Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship heads to Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club
THORNTON, Ont. – Golf Canada’s second regional junior golf championship of 2019 is set to take place from May 24-26 as the Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship gets underway at Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club in Thornton, Ont.
With support from Golf Ontario, the Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship is the second of six regional junior championships presented in partnership with Acura. The 54-hole stroke play tournament will begin with a practice round on May 23, before the tournament gets underway with round one on May 24.
Since opening in 2002, Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club has quickly gained recognition as one of the premier golf facilities in the entire Greater Toronto Area. The course was nominated as “Best New Golf Course” in Canada in 2003 by Golf Digest and has been rated as one of Canada’s Top 100 Golf Courses by the Globe and Mail.
“Golf Canada and Golf Ontario are pleased to present the 2019 Future Links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship,” said Rob Watson, this week’s Tournament Director and Competitions Coordinator at Golf Ontario. “We look forward to seeing some of Canada’s premier junior players showcase their skills as they navigate beautiful Tangle Creek Golf & Country Club.”
The field will consist of 87 junior golfers in the Junior Boys Division with the top five earning exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Boys Championship on Aug. 11-15 at Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club in Hartland, N.B. A tie for the fifth position will be decided by a playoff following the conclusion of play.
The Junior Girls Division will feature 33 golfers with the top five (including ties) earning an exemption into the 2019 Canadian Junior Girls Championship on July 29-Aug. 2 at Lethbridge Country Club in Lethbridge, Alta.
Six additional Future Links, driven by Acura Championships will span the country this year;
- May 31-June 2 – Future Links, driven by Acura Western – Ponoka, Alta. – Wolf Creek Golf Resort
- June 7-9 – Future Links, driven by Acura Quebec – Joly, Que. – Club de golf Les Boisés de Joly
- June 14-16 – Future Links, driven by Acura Prairie – Yorkton, Sask. – Deer Park Golf Course
- July 16-18 – Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic – Fredericton, N.B. – Mactaquac Golf Course
- 20-22 – Future Links, driven by Acura Fall Series – Lachute, Que. – Club de golf Lachute
- 27-29 – Future Links, driven by Acura Fall Series – Crown Isle Golf Resort – Courtenay, B.C.
Additional information regarding the 2019 Future links, driven by Acura Ontario Championship, including participants, start times and up-to-date results can be found here.
Prior to the championship on Thursday, May 23, Golf Canada and Special Olympics Canada will hold the second of two regional competitions in support of Special Olympics golf. The first event was held at Pitt Meadows Golf Club before the Future Links, driven by Acura Pacific Championship. A field of 24 local athletes will compete over nine holes. Following the event, PGA of Canada professionals will conduct a clinic for Special Olympics coaches and athletes with focus on improving skills and leadership within the sport.
Notables
Nolan Piazza, Niagara Falls, Ont.
Piazza won the 2018 Ontario Junior Boys Championship. He is currently in the top 25 of Golf Ontario’s Order of Merit.
Emily Romancew, Pierrefonds, Que.
The winner of last year’s Future Links, driven by Acura Quebec Championship tees off in Ontario. Romancew also finished T3 at last year’s Future Links Fall Series.
Bennett Ruby, Waterloo, Ont.
The No.2-ranked competitor on Golf Ontario’s Order of Merit is coming in hot, having won the MJT – Spring Class at Galt Country Club in late April.
FAST FACTS
In 2019, Golf Canada is conducting its eight regional Future Links, driven by Acura championships in conjunction with the Provincial Associations.
The top five finishers in the boys’ division earn exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Boys Championship.
The top five finishers (including ties) in the girls’ division earn exemptions into the 2019 Canadian Junior Girls Championship.
Current Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Maddie Szeryk won the 2013 Future Links Ontario Junior Girls title in 2013.
Friday’s opening-round pairings and more information on the event can be found here.
Admission to the vent is open to the public at no charge.
Why it took 4 majors for Koepka to get his due
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Majors matter more than any other golf tournament.
They are not the sole measure of greatness.
And that might be one reason it took Brooks Koepka winning four majors – as many as Rory McIlroy, one more than Jordan Spieth among his contemporaries – for the 29-year-old Floridian to get the kind of attention his game deserves.
