Brooks Koepka doesn’t just play golf with a chip on his shoulder, he often has a whole poke of them on it. In fact, he may as well have an entire supper resting there.
When the 34-year-old finished in a humdrum share of 45th at the Masters last month, he trudged down Magnolia Lane and out of Augusta National with those shoulders just about drooped at half-mast.
Fast forward to the here and now and Koepka is a man on another major mission. Golfing with a self-imposed grievance after that Masters misery has got him fine-tuned for the defence of his US PGA Championship title at Valhalla this coming week.
“I think the embarrassment of Augusta really kicked things into overdrive for me,” said Koepka, whose shift up through the gears was rewarded with his fourth victory on the breakaway LIV Golf series in Singapore last weekend.
Koepka hadn’t really featured in any of the other five LIV events he had contested this season but being a bit-part player on the rebel circuit was nothing compared to the frustration he felt at being an also-ran on the Masters leaderboard.
"There's a lot of people that put time and effort into making sure that I play good," he added. “I think Augusta was a good wake-up call. I've had to really put my nose down and grind since then. Having to look my team in the eye and apologise (after the Masters) is not something I’m looking to do again.”
The rest have been warned. Just a week or so on from the Kentucky Derby, it will be golf’s thoroughbreds taking centre stage in this part of the world.
The men’s professional scene in its upper echelons remains as splintered as a tree truck that’s been struck by lightning but the come-all-ye nature of the majors means that all the big runners and riders from both sides of the divide will be on show in Louisville.
And if we shoehorn any more ropey references to horse racing into this piece, we’ll be getting a writ from the Jockey’s Guild.
There’s still a flimsy notion that the format of the Saudi-backed LIV series, with its 54-hole competition and guaranteed dosh, doesn’t prepare those players who defected to it for the fraught, cut-and-thrust of major championship golf.
The results, of course, don’t give that idea any great weight. Three LIV players finished in the top-10 of the Masters, both this year and last, three in the US PGA Championship last year and two in the 2023 US Open.
For Koepka, the majors stir the senses and rouse the competitive spirits like nothing else. He could spend the non-major weeks playing with this correspondent on the Association of Golf Writers’ mini-circuit and he’d still get himself geed-up for the grand slam showpieces.
His record in the biggest events remains formidable. Two US Open wins in 2017 and 2018, a brace of US PGA Championship triumphs in 2018 and 2019, another last year and 13 other top-10s across the major board? It’s a mighty body of work.
His victory on the LIV circuit may have been timely but Koepka doesn’t read too much into it. It’s a fickle old game, after all. “I've seen guys miss cuts and then go on to win, or win and then not compete the week after,” he said of the topsy turvy nature of golf. “It's all ebbs and flows.”
The man Koepka and the rest have to beat, of course, is the seemingly unflappable, unstoppable Scottie Scheffler, who has four wins in his last five starts, including the Masters and The Players Championship.
Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, returns to the Valhalla venue that was the scene of his epic US PGA Championship win of 2014. That year would see Koepka make his debut in the championship as a PGA Tour rookie and he would finish in an admirable share of 15th.
A decade on, Koepka has five major titles on his resume. McIlroy has been stuck on four since conquering Valhalla 10 years ago.
An energising victory, in partnership with Shane Lowry at the Zurich Classic a couple of weeks ago, injected McIlroy’s year with renewed vigour. He even took to the stage in a spectator hospitality tent to belt out an enthusiastic if somewhat ear-splitting rendition of Don’t Stop Believin’ by the rock band Journey.
McIlroy may have better luck hitting the high notes on his return to one of his happy hunting grounds. Time will tell.
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