PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — For brothers Brooks and Chase Koepka, the only advantage if they were paired together when the Honda Classic begins Thursday is their parents wouldn’t have to cover so much territory on the Champion course at PGA National.
“It would make my family’s life a lot easier,” said Brooks, a four-time major champion who is playing in his seventh Honda. “My mom probably won’t even watch me or my dad won’t watch me, they’ll probably just go watch him.”
That’s not because Chase is their favorite. As Chase noted, “They’ve gotten to see a lot of him play golf.”
Brooks, who recently moved into a new home in Jupiter, tees off at 7:56 a.m. Thursday on the 10th hole with Joaquin Niemann, last week’s winner, and Mackenzie Hughes. Chase, who lives in West Palm Beach, plays in the final threesome off No. 10 at 1:46 p.m. with Davis Riley and Joshua Creel. Friday, Chase tees off No. 1 at 8:51 a.m. and Brooks at 12:51 p.m.
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“That’s the hard part when we’re both playing. We’re on opposite waves,” said Chase, who has played in a handful of PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour events over the last few years, and is here on a sponsor’s exemption. “I think it’ll be a lot easier on the weekend when they can follow us both. It’ll be a lot easier, because 36 holes a day for my parents, at their age, is pretty hard to do.”
“I know my friends are all going to be doing 36 watching me and then going to watch him because we pretty much have the same friend group,” Brooks said. “(It’s) a lot of work for them.”
Brooks, 31, and Chase, 28, have never been in the same pairing in a PGA Tour event. They did play together in the Zurich Classic, a team event in New Orleans, tying for fifth in 2017 and for 22nd in 2019.
Last year, only Chase played the Honda, tying for 30th at 1 under par. Brooks, who tied for second here in 2019, was unable to play because of a knee injury.
As far as their goals for this week, the brothers agreed it’s probably better that they’re not in the same threesome for the first two rounds.
“I think playing (together) in a tournament, I think he’d be more worried,” Brooks said. “I’d rather see him do his own thing.”
“Honestly, it doesn’t really matter who I’m playing with,” said Chase. “I’d rather be paired with him on a Sunday, battling down the stretch.
“I want him, this week, to make sure he’s taking care of himself and not worrying about me too much. That’s what a big brother does. And then for me, too, it probably helps me stay relaxed a little bit out there not playing with him the first two days. But definitely if the time comes and we’re paired together on Sunday, we’ll be ready for a battle.”
And it will be a battle. The Koepkas, who played nine holes together Tuesday, admitted that they are extremely competitive, something they get from their father, Bob.
“There’s nothing that I don’t think we compete with,” Chase said. “Everything we do there’s some sort of competition.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t matter what it is,” said Brooks, who recounted a game of H-O-R-S-E. “We went out skiing in Montana in December, and we had a basketball court in the house we were in. I can’t shoot it as well as he can. He’s a pretty good shooter. I chucked that ball a few times against the wall. I wasn’t happy.
“But yeah, he drives me nuts. He’s a good shooter, but anything we do is competitive. It gets a little intense, and then you throw my dad in there, he’s competitive as well. When we were younger usually one or two of us left crying. Somebody was pissed off, and my dad either kicked our butts or one of us went at it pretty good crying or it got physical.”
If things work out like they hope, all the Koepkas might be crying on the 18th green come Sunday afternoon.