ROCHESTER, N.Y. – At his home in Jupiter, Florida, Brooks Koepka has his trophies on display.
“But I only put the big ones up there just to remind myself that’s there’s plenty more big ones to win,” Koepka said in “Full Swing,” the Netflix docuseries.
On Saturday, Koepka sank a 47-foot birdie putt at 17 to post the low round at Oak Hill for the second straight day – back-to-back rounds of 66 – to grab a one-stroke advantage atop the leaderboard over Viktor Hovland and Corey Conners after 54 holes at the 105th PGA Championship. Koepka will be bidding for a fifth major — he would become the 20th player to win five or more major titles — and third Wanamaker Trophy.
“To win one would be fantastic,” Koepka said. “I was just told that I think only Tiger and Jack have won three (in the modern era), so that would be pretty special to be in a list or category with them.”
Koepka’s 66 was all the more impressive given that Oak Hill turned into Soak Hill for the third round.
“It was just relentless really, from the start of the warmup to literally as we were putting out on the last green. There was very little wind, but that doesn’t stop it playing cold and long and wet,” said Tommy Fleetwood, who recorded one of the better rounds, a 68. “As the round goes on, it just turns into a bit more survival.”
Koepka, 33, survived a 2-over 72 in the opening round and patiently has clawed his way back to the top of the leaderboard. He did so with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 4 and 5, He made his lone bogey of the day at the seventh when he tugged his drive left and had to punch out of trouble. His putter warmed up on the second nine and he made birdies at Nos. 12 and 13 before sinking the long-range bomb at 17.
BROOKS FROM DOWNTOWN
He’s now only 1 shot back #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/eMc6YDcPi9
— Golf on CBS
(@GolfonCBS) May 20, 2023
“That doesn’t go in, that’s probably six, eight feet by,” said Koepka, who finished at 6-under 204.
For the second straight major, Koepka, who defected to LIV Golf last summer after missing the cut at the U.S. Open, holds the 54-hole lead. But at the Masters, he conceded he “choked” on Sunday, as Jon Rahm slipped into the Green Jacket.
“I didn’t sleep Sunday night just trying to figure out what exactly it was. Thought about it for a few days after and really honed in on what I was doing and what went wrong,” Koepka said Tuesday. “From there just never let it happen again. That’s the whole goal, right?”
Koepka refuses to share what went wrong at Augusta, but he reiterated after Saturday’s round that he won’t make the same mistake twice.
“Learning what I learned at Augusta kind of helped today,” he said. “Like I said, I won’t do it again the rest of my career.”