The path back to the summit isn't likely to appear as steep any more to Brooks Koepka, for – although down at 12th in the world rankings – the fit-again four-time Major champion would once again seem the most likely player to threaten Dustin Johnson's dominance.
Although Johnson currently has a vice-like grip on that number one position, almost four points clear of Jon Rahm, the return to fitness and to winning ways by Koepka – so much like his old self in closing out the Phoenix Open, and that expression on his caddie Ricky Elliott's face after the eagle chip-in on the 17th was quite the picture in how his man has that X-Factor – would suggest the gap between the player in number one and the player in number 12 will shorten in the months ahead.
Koepka, indeed, was the last player to dominate – topping the world rankings for 14 straight weeks after winning the US PGA Championship in August 2019 – but he was then troubled by a left knee injury that stubbornly refused to mend. It was after his WGC-St Jude win in July 2019 he had stem cell treatment and then re-injured it when slipping on a cart path at the CJ Cup in South Korea. His one-time dominant lead atop the world rankings dwindled, although the focus was on regaining full health, a process that proved stubbornly slow.
“There was a period maybe for about two months where I just questioned whether I was ever going to be the same, whether I was even going to be somewhat remotely the same golfer that I ever was. My knee, no matter how much work and pain I was doing with Derek [Samuel], my trainer, it just felt like it wasn’t progressing. And that’s the frustrating part, when you feel like it’s not going anywhere.
“But we stuck with it. Those dark places, a lot of tears, questioning yourself, and in dark places mentally. You’ve got to come out of that. I spent so much time with Derek where I kind of used it as a refresher to reset things . . . it takes a lot of effort just to get out of those places.”
The lowest point he identified as playing in the Memorial Tournament back last July, where he finished tied-62nd, all of 21 strokes behind winner Rahm.
“I was in excruciating pain. I was being told that my knee was still the same. The frustration of just trying to play and knowing I’m not myself, knowing I’m not even close to what I’m capable of doing. I can’t swing the golf club like I want to. But I didn’t want to take the time off . . . I guess that’s the heart. I just don’t like to quit, just battle through it and I figured it would go away, and I was completely wrong.”
Of the knee injury, and how it affected him during play, Koepka conceded “it was a lot worse than I probably let on.”
He outlined different scenarios where it hurt. Bunker shots. Uphill shots. Even the basic task of replacing a ball on the green.
“I remember bending down just to put the ball in front of a quarter and that was painful enough. It was just one of those things where I felt I just tried to get through it and figured eventually it would be better. The hard part is you just got to load it and fight through that pain.”
Koepka’s return to winning ways was done with style, a reminder of what he brings to big events down the stretch. “It’s what I live for. I live for those moments where you got to close, you got to hit some quality shots, quality putts. I don’t know, I just like showing off, I guess.”
His first win in over 18 months lifted him up just one spot in the world rankings, from 13th to 12th, but it also gave him upward traction on the US Ryder Cup qualifying list, lifting him up four places from seventh to third.
