Heading into the PGA Championship, most of the talk centered around Tiger Woods, especially after he won the Masters last month. That meant that Brooks Koepka, the defending champion, and co-betting favorite once again came in under the radar.
Luckily for Brooks, he has gotten very comfortable in that role as he once again showed us on Thursday morning. The defending PGA Champion and back-to-back defending U.S. Open champion once again showed us why he has quickly become “Mr. Major”.
Starting on the back nine, Koepka shot a course record 7-under 63 at Bethpage Black to take a commanding lead, leaving the rest of the field in his dust and scratching their heads.
The three-time major winner got off to a fast start, birdieing his first hole of the day, the par 4 10th. What was a blowup hole for many on Thursday morning, including Woods and Rickie Fowler, was the start of a truly historic round for Brooks. He added birdies at 14 and 18 to make the turn in an impressive 3-under 32 before lighting up the front nine, shooting a 4-under 31.
Not only did Koepka fire a new course record with his 63, he did it without birdieing any of the par 5s or dropping a single shot on the day. Here is stats guru Justin Ray to put Koepka’s round into perspective, or at least try:
63 for Brooks Koepka, the lowest opening round score by a reigning PGA Champion by 3 shots (previous record was 66 – Trevino in 1985 and Woods in 2000).
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) May 16, 2019
Brooks Koepka is the first player in #PGAChampionship history to record multiple rounds of 63 in his career. He also did it last year at Bellerive.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) May 16, 2019
More on @BKoepka – he's the first player to record multiple 63s in any single major; 3rd to record multiple 63s in majors in his career, joining Greg Norman and Vijay Singh, and 1st to ever shoot 63 or better in a major in consecutive years.
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) May 16, 2019
As if today’s round wasn’t historic enough, Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press also gave us this gem:
Koepka doesn't birdie either par 5, This 63 means he has played his last 21 rounds of the PGA Championship in 54-under par. No hash tag needed.
— Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) May 16, 2019
Through the morning wave, Koepka held a 4 shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood. Barring a monumental collapse, you have to assume that the next three days will be somewhat of a victory lap for Brooks given the way he is currently playing.
After watching him play today, I can’t help but think back to this quote he gave during his press conference earlier in the week:
Brooks Koepka is a national treasure #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/dByNUIZeOp
— Dan Hauser (@DanHauserGolf) May 14, 2019
The way he played today, there are exactly 0 guys that can beat him.
