolff spent a few weeks looking for the answers. He should have just knocked on Brooks Koepka’s door. Then Koepka could have shared the secret of golf, which is, of course, “Whatever, bro.”

Koepka is at it again this week. He shot an easy round of two-under on a Torrey Pines course that is not supposed to give up easy rounds of two-under. (Scores) He did this because he almost always does this, because he expects to do this, because he has an absolutely absurd ability to tiptoe through snake pits without even noticing the snakes.

Koepka’s last three U.S. Opens: win, win, second place. Now he is on the leaderboard again. He keeps chasing championships because he doesn’t really chase anything.

“I've just got a good game plan, [I’m] focused, I know what I'm doing, and I don't try to do anything I can’t,” Koepka said Thursday. “It's just all about discipline in a U.S. Open. That's, I guess, the gist of it.”

Brooks Koepka plays his shot from the 14th fairway during the first round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines :: Orlando Ramirez/USA Today Sports

To understand the unusual nature of Koepka’s brain, listen to Wolff. He stepped away from competition for a few weeks because he wasn’t enjoying it. This is a very human thing to do and an even more human thing to admit. Wolff deserves praise for both.

Wolff said Thursday, “A professional athlete has to deal with a lot more stress and pressure than most people and it just kind of got to me. But I've been working on it, I've been learning and I think that's all I can do.” This depends on how you define “pressure” and “stress.” But the point is that it got to him. This makes Wolff normal. Koepka is not normal.

Wolff kept saying Thursday that, even better than his one-under 70, he was “happy.” Have you ever heard Koepka say he wants to be happy on the course? Happiness is not his concern. He wants to shoot a good score.

Wolff said, “I want to play golf for everyone and I think I just put too much pressure on myself.”

Endearing, but you won’t hear that from Koepka either. Koepka does not play for everyone. Sure, he likes to stir things up, and he has more friends on Tour than he lets on—he and Justin Thomas chatted throughout their round. But he is out there for himself. That’s the nature of golf. He is just less conflicted about it than most.

Wolff has an insanely unconventional swing, and he put together an insanely unconventional first round of the U.S. Open: eight birdies, two double-bogeys, three bogeys, five pars. He should have listened to Koepka: “Look, you're going to make mistakes out here. You can't make double bogeys. If you can limit those to just bogeys, you're going to be all right.”

Easily said. For Koepka, it’s easily done. On the tricky par-3 third hole, he hit a shot that started left and went more left, on a hole when you want to stay right. He had to take a penalty stroke, and he was still in a terrible spot. Naturally he hit a perfect downhill, downwind chip and saved bogey. You can’t make double bogeys, so he didn’t.

The rough is thick, the wind is up, but as far as Koepka is concerned, why worry about it? What, you never played in the wind before?

“It's pretty simple,” he said. “It's a lot simpler than what guys make it. Yeah, I think a lot of guys make it more difficult than it needs to be. Just got to understand where the flag is, what you're doing and where to miss it.”

The greens are poa, which Koepka doesn’t like because they’re bumpy, but most people don’t like putting on poa. His solution: “Started pretty much everything right on line where I wanted to.” In the last few years, nobody in the world has hit the back of the cup on short- and medium-range putts with more confidence in major championships.

Brooks Koepka waves after his putt on the 12th green during the first round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines :: Orlando Ramirez/USA Today Sports

Koepka has struggled to close the last few majors in which he contended. But his ability to contend so often is really unparalleled in today’s game. Koepka held off Tiger Woods in the final round of a major (the 2018 PGA at Bellerive) and blew him away in the first round of a major (the 2019 PGA at Bethpage Black). He dealt with unruly fans at Bethpage. He did it all because he never says things like this:

“I just, I think the biggest thing right now that I'm trying to do is enjoy myself again and just take care of myself, really. I mean, I love these fans and I want to play well for them, but right now I'm just really trying to be happy … I live a great life and I want to enjoy it.”

It’s easy to root for Matthew Wolff. He is vulnerable, honest, likable, and has problems and insecurities that should resonate with you—unless you are Brooks Koepka.

More Golf Coverage From Day 1 at U.S. Open:

• Koepka stays cool, calm and collected in fog-delayed opening day
• Daily Question: Who's the biggest surprise contender so far?
• 2021 U.S. Open: Torrey Pines Looked Spectacular in Round 1
  
• Mickelson's new quest: just making cut at Torrey Pines
• Molinari starting to look like his pre-2019 Masters self
• After Rough Ride, Matthew Wolff Starts Fast in Roller-Coaster Round