The Wanamaker Trophy is not exactly a small one — it is 28 inches high (two feet four inches), 10-and-a-half inches in diameter, and 27 inches from handle to handle. It weighs 27 pounds, which, at almost 12.25 kg, is the heaviest championship Trophy in the game.
Yet, big, strong Brooks Koepka seemed to be juggling with it. He had one hand on it after the first day’s 63; he had both hands on it when he followed that up with a 65 and when he left the Bethpage Park Black course on Saturday night, he couldn’t have been faulted if he had called up his housekeeper to make space for another replica as he held a seven-shot lead.
No player had ever lost a PGA Tour event, let alone a Major, with that kind of a lead.
Koepka’s confident demeanour — some call it aloofness, and even arrogance — seemed to be deserting him on the back nine. Four bogeys in a row brought back memories of Adam Scott’s four-in-a-row in the last four at Royal Lytham in 2012, which handed Ernie Els his second Claret Jug and fourth Major.
The inevitable birdie
Here at the brutal Bethpage Black, where wind gusted up to 20-25 miles an hour on Sunday afternoon, the till-then unflappable Koepka seemed to be getting blown away. He, who had stood like a rock without a bogey for the first day and a half and then conceded just six in the first 63 holes to start Sunday with a seven-shot lead, was trembling like a dry leaf in a gale on the back nine of the final round.
Minutes before, Koepka appeared to have all but won the Trophy a second time, with a gap wedge that delivered the dimpled sphere just two feet from the pin for the inevitable birdie on the 10th. Dustin Johnson, who at three-under for the front nine, was the only oddity in a collection of the world’s best players with a sub-par score for the final day. He was mounting a challenge.
As Koepka birdied 10th, Johnson made his first bogey of the day at 11th and the gap which had gone down to four was back to six. The only thing remaining was handing over the Wanamaker Trophy to Koepka yet again.
Majors, they start only on the back nine. It was proven so once again. Koepka’s magic suddenly disappeared and he seemed to be wavering. Had the burden of the massive lead proved just that bit too much? Were we about to see a monumental collapse, the likes of which only Australians like Greg Norman or Adam Scott seemed capable?
It couldn’t be happening to Koepka, whose walk is imperious and game majestic. For three-and-a-half days we were comparing him with Tiger Woods of the 15 Majors. And the comparisons were with Tiger at his best when he won by a mile and more.
Anxious moments
That’s when Koepka showed the human, fallible side as he bogeyed the 11th (went into a bunker off the tee); 12th (went into the right rough); 13th (missed a five-footer) and 14th (again the right rough and intermediate). Four bogeys in a row. Instead of others coming up to him, he was coming back. To Johnson, who birdied on the 15th that meant the lead was now down to ONE shot!
Koepka stemmed the rot on 15th with a par. Meanwhile on the 16th it was Johnson’s turn to mess up. His 5-Iron inexplicably flew into the wind and over the green and then he missed the seven-footer for par. On the 17th, Johnson failed to find the green and again bogeyed.
Koepka still not fully recovered from the debilitating four-bogey shock, parred 16th, too. That put him three clear again. Koepka’s anxious moments did not end. He missed a four-footer for par on Par-3 17th and was now only two ahead as he came to the 18th tee. Nervousness had taken over.
Johnson finished at six-under and Koepka was eight-under when he came to the 18th tee. He just needed to play if safe — easier said than done.
“I felt like as long as I had the lead, I was fine,” said Koepka. “As long as I put it in the fairway, I was going to be all right.” He missed the fairway from the tee, but his fine shot off the second took him to less than 70 yards, from where he pitched well to six feet, just as he had done for the first three-and-a-half days and duly holed the six-footer. That’s when he finally pumped his fist and all that pent-up emotion came pouring out.
‘Stressful round’
When Koepka was unravelling, the unforgiving New York crowd was almost pushing him into an abyss, chanting, “DJ, DJ…(Dustin Johnson)” as the 29-year-old Floridian, Koepka, bogeyed for the fourth in a row. Koepka said, “It’s New York. What do you expect when you’re half-choking it away?” But Koepka drew in on his last ounce of energy for the final holes and pulled through for a two-shot win that at one stage seemed was likely to be something like 12 shots!
“I’m just glad I don’t have to play any more holes,” Koepka said. “That was a stressful round of golf. I’m glad to have this thing back in my hands.”
His 74 was the highest final round by a PGA Champion since Vijay Singh’s 76 in 2004 at Whistling Straits.
Koepka did not have a Major till mid-2017, when he won his first US Open and now in around 24 months he has four — two US Opens and two PGA Championships. Next month he attempts a three-in-a-row of US Opens.