Never mind the No. 1 ranking that came with his victory Sunday in the PGA Championship. That could change in two weeks.
Koepka now is at that level – and it took back-to-back titles in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship to get there – that he makes people look when he walks onto the range, that he’s considered a top favourite wherever he goes without anyone having to look up the odds.
Why wasn’t it enough when he won last summer at Shinnecock Hills to become the first repeat winner of the U.S. Open in 29 years, and only the second player to successfully defend the U.S. Open since Ben Hogan in 1951? Same major, yes, but Erin Hills and Shinnecock were entirely different tests.
What kept him from megastar status when he added the PGA Championship last summer at Bellerive to join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only players to win the U.S. Open and the PGA in the same year? That kind of company is as elite as it gets.
What made Koepka different was that he seemed to show up only at the big events. That’s a nice problem to have.
Koepka now has won four of his last eight majors, a stretch not seen since Woods won seven of 11 in an amazing run through the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. The only other tournaments Koepka won during his run of majors was the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan in 2017 (by nine shots) and the CJ Cup last fall in South Korea.
Woods won 19 other times during his stretch of majors, 15 of them on the PGA Tour.
Roger Maltbie’s description of Woods at Pebble Beach – “It’s not a fair fight” – goes well beyond that 2000 U.S. Open. It’s never fair to compare Woods with anyone. He won at a rate never before seen in golf, and it probably won’t happen again.
Koepka is aware that his trophy collection is weighted heavily toward the majors. Justin Ray of a golf analytics group called “15th Club” pointed out over the weekend that Woods and Koepka are the only active players who have more victories than missed cuts in the majors: 15-9 for Woods, 4-2 for Koepka.
Don’t get the idea that Koepka would trade any of his four majors for a few more Texas Opens or Phoenix Opens. It simply explains why it took longer for golf fans to embrace what he has done in the last two years.
Koepka touched on this Saturday night after he had a seven-shot lead – a PGA Championship record – and faced questions that were intended to find out what he was doing differently to win majors so regularly.
“I’m just that much more focused,” Koepka said. “I think I’m more focused than anybody out there. My focus probably goes up, I don’t know, tenfold of what it does in a tour event – which isn’t good. I mean, it’s good that I’m doing it in the majors, but I need to do that in regular weeks.”
Consider some other players from his generation.
McIlroy won 12 times starting with his first major in the 2011 U.S. Open through his fourth major in the 2014 PGA Championship. Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015 when he chased the Grand Slam, but he also won the Valspar Championship, the John Deere Classic and the Tour Championship that year. Spieth was 23 when he won the third leg of the career Grand Slam at the 2017 British Open, and he already had 11 titles on the PGA Tour (14 worldwide).
They also had name recognition before they turned pro. McIlroy was the low amateur at Carnoustie in the 2007 British Open when he was 18. Spieth tied for 16th in the Byron Nelson Classic when he was 16.
FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK – MAY 19: Brooks Koepka of the United States poses with the Wanamaker Trophy during the Trophy Presentation Ceremony after winning the final round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course on May 19, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
Koepka?
His last name was pronounced “Cupcake” on the first tee at the Phoenix Open in 2015, his first PGA Tour victory.
The game was always there.
His caddie, Ricky Elliott, recalls being asked to work for Koepka in the 2013 PGA Championship. He saw him for the first time on the range at Oak Hill. “I watched him striping it and thought to myself, ‘Happy day,”’ Elliott said.
In a 2015 interview with Golf Digest, Steve Williams, who was on the bag for 13 of Woods’ majors, was quoted as saying: “Once in a great while, a player comes along who hits a golf ball the way it was meant to be hit. Powerful, piercing, the perfect trajectory. Of the young players out there, one I’ve seen has that special ball flight: Brooks Koepka.”
Majors should never be dismissed for their value, for the legacy they create. At this point, Koepka really doesn’t need to win more PGA Tour titles to add to his reputation.
“Now he’s got it. And he got it in the right way,” Paul Azinger said Tuesday. “He has built his brand through self-belief and intestinal fortitude. By not getting attention, he has become a (tough guy) with a chip on his shoulder who says, ‘I can do anything you say I can’t.”’
