The coronation had more spice than he would have liked, but Brooks Koepka held his nerve to seal back-to-back PGA Championship titles to seal his status as golf’s new once-in-a-generation player.
Koepka led by seven going into the final day and looked to be coasting to the Wanamaker Trophy before a mini meltdown — four straight bogeys — on the back nine dropped him back to just one clear of close friend and world No.1 Johnson, the only other player in his ballpark.
Rowdier elements of the already raucous New York crowd chanted „DJ, DJ“ at Koepka as they sensed late sport in the bearpit of Bethpage Black.
Memories raced back to other famous collapses, such as Jordan Spieth’s Masters misfortunes when he squandered a five-shot lead with nine to play in 2016. Or the similar Augusta agonies of Rory McIlroy or Greg Norman.
But with Koepka at his mercy, Johnson faltered at the 16th and 17th to finish six under, and though Koepka dropped a shot at the 17th he had done enough to seal a wire-to-wire victory in a record-breaking week which also took him to world No.1.
„That was a stressful round of golf, DJ [Johnson] played awesome. I’m just glad to have this thing back in my hands,“ Keopka said at the trophy presentation ceremony on the 18th green.
„I kid you not, I heard the chants, I heard everything. He did an unbelievable job putting pressure on me.“
„It’s incredible, I don’t even know if I dreamed of this. This is so cool.“
Heir apparent
Like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator, Koepka has emerged in invincible fashion from the firestorm of hot young pros trying to be The Next One and his major run would seem to suggest he is the true heir apparent to Tiger Woods.
