Koepka Hammers His Way to PGA Championship
Like baseball, golf can get giddy with its own set of redheaded stepchild stats.
Here's one: Only five golfers have won the two USA majors that rotate to different courses in the same year.
It's select company with four household names:
Now, they've been joined by someone who's at least a household name in his own house.
Maybe Teddy Roosevelt was his swing coach, advising Koepka to do the walk softly and carry a big stick thing.
While his pursuers made their various charges and elicited crowd roars heard all over the course, dude let his bombs do the talking while his gallery, for the most part, could've been silent-movie extras.
Koepka's got the sorta super-fitness strength that Tiger brought to golf back in the day. It shows off the tee, as former Florida State Seminole doesn't care where it goes.
Dude figures a short iron outta the rough is still better than a mid-iron from the fairway. Given what passes for rough on most courses, it make sense. Especially with those hammers.
As to Woods, it sometimes looked like his glory days out there, but his putter betrayed him in Round 3 to the point that even carding a career-best Round 4 in a Major wasn't enough to hoist the hardware.
Gotta say, though, dude looks like he'll be a contender when next season's majors roll around, if he can stay healthy.
One thing Rickie Fowler can't stay is in his 20s. He'll be 30 by then and remains the best brat-packer never to win a major.
But, damn, give the dude and island green ...
Being a St Louis Cardinal fan, he got all sortsa love from the crowd at Bellerive Country Club -- that's a kinda thing there -- so they patiently waited for Fowler to patiently take what the course gave him.
If so, the course must be a closet Cubs fan: Fowler could only manage one Sunday birdie.
Another major, perhaps. Until then, the most he's got in common with Tiger is wearing his school colors -- Oklahoma State, in his case -- in the final round.
Then there's Ben Kern, the only club pro to make the cut.
The portly Texan was rollin' them in and likin' the life.
But this was obviously Koepka's day. He's had a couple others like it this season and seems likely to have a couple more.
If so, it won't be long before more fans recognize him on the course and in the gym for more than those hammers.