That should do.
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Nick Taylor and Mike Weir qualify for 2019 U.S. Open
DALLAS, Tex. – Canadians Nick Taylor and Mike Weir celebrated their long weekend in style by qualifying for the 2019 U.S. Open. Both Taylor and Weir finished in the top 10 on Monday, May 20 at Bent Tree Country Club and Northwood Club to nab two of ten available spots.
Taylor put together two phenomenal rounds over the 36-hole qualifier. The Winnipeg product went bogey free, shooting 10 under par to finish tied with American Brendon Todd for the low qualifier spot.
Both of Weir’s rounds were in the 60s, with a 1-under-par 69 in round one and a 4-under-par 67 in round two. Weir’s tournament wasn’t without some drama, as he bogeyed holes eight and nine in round two before knocking in three birdies on the back nine to finish just ahead of the cut line with a share of 5th at 5 under.
Monday’s field featured a total of nine Canadians. In addition to Taylor and Weir, Mackenzie Hughes and Jared Du Toit were both in the hunt for qualification, but narrowly missed out by shooting 3-under-par. Amateur Thomas Allkins finished at 1 over, Wes Heffernan, Joey Savoie and Mitchell Sutton each shot 2 over, and Chase Komaromi finished at 8 over.
Excited to be headed back my favorite course in the world Pebble beach for the us open in a couple weeks!
— Weirsy (@MikeWeir) May 21, 2019
Sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open consists of 36-holes over a single day, sometimes at two different courses (as was the case Monday in Dallas). The May 20 event was the first of 12 sectional qualifiers.
RattleSnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ont. will play host to Canada’s only sectional qualifier on Monday, June 3.
Excited to be heading back to the @usopengolf at Pebble Beach this year!! Thanks for all the messages! #letsgo
— Nick Taylor (@ntaylorgolf59) May 21, 2019
RattleSnake Point Golf Club is a half-hour drive from Hamilton Golf and Country Club, site of the 2019 RBC Canadian Open from June 3-9.
The 119th U.S. Open takes place June 13-16 at Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Koepka handles the stress and reaps rewards of another major
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Brooks Koepka should know as well as anyone that nothing in golf comes easily.
His well-documented journey to the PGA Tour took him to remote outposts like Kenya and Kazakhstan. Even after Koepka won a second straight U.S. Open last summer, which no one had done in 29 years, it didn’t seem enough to be the first name mentioned among the next generation of stars.
So he spent three days setting records at Bethpage Black in the PGA Championship – the first player to shoot 63 in consecutive years in the majors, the lowest 36-hole score in major championship history and a seven-shot lead, the largest ever for 54 holes in the PGA Championship.
And then he endured the toughest day of his career Sunday, which turned into the most rewarding.
“I’m glad I’ve got this thing sitting next to me,” Koepka said as he looked at the shiny Wanamaker Trophy. “It’s very satisfying, this one. This is definitely the most satisfying of all the ones I’ve won.”
Moments earlier, after he turned a potential meltdown into the kind of clutch play that has defined his career, Koepka draped his muscular arms around the top of the trophy and let out a deep sigh from stress and satisfaction, and then he smiled.
Koepka said at the start of the week that majors are sometimes the easiest to win.
This one should have been.
It wasn’t.
His seven-shot lead was down to one with four holes to play and the No. 1 player in the world – Dustin Johnson, his best friend in golf – was piecing together the best round of a final day in 25 mph gusts that made Bethpage Black as fearsome as ever.
Koepka answered with all the right shots. Johnson faded with two bogeys. Koepka closed with a 4-over 74, the highest final round by a PGA champion in 15 years, and he didn’t care how it looked.
His place in history was secure. He joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win back-to-back in the PGA Championship since it switched to stroke play in 1958. He became the only player to hold back-to-back titles in two majors at the same time.
Four years ago, he had one PGA Tour title in his first full season as a full member. Now he has four majors out of the last eight he has played, a stretch not seen since Woods won seven out of 11 after capturing the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
“I just don’t understand why he doesn’t do it more often,” said Rory McIlroy, who won his four majors in a span of 15. “He obviously gets into these mindsets of the majors, and he really goes and gets into a different state. You’d obviously have to ask him. But it’s awesome. It’s great to watch.”
