With Tiger Woods’ health and game ailing and with Phil
Mickelson mired in a slump that has lasted over a year, one might think that
American golf as a whole is headed in the wrong direction. This is far from the
truth though. American golf has a bright future. In fact, there is one player
that I fully expect to challenge Rory McIlroy for the top spot in the world over the next few years.
You may be thinking
that I am referring to Rick Fowler or to Jordan Spieth or maybe even Patrick
Reed. There is no doubt that Rick Fowler is a solid player. He proved this by
finishing in the top five in all four majors last year. What he lacks are wins.
A player of his talent should have more than one win on the PGA Tour. Jordan
Spieth, on the other hand, recently showed that he as the ability to close the
deal as he won the Australian Open and the Hero World Challenge towards the end
of last year. He added these two non-PGA Tour titles to a resume that already included a PGA
Tour victory. He is a lot younger than Fowler too and I think that he will very
ably challenge the man that still remains to be mentioned. Finally, there is
Patrick Reed. Reed is definitely a man that knows how to close out a tournament
as he has won four times on the PGA Tour in the last year and a half. What
worries me about him is his arrogance, his anger, and his sketchy past both on
and off the golf course. With that being said, I truly hope that he is able to
move on from his past mistakes and become the stalwart of American golf that he
has shown he can be in his short career so far.
With all of that in mind, the American that I expect to
challenge the Northern Irishman is Brooks Koepka (Pronounced Kep-ka). Before
last week, when Koepka won the Waste Management Phoenix Open, most casual golf
fans probably never heard of him. Even with a PGA Tour win under his belt, most
casual golf fans have probably never heard of him. The good news is that I am
not a casual golf fan. So, I can enlighten you.
I have always followed the European Tour as well as other
international golf tours. A couple of years ago, I noticed something strange.
More Americans were playing in European Tour events. With the PGA Tour and its
junior circuit, the Web.com Tour, based in the United States there was really
no need for players to go overseas. Nevertheless, this phenomenon was
occurring. One of the names I recognized was Peter Uihlein. He was a stand-out at
Oklahoma State and won the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship. The other names I
did not recognize. For some reason, the name Brooks Koepka stood out. Possibly
because he was having some mild success on the European Tour. I clicked on his
name on the European Tour website one day and what I found was even more
surprising. Koepka had already won multiple times on Europe’s minor-league
tour, the European Challenge Tour. I was very intrigued and, quite frankly, I
thought that it was cool that an American had not only gone to Europe to play,
but was having success there.
With my interest peeked, I started to look for Koepka’s name
on European Tour leaderboards each week. He started to have more and more
success, and I could feel that he was on a trajectory to eventually win on the
European Tour proper. His success was such that he even started to gain access
to big time events like the majors. Not only that, he was starting to get the
attention of big time American players. In fact, he played a practice round
with Phil Mickelson at the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. Afterwards, Phil
mentioned that Koepka’s game was very solid. With an endorsement from my man
Phil Mickelson, I was officially sold on Brooks Koepka.
As time passed, Koepka continued to show promise by
finishing high in European Tour events, and even in the odd PGA Tour event. He
still lacked a big-time victory though. He finally got that by winning the 2014
Turkish Airlines Open, which is one of the European Tour’s playoff events. With a European Tour trophy in his hands, he was finally a legitimate contender in the world of
golf. Not only that, the month before his breakthrough victory in Turkey he
started his first season as a PGA Tour member as he had earned enough money in
the PGA Tour starts that he did get to gain member status.
With full membership on the PGA Tour for the 2014-2015
season, which started in October, one European Tour win, and four European
Challenge Tour wins already on his resume, one could sense that 2015 would be a
big year for Koepka. After coming out of the gates strong with a win in Phoenix
that vaulted him to nineteenth in the official world golf rankings, it appears
that 2015 just might be huge for Koepka. I fully expect him to win multiple
times on the PGA Tour this year, and the good news for international golf fans
is that he kept his European Tour membership as well and plans to play both tours
(It appears that his focus will be on playing in America though). So, don’t be
surprised if he notches a victory or two on the European Tour this year as well. With the trajectory that Koepka is on, he will certainly have a date with Rory at the top of the world rankings very soon and, if golf fans are lucky, there will be a few on course battles too. Overall, with Koepka, who is only 24, leading the way, and guys like
Spieth, Fowler, and Reed hungry to win, 2015 could be a big year for American
golf that could pave the way for the future.
And by the way, even though he hasn't played well over the
last year or so, there is no doubt in my mind that Phil Mickelson still has
some gas in the tank. So, don’t be surprised if he wins at Augusta or at
Chambers Bay, which would complete the career grand slam for him, or really any
other time he tees it up.
