Masters 2023: Brooks Koepka squanders four-stroke lead at Augusta National as Sunday’s major struggles continue
Brooks Koepka has earned a reputation as a ruthless champion. You wouldn’t run around the world of golf while being the fastest person to ever go from 0 major championships to 4 major championships if you weren’t. There is a degree of admiration and respect for what Koepka has done and can do in the future.
But a realization is needed on Sunday at the 2023 Masters: This is no longer 2017-19, and Koepka – at least on the key Sundays since – may not be. that thing boys. Koepka’s 75th Final at the 2023 Masters, give the blue coat to a rising Jon Rahm (who eventually won by four), is just the latest example of the disappointment the four-time major champion has endured since his last major title.
Koepka started his final day at Augusta National Golf Club with a four-stroke lead and an arm in a green jacket. Well aware of the stakes and knowing that a win this week means a career Grand Slam will take place later this summer at The Open, the 32-year-old Florida player never looked comfortable. .
As if equipped for a regular 44th but forced into a slim 40th, Koepka saw his lead halved by the time the third round was completed. Despite this small slip, there is still a clear possibility that his fifth major championship will be the final result. Prior to that, all three of his 54-hole leads were big wins, with no sign of any difference this time around. Until there is.
Being punched in the mouth by Rahm in the third round and self-inflicted wounds in the fourth round caused his lead to disappear less than a third of the decisive round. Two holes later, Koepka lost the lead for the first time since Thursday afternoon with another sloppy mistake.
“I just played average,” Koepka told CBS Sports’ Amanda Renner after his round. “I don’t have a good time off either. …Sometimes it’s like that. But I don’t feel like I’m playing too bad.”
During that 2017-2019 period, those blunders will never happen and those breaks will never be necessary. He himself is on the short side, looking for buttons to press when nothing needs to be pressed, seemingly losing all speed control on the lawn overnight – the shortcomings add up. On Sundays of the major championship, they made quick additions to Koepka.
Since his last major championship, Koepka has entered contention more times than not. He looked like a world champion for the first 54 holes — especially the first 42 before inclement weather ended the game early Saturday morning — but a stark contrast was to the golf course for the last 18 holes. Unfortunately, this week was no different.
Koepka said of his comeback: “I’ve known this for a long time, but I guess it’s just a matter of going out and doing it. “I was three rounds ahead and just didn’t do it on the last day. That’s it. Simple.”
He played the last 13 holes in a 1-on-1 fashion when he fell to Gary Woodland at the 2019 US Open, after turning down his good friend Dustin Johnson, whom he was two goals ahead of him. , Koepka scored 74 points in the final at the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park to break out of the top 25. Another 74 points followed on the final day at the 2021 PGA Championship as a 50-year-old Phil Mickelson , pulled the rug from below him.
Once Rahm took control of the 87th Masters, there was nothing Koepka could do no matter how hard he tried. The former alpha’s nightmare has once again come true. Discovering he’d made it through 14 five-stroke holes – a nine-stroke turnaround from when play resumed early on Sunday – a realization that must have engulfed him: He’s no longer the apex predator. higher again.
Koepka talked a lot in Netflix’s “Full Swing”“ But to live with vibrant colors is not an easy pill to swallow. While accidents and danger, the collapse of mighty giants amid mighty runs is nothing new in the game of golf.
Padraig Harrington, three-time major champion once said, “You have two years to reach the top. “You have two seasons, 18 months, where you get to the top. And you can follow people’s careers, they have two seasons, 18 months, where they’re playing ahead of themselves. And, of course, of course. , once you’ve done that, it’s very hard to live up to it, because you’re not just trying to live the best that you’ve played, but you’re trying to live the best way you think you can that you played.”
Koepka certainly sounds like a man still at his peak, but he presents as someone on the other side. Try to convince yourself that the best is still ahead, knowing that it is more likely to be behind. A 4-year championship drought is nothing in the game of golf — just ask Rory McIlroy, Mickelson, the list goes on; after all, only four a year. Removing them is a difficult and almost impossible task for some people.
But Koepka was never “some” … until now.