Woods twice won back to back in the PGA Championship, with tight battles in 1999 and 2000, comfortable wins in 2006 and 2007. Koepka was starting to draw comparisons with Woods for the way he obliterated the competition at Bethpage Black, much like Woods used to do.
In the end, there were no style points, only the trophy.
But that trophy spoke volumes.
Even louder was the gallery, and it wasn’t always pretty. Koepka had a six-shot lead when he walked off the 11th fairway. When he walked up to the green on the par-3 14th, with his ball over the green and Koepka headed for a fourth straight birdie, the chants jarred him.
They weren’t for him.
“DJ! DJ! DJ!” the cheers rained down for Johnson, who was on his way to another birdie up ahead on the 15th hole to pull within one shot. Koepka says he was more shocked than he was nervous, but he heard them.
“It’s New York. What do you expect when you’re half-choking it away,” he said. “I think I kind of deserved it. I’ve been to sporting events in New York. I know how it goes. I think it actually helped. It was at a perfect time because I was just thinking: ‘OK, I’ve got everybody against me. Let’s go.”’
And off he went – a powerful drive down the 15th fairway that set up a par he desperately need, an even better drive down the 16th hole, the hardest at Bethpage Black during the final round because the wind was whipping into his face.
That’s where Johnson lost all momentum, without doing much wrong. He hit a 5-iron from 194 into the fan – he though about 4-iron because he wasn’t sure 5-iron would get to the green – and was stunned when it one-hopped into the rough. He chipped to 7 feet and missed the par putt, and then went long on the par-3 17th, caught another nasty lie and made another bogey.
“I gave it a run,” Johnson said after his 69. “That’s all you can ask for.”
It’s more than Koepka would have wanted. But he has the trophy, the one that caused the most stress and brought the most satisfaction. No sooner was the PGA Championship over that Koepka was installed as a 5-1 favourite to win the U.S. Open.
No one has won three straight U.S. Open titles since Willie Anderson in 1905. That might be all the motivation Koepka needs.
Judith Kyrinis shares low amateur honours at U.S. Senior Women’s Open
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. – Throughout her three-decade career, Helen Alfredsson has won wherever she’s played. Seven wins on the LPGA Tour. Eleven victories on the Ladies European Tour. A major champion. And now, she can finally add USGA champion to her list of accolades.
With a final-round 72, Alfredsson, 54, topped Trish Johnson and Juli Inkster by two strokes to capture the 2nd U.S. Senior Women’s Open Championship on Sunday at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club, with a 72-hole total of 1-over 285.
“Just to have something USGA, it feels very nice. Since one of my first years when I finished second, it was very special,” said Alfredsson, who is a two-time U.S. Women’s Open runner-up. “I know one of the toughest tests you ever will do in golf is play a U.S. Open. And I always like tough, I think. Maybe not at 54, but yeah, it’s nice to have that USGA [championship].
Alfredsson entered the final round tied at the top of the leader board with Johnson, who took full advantage of moving day with a third-round 66.
What started out as a roller-coaster round for the Swede turned into a steady stream of pars, many of them stress-free. After falling a stroke behind Johnson in the early going with a birdie and a bogey already on the scorecard, she hit her approach shot on the par-4 fourth hole to a foot to regain a tie for the lead.
Potential disaster struck on the very next hole, though, when her tee shot on the par-3 fifth missed short and right of the green. The ball paused for a moment but then rolled back all the way down to the bottom of a collection area, a familiar result with the Donald Ross green complexes at Pine Needles. It took Alfredsson three tries from there to find the putting surface, and she was fortunate to walk away with a double-bogey 5.
Hole No. 5 would be the last time she would put anything but pars on her scorecard, and as her fellow competitors tussled with the challenging layout on Sunday afternoon, her position on the leader board began to look better and better.
