Brooks Koepka
Brooks Koepka

PGA Championship: Brooks Koepka leads after bogey-free 63


The closer any sportsperson gets to perfection, the less compelling the spectacle tends to be. It takes two to tango, and in moving into a solo lead Brooks Koepka threatened to take the fizz out of a major championship before the weekend begins.

Rarely is it that simple, but simple is what Koepka made it look like at Bethpage Black on Thursday. Seven birdies, including one at his first, one at his last, 11 pars, and the only bogey-free round in a field of 156 which became 155 when Brian Gay, a man half Koepka's size, decided enough was enough.

When the driver misbehaved, such as at the 13th and then shockingly so at the first, fortune or his own brute force came to the rescue. When chances went begging, half-chances were gobbled up soon after, never more significantly than when he curled home a monster putt at the ninth, his final hole.

It was exactly what we've come to expect from a player who, at 29, has cracked it. Before the 101st PGA Championship, Koepka explained that he considers majors the easiest tournaments to win, and he appears to enjoy proving himself right as much as he enjoys proving others wrong. Lord help them all.


Leaderboard

-7 Koepka

-6 Lee

-3 Fleetwood

Selected others: -1 D Johnson, Spieth, Fowler, +2 Woods, McIlroy


Tiger Woods was impressed. He felt - though the statistics tell a different story - that Koepka could've gone lower still than 63. Woods himself was half a stroke worse than his playing partner per hole, carding a two-over-par 72 which looks ordinary on the leaderboard and looked downright amateurish alongside Koepka's ball.

Yet the finest player of his generation knows that there is a long way to go. If double-bogeys at the 10th and 17th holes threatened to play Woods out of it, then a lengthy eagle putt at the fourth kept him in it. Reeling in the leader from here, even over three days, will require something much closer to flawless than we saw, but it's nevertheless too early to rule it out altogether.

Koepka has closer challengers, of course, and Danny Lee's afternoon 64 was pound-for-pound as impressive. A teen prodigy who hasn't quite trained on, Lee is hamstrung by a comparative lack of big-game experience but when he's good, he's very good; 21 putts and a host of solid iron shots showed as much.

Lee's round ensures that Koepka's lead is slim on paper, but the gap back to third is significant. Tommy Fleetwood already finds himself four strokes behind his Shinnecock nemesis after yet another solid day's work, a 67 which in a fairer world ought to have at least earned him an hour or two in the lead.

Those on 68 - Chez Reavie, Luke List, Sung Kang, Pat Perez and Mike Lorenzo Vera - played superbly, yet it's the names lurking a shot further back which raise hopes that we may yet get a spectacle. Jordan Spieth closed with a birdie for a welcome round of 69 in his grand slam bid; Rickie Fowler saved par for the same number; Dustin Johnson tromped around and broke par without breaking sweat.

On any other day these scores would have threatened the lead, but Rory McIlroy may need something lower than all of them on Friday if he's to do so at any stage. Winner of this title twice before, a hat-trick will need birdies at some point and none were forthcoming over 17 holes of sheer frustration, until some solace arrived at the last. Like Woods, he shot 72; like Woods, it had better be his worst round of the week.

"What Brooks and Danny did is out of this world," said Spieth. He should know: already this has echoes of his Masters romp in 2015, which began with sorcery but ended with absolutely nobody on earth surprised by what they had witnessed.

Koepka has started to make the impossible appear not possible, but probable. Probable, though, is not certain.

Like what you've read?

MOST READ

Sporting Life
Join for free!
Access to exclusive features all for FREE - No monthly subscription fee
Race Replays
My stable horse tracker
giftOffers and prize draws
newsExclusive content

Next Off

Fixtures & Results

Fetching latest games....
We are committed to Safer Gambling and have a number of self-help tools to help you manage your gambling. We also work with a number of independent charitable organisations who can offer help and answers any questions you may have.
Gamble Aware LogoGamble Helpline LogoGamstop LogoGordon Moody LogoSafer Gambling Standard LogoGamban Logo18+ LogoTake Time To Think Logo