Is Brooks Koepka Here To Stay?

Elliott Heath

The double US Open champion is up to fourth in the world, is he here to stay?

Brooks Koepka here to stay
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Is Brooks Koepka Here To Stay?

Brooks Koepka powered home to win his second US Open in a row and is now up to a career-high fourth in the world.

The American is now higher ranked than the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler.

Koepka finished off the tournament, just like last year, sublimely well.

His putting was excellent, and playing partner and world number one Dustin Johnson, who he is good friends with, simply couldn’t match him.

Should we now be mentioning him as one of the world’s truly elite players? Or was his US Open defence as good as it’s going to get?

Will he become world number one and suddenly begin to pick up major after major? Perhaps not, but he looks like a player who will be disappointed with single-win seasons for the foreseeable future.

Koepka has averaged 308 yards off the tee this season. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

It’s easy to forget that he has missed a large proportion of the season with a wrist injury and the US Open was just his fifth event back.

It was also just his third PGA Tour win, but he now has 10 wins worldwide. I think more wins will start to come thick and fast in the States.

Koepka plyed his trade in Europe for the best part of four years after turning pro in 2012.

He came through the Challenge and European Tours, where he won five times and was named the 2014 European Tour Rookie of the Year, before making it home to become a star of the PGA Tour.

He won the 2014 European Tour Rookie of the Year award

That time in Europe, playing across the continent as well as South Africa, Asia and Australia, has moulded him into a versatile player with the ability to win on different kinds of courses, as we’ve seen with just how contrasting the conditions were in his two US Open victories.

In his six years as a pro, he has won in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Japan, Scotland and the USA.

Those years will stand him in good stead for the next phase of his career where he will be looking to pick up more majors.

Koepka looks to have no weaknesses and when he gets the putter on song, as we’ve seen at the last two US Opens, he is very, very difficult to beat.

He made his Ryder Cup debut in 2016 at Hazeltine where he won three of his four games, including a 5&4 victory over Danny Willett in the singles.

Koepka’s Ryder Cup debut in 2016 was a success

He also played in the 2017 Presidents Cup and is top of the USA Ryder Cup points list for September’s match at Le Golf National. He will be one of the USA’s key players in Paris.

The 28-year-old said in his winning press conference that “I always feel like I’m overlooked”, and when you look at his career record so far, he might just be right.

Consider the attention that Rickie Fowler gets, who is a year older than Koepka and is yet to win a major, lower down in the world rankings and has two fewer professional wins.

Is Brooks Koepka here to stay? I’d say yes.

Brooks Koepka’s career wins:

2012 Challenge de Catalunya – Challenge Tour

2013 Montecchia Golf Open – Challenge Tour

2013 Challenge de Espana – Challenge Tour

2013 Scottish Hydro Challenge – Challenge Tour

2014 Turkish Airlines Open – European Tour

2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open – PGA Tour

2016 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament – Japan Tour

2017 US Open – 1st major

2017 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament – Japan Tour

2018 US Open – 2nd major

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