Alfredsson had her chances to separate herself from Johnson and Inkster, the latter shooting 2-under 33 on the front 9 to put herself squarely in the mix after starting the day four strokes back. A 12-foot birdie try on No. 11 went begging, and a sharp approach shot on No. 15 to 7 feet yielded just another par. But her round will be remembered for her bend-not-break resilience throughout the day, particularly down the stretch. She got up and down for par after missing the green with her approach shots on Nos. 12, 14 and 16, the last one coming when she curled in a slow-moving putt from about 5 feet.
2017 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion Judith Kyrinis, of Canada, and Sally Krueger, of San Francisco, Calif., shared low-amateur honours with 72-hole totals of 23-over 307. Both earn exemptions into the 2020 U.S. Senior Women’s Open, which will be played July 9-12 at Brooklawn Country Club, in Fairfield, Conn.
Johnson, who finished third in the 2018 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club, was tied with Alfredsson through 12 holes, but stumbled with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14. She hit her third shot on the par-5 15th hole to 2 feet to move within a stroke, but couldn’t convert birdie tries on the next two holes from 20 and 25 feet, respectively, all but ending her chances.
Inkster, who was the runner-up in 2018, also had opportunities to move ahead late in the afternoon, but couldn’t quite capitalize. She had makeable birdie tries on holes 12 through 15, the last one from 9 feet, but couldn’t find the bottom of the hole, ultimately settling for a second straight runner-up finish in the championship.
Michelle Redman had the low round of the day, shooting a 3-under 68 to tie for fourth at 5-over 289 with Jane Crafter.
Reigning champion Laura Davies, who started the day six strokes off the pace, shot a 2-over 73 to finish in a tie for ninth place.
Canada’s Creighton finishes runner-up at Qinhuangdao Championship
Qinhuangdao, China – Canadian golfer Myles Creighton finished second place and one stroke off the lead with a score of -17 at the Qinhuangdao Championship.
The impressive finish moves Myles up to 9th on the 2019 Order of Merit on the PGA Tour Series-China.
Creighton’s 2nd place finish in China comes a week after a top 10 finish at the Beijing Championship and the announcement of his partnership with The Foundation (WCPD) – a public donor-advised fund that specializes in boosting the donations of Canadians using its public flow-through share structure with a liquidity provider.
This year (2019), is Creighton’s first professional season and he has earned immediate success being the only Canadian in his qualifying field to earn conditional status on the PGA Tour Series-China.
Prior to his professional career, Creighton was Nova Scotia’s Men’s Amateur Champion and four-time Nova Scotia Junior Golfer of the Year. As a member of the Division 1 Radford University Golf Team, Creighton holds the school’s all-time scoring average record, led the Big South Conference in scoring average in 2016/2017, was named twice to the Big South All Conference Team, and was named a GCAA Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-American in 2017.
Koepka keeps 7 shot lead at PGA Championship
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Brooks Koepka is on the cusp of some elite company at the PGA Championship – in the record book, not on the leaderboard.
He is all alone on Bethpage Black, the public course he has turned into his private playground.
Koepka wasn’t at his best, particularly with his putter on the toughest scoring day of the championship, and he still kept everyone far enough behind to make the final round feel more like a victory lap.
With an even-par 70 that featured a pair of three-putt bogeys, he kept a seven-shot lead and earned another entry in the record book with the largest lead since the PGA Championship switched to stroke play in 1958.
No one has ever lost a seven-shot lead in the final round at any major, or even a PGA Tour event.
That leaves Koepka 18 holes away from joining Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA in stroke play. He is one round away from becoming the first player to hold back-to-back major title at the same time. Not since Hal Sutton in 1983 has anyone led from start to finish in the PGA Championship.
And a third straight year winning a major? Woods and Phil Mickelson are the only players to have done that over the last 30 years. Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer are the only others to win majors in three straight years dating to 1960.
Asked if there was any doubt he would win, Koepka said flatly, “No.”
He is unflappable in speech and on the golf course. Koepka has never bothered to check his heart rate at rest, but he figures it wouldn’t be much different from standing on the first tee of a major championship with a big lead and thousands of rowdy New York fans witnessing a master performance.
“Every time I set up to a golf shot, I feel like I know what the ball is going to do,” Koepka said. “And if I don’t, then I guess I’d be nervous. … I’m trying my butt off, and from there, sometimes you need a little bit of luck. But I’d say I’m pretty flat-lined most of the time, as you can tell.”
