Brooks Koepka is good at it, not just in golf. Victory at the PGA Championship

Brooks Koepka is good at it, not just in golf.  Victory at the PGA Championship

Between 2017 and 2019 it was believed he could become the new Tiger Woods. He didn't go that way. But now the West Palm Beach golfer seems to be back

A great comeback, the confident game of the man who never has to ask, total control of the court, never aggressive and never submissive, the right attitude to do what he failed to do in April at the Masters. Brooks Koepka is the winner of the 105th edition of the PGA Championship, the third grand slam tournament, the only one for professionals only. A clear victory for the West Palm Beach champion who had dominated the world from 2017 to 2019, two US Opens and two PGA Championships, many thought they had found the new Tiger Woods and instead years of fatigue and injuries followed, two serious problems with knees and few victories. Until the comeback in recent months, back at great levels in Augusta, alone in the lead after 54 holes, surrounded by too many champions, things didn't go well in the last round. A signal that the wind for Koepka was about to change.

Even yesterday at the Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford just outside New York there were many contenders starting with Scottie Sheffler, eager to win to return number one in the world, a second place was enough for him to get the goal but touching a slam is not never a great victory and then Victor Hovland, in these columns we often give him the favourite, yesterday too an excellent lap, increasingly safe and oriented towards the first Norwegian major. Yesterday seemed like the right time until the terrible drive into the bunker at 16 and then sand again and an impossible lie on the third shot. Hell hole, cut off his legs. As in a boxing match as soon as Hovland let his guard down, Koepka struck. A birdie in response to the double bogey, three strokes earned in a hole, the difference that at the end of the tournament will be unbridgeable.

The big surprise could be Michael Block. A name unknown to all except the golfers of Arroyo Trabuco, on a public course in Mission Viejo, California, where Block is teaching the kids. Forty-six years old, never a victory on the circuit, classified at the Pga Championship starting from the qualifiers, he is the classic player destined not to pass the cut and instead he experienced a fabulous weekend, in the top 10 for the whole tournament, well above his possibilities, the last round played with Rory McIlroy showing signs of slowing down until the memorable one hole in one at 15, hole hit without even a rebound. Undoubtedly the coup of a lifetime that sent the audience into raptures. For a few hours, some thought about Francis Ouimet's legendary victory in 1913 at the Country Club of Brooklyne, a miracle that didn't happen but Michael Block's tournament will be remembered for a long time and who knows how many, during the week, will try to book a lesson with him for just $125, a bargain for any golfer lucky enough to live there.

Also this year it was not Jordan Spieth's Pga Championship, curious for one of the most important players of the last generation. After the victory in the 2017 Open Championship, he is only missing this tournament to complete the career grand slam. Will have to wait another year, like so many Europeans who have stood their ground, a nice package at the top of the table, eighteen have passed the cut, never so many in the history of the tournament, none but Hovland able to worry the winner but in general an excellent state of form for many of our team. Seventh Rory McIlroy and Sepp Straka, eighth Justin Rose, twelfth Shane Lowry and Victor Perez, then Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood, good game in view of the big duel in September in Rome for the Ryder Cup.

The day ends at sunset. A beautiful speech by Brooks Koepka on the eighteenth green, the boy knows how to do it, causes applause by thanking the New York public, three titles for him in the area since the beginning of his career. His lucky number seems to be three, born on May 3, thirty-three years old, three rounds under par, a $3 million prize, 3 Pga Championships, tied for third in the standings with Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen. The cabal is turned to his side. In the sign of three Brooks Koepka is back at the top level. The next tournaments, starting with the Royal Liverpool Open Championship in July, will tell us if he will be the brightest star in the golf firmament in the next decade .



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