He has all but flattened the strongest field in golf.
Koepka was at 12-under 198, the first time this week he did not set or tie a scoring record.
“I think we’re all playing for second,” said Luke List, one of four players tied for second.
Dustin Johnson tried to make a run with six birdies, only to stall with five bogeys in his round of 69. No bogey was more damaging than the 18th. A drive into the fairway would have given the world’s No. 1 player a reasonable shot at birdie. Instead, he sent it right into bunker, came up well short into the native grass, left the next one in the bunker and had to scramble to limit the damage.
That kept Johnson from joining his close friend in the final group.
Koepka will play the final round with Harold Varner III, whose week began with plans to play a practice round with Woods on the eve of the PGA Championship until Woods called in sick. Varner birdied the 18th to cap off a bogey-free 67 and lead the group at 5-under 205 that includes Jazz Janewattananond (67) and List, who holed two shots from off the green for a 69.
Jordan Spieth did not put any pressure on Koepka at all. Playing in the final group on the weekend for the first time since the British Open last summer, Spieth didn’t have a realistic birdie chance until the sixth hole, and he missed that one from 8 feet. He shot 72 and was nine shots behind.
Spieth would not speak to a reporter after the round.
Adam Hadwin (70) of Abbotsford, B.C., was tied for 26th at 2 over. Corey Conners (76) of Listowel, Ont., was tied for 77th at 10 over.
There was simply no stopping Koepka, who is one round away from a fourth major in his last eight tries and a return to No. 1 in the world.
The plan for Sunday was no different from the previous three rounds.
“It doesn’t really matter. I’m just trying to play good golf,” Koepka said. “If I can get off to a good start tomorrow, these first six holes are very scorable. I feel like if you can get 1 or 2 under after six, you’re in a good spot.”
That’s what worked on Saturday.
Koepka had birdie chances on the opening six holes and converted two of them, from 5 feet on a blind shot up the hill at No. 2, and a gap wedge that landed next to the pin and settled just over 2 feet away on No. 5.
His only struggle was missing a 2-foot par putt on the ninth hole for a three-putt bogey, and then missing the 10th fairway to the right to set up another bogey. The most important putt for Koepka was just under 5 feet for par on the 11th, which kept him from three straight bogeys.
And then he was back in his groove.
List ran off three straight birdies, chipping in from 70 feet on No. 12, holing a 30-foot putt on the par-5 13th and making a 15-foot putt on the 14th. That pulled him within five, but it wasn’t long before Koepka birdied the 13th and List began missing enough shots that it finally cost him.
Johnson has the most experience and skill among those chasing Koepka, if he even allows there to be a chase.
“It’s going to take something special to catch Brooks, but it’s doable,” Johnson said. He then tried to work out the math, and then he stuck to a more practical outlook.
“I’m going to need some help from him,” Johnson said. “And then I’m going to have to play very, very well.”
Koepka shatters 36 hole record and builds 7 shot lead at PGA
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The power. The putting. The poise. Brooks Koepka has it all at this PGA Championship, along with the lowest 36-hole score in major championship history and the largest lead by anyone at the halfway point of a Grand Slam event in 85 years.
It was daunting to so many players who watched Koepka pull away to a seven-shot lead Friday at Bethpage Black.
And it looked all too familiar to Tiger Woods, who won’t be around to see the ending.
Koepka backed up his record-tying 63 with a round that put him in a league of his own. He opened with three birdies in a four-hole stretch and made three birdies over the closing four holes for a 5-under 65 that broke by two shots the lowest 36-hole score – 128 – in any major.
Woods was along for the ride – a short one, in this case, because he missed the cut. He marveled at Koepka hitting 7-iron into a par 5, and a 9-iron into the uphill, 477-yard 15th hole.
“Relative to the field, I was about that long early in my career,” Woods said. “When you’re able to hit the ball much further than other players, and get on the right golf courses where setups like this is penalizing if you are a little bit crooked, and if he does miss it, he misses on the correct side, and he’s far enough down there to where he was able to get the ball on the green. And he did all the little things right.”
That describes Woods at Bethpage Black the first time this working man’s public course hosted a major at the 2002 U.S. Open. Woods went wire-to-wire when he was winning majors at an alarming rate.
Koepka, who has won three of the last seven majors, appears to be headed down a similar path.
Jordan Spieth had a 66 in the morning in a bid to keep in range. Adam Scott had a 64 in the afternoon. They were seven shots behind, victims of the largest 36-hole lead in a major since Henry Cotton led by nine in the 1934 British Open.
“It has to come to an end eventually, that good front-running,” Scott said with a smile. “Let’s hope it’s not 12 years like Tiger’s front-running lasted.”
Woods didn’t hit a fairway until the ninth hole, and then he started the back nine with three straight bogeys, turning his mission into making the cut. He wound up with a 73 and missed by one shot, only the ninth time in 76 majors as a pro he failed to advance to the weekend.
But he saw quite a show for two days.
“He’s driving it 330 yards in the middle of the fairway. He’s got 9-irons when most of us are hitting 5-irons, 4-irons, and he’s putting well,” Woods said. “That adds up to a pretty substantial lead, and if he keeps doing what he’s doing, there’s no reason why he can’t build on this lead.”
Just imagine what Koepka could do if he really brings it.
“This probably sounds bad,” Koepka said, “but today was a battle. I didn’t strike it that good. The way I hung in there today and battled it, I think that was probably more impressive than yesterday, not having your ‘A’ game but still being able to shoot a great score.”
Spieth was hopeful of being in contention at a major for the first time since the British Open last summer, and he made key putts for par and a 40-foot birdie putt toward the end of his 66 to get within two shots before Koepka teed off in the afternoon. It was close enough – at the time, anyway – for Spieth to get queried about the missing piece of a career Grand Slam at the PGA Championship.
“If I’m able to put some good work in tomorrow, I will be in contention on Sunday. And at that point, it will be just more of trying to win a golf tournament,” he said.
His goal was to stay in range, and Spieth felt he did enough.
And then Koepka flipped a wedge into 3 feet for birdie on No. 1, hit another wedge to 8 feet for birdie on No. 2 and hit 7-iron to 18 feet on the par-5 fourth hole that set up a two-putt birdie.
He really poured it on at the end as Scott moved closer.
On two of the strongest holes in the finishing stretch, Koepka mashed a drive down the middle of the 15th fairway and hit 9-iron to 3 feet, one of only 10 birdies from 155 players in the field. He hit wedge into 5 feet on the 473-yard 16th hole for another birdie, and the record was in sight.
He finished with a wedge out of thick grass right of the 18th fairway, making a final birdie from just inside 12 feet. It was his 14th birdie of the week.
Scott, who pushed Koepka all the way to end at the PGA last year in St. Louis, ran in putts from 25 feet, 40 feet and 30 feet on the opening three holes – only to settle for par on the easiest hole at Bethpage Black at the par-5 fourth – and was 7 under with four holes to play, a chance to break the PGA record of 63 that Koepka had matched the day before.
That ended when Scott missed a 2-foot par putt on the 17th, and he had to get up-and-down from the fairway for par on the 18th.
And then he saw what Koepka was doing.
“I have to post two more good ones by the look of it at this stage,” Scott said.
Dustin Johnson had a 67 and was among five players at 4-under 136. Justin Rose had a 67 and was at 3-under 137, a good score on Bethpage except in this case he was nine shots behind.
Both Adam Hadwin and Corey Conners – the two Canadians in the field – made the cut. Hadwin, from Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 70 to tie for 47th at 2 over. Conners, from Listowel, Ont., shot his second consecutive 72 to tie for 68th at 4 over.
Everyone needs help from Koepka, who didn’t seem the least bit interested in anything but another major title.
“I’d like to see that lead grow as large as it possibly can,” Koepka said. “I still have to go out there and do what I’m supposed to do, keep putting the ball in the right spot and make sure that you don’t make any double bogeys, and I should have a good chance of winning the championship.”
Koepka off to record setting start at PGA Championship
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Three majors in two years, and Brooks Koepka can still feel as though he has something to prove.
He delivered again on golf’s biggest stage.
And this time, Tiger Woods was along for the ride.
Koepka beat up on brawny Bethpage Black for a record-setting start to his title defence in the PGA Championship. With a 40-foot birdie to start his round and a birdie putt from just inside 35 feet at the end, he shot a 7-under 63 to break the course record and become the first player to shoot 63 in the same major twice.
“That was one of the best rounds I’ve played probably as a professional,” Koepka said. “This golf course is brutal.”
He was 10 shots better than the average score in the opening round, but only one better than Danny Lee on a day when only 16 players broke par, the fewest for the first round of the PGA Championship since 2008 at Oakland Hills.
It was only one round, but enough to make the Masters that Woods won last month feel more nostalgic than a sign of more to come.
“I felt like I won this last year. I’m playing good,” Koepka said. “It was great that Tiger won Augusta, but I mean, we’re at a new week now. … Obviously, everyone is going to be cheering for him, and it’s going to be loud, especially if he makes a putt. You’ve just got to keep battling.”
Thousands of fans who trudged across muddied paths to the far end of Bethpage Black on Thursday morning were drawn to Woods, a Masters champion again, announced on the 10th tee as the PGA champion from 1999, 2000, 2006 and 2007.
The introduction took long enough to remind everyone what Woods has done in the game.
Koepka then showed what he has done lately – back-to-back U.S. Open titles, a PGA Championship and an ideal start in his bid to join Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA Championship in stroke play.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Lee said. “I mean, have you seen him playing U.S. Opens and PGA Championships in the last three years?”
Woods looked rusty early, inspired in the middle and sloppy late in his first competition since his emotionally draining victory at the Masters.
He opened with a pair of double bogeys on the back nine and ruined a torrid start to the front nine – two birdies and a 30-foot eagle in a four-hole stretch – with a pair of three-putt bogeys. That gave him a 72, leaving him nine shots behind and ending 12 consecutive rounds at par or better in the majors dating to the U.S. Open last summer.
“It wasn’t as clean as I’d like to have it, for sure,” Woods said.
Tommy Fleetwood had a 67, while the group at 68 included Pat Perez, who played a practice round with Koepka on Tuesday. Jordan Spieth overcame a double bogey on the 10th hole for a 69 and was in a group that included Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day.
“The course is not easy, but Brooks obviously made it look real easy,” Perez said. “I saw that on Tuesday when I played with him. I actually congratulated him on his win.”
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., both shot 2-over 72 to tie for 51st.
But it’s far from over, even before Lee made his afternoon move to cut into the lead. Fowler was bemused when asked how close he would have to be to Koepka heading into the final round Sunday.
“What makes you think he’s going to be leading?” Fowler said. “I would say there’s no lead really safe here.”
Koepka failed to birdie the two par 5s, missing a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 13 and scrambling for par on the easier fourth hole. He also missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the 11th and an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 2. Yes, this could have been special. Then again, he also made four birdie putts of 15 feet or longer, including the long ones at the start and end of his round.
“When that putt went in on No. 10, that was kind of the momentum that set me,” Koepka said. “But I never once thought about the course record or anything. I was just trying to shoot the best I could. Simple as that. Just keep going and total them up at the end.”
He is the ninth player to open a major with 63, and only two of them went on to win – Jack Nicklaus at Baltusrol in the 1980 U.S. Open and Raymond Floyd at Southern Hills in the 1982 PGA Championship.
There is a long way to go. Considering Koepka’s record in the majors – three wins and a runner-up in his last seven majors – this felt shorter. Koepka came seriously close to a bogey only one time, and he made a 10-foot par on the sixth hole.
Woods managed to get under par, but only briefly.
His opening tee shot took enough bounces to barely get into the rough, and it left him no option but to hack out. The mistake was a wedge that went over the back of the green, and Woods threw his head back knowing his mistake. His fast pitch went 6 feet by and he missed to open with a double bogey. His other double bogey came on the par-3 17th when he went into the face of a bunker, blasted out longer and took three to get down from there.
A birdie-birdie start to the front nine, and a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 fourth, brought him to 1 under. And then he bogeyed three of the next four holes.
“I fought my way back around there, and unfortunately, I just didn’t keep it together at the end,” he said.