Brooks Koepka Moves Into Top 20 With Phoenix Open Win

By Les Bailey | Feb 4, 2015

Feb 1, 2015; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Brooks Koepka celebrates with the trophy after his victory during the final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports

Since wining the Turkish Airlines Open last fall, and getting his first PGA Tour victory at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Sunday, Brooks Koepka moves into the top 20 for the first time in the Official World Golf Rankings(OWGR). The 24 year-old from Wellington, Florida moved up from the 34th position to 19th when the new rankings came out on Monday.

Koepka didn’t want to waste a year getting on the tour, so took his game to the Challenge Tour in Europe, and earned his European Tour card for the 2014 season after four wins in the minor league. He said in an interview after his win in Phoenix, that he owed his success to his experiences on the European Tour.

The young Florida State grad started making noise in May, when he carded a 64 on Saturday at the Alfred Dunhill Links, and finished with a top ten, tied ninth.

His win in Turkey, against a world-classed field during the Race To Dubai playoffs showed the world that he was going to be one to deal with in the future. A T4 finish at the 2014 US Open, and T 15 at the PGA Championship earned the youngster a full-time pass to the PGA Tour.

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There was other significant movement at the top of the rankings this week. Bubba Watson moved into the third spot behind Rory McIlroy, and Henrik Stenson. He overtakes Adam Scott, who has been missing in action since the Australian Open.

Speaking of Rory McIlroy, the young Northern Irishman has a death-grip on the number one ranking after his victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic this past week.

With four wins, and three second-place finishes in his last seven outings, McIlroy has a 187 point lead over Henrik Stenson. Two of Rory’s wins, were major championships, and one, a World Golf Championship.

After his victory in Dubai on Sunday, Rory McIroy is not expected to play again until the PGA Tour reaches the Florida Swing, and the Honda Classic. I think his spot at the top of the rankings is safe, until he goes back to work.

Henrik Stenson had a slow start to the 2015 season, and only leads Bubba Watson by just over 40 points. If the big Swede doesn’t start posting some good finishes, he will allow Bubba into that second place, soon.

If Adam Scott doesn’t get back to work soon, he will lose some more spots to number five, Justin Rose, and number six, Sergio Garcia. Rose and Garcia are world-classed players, and both are playing well right now, they just haven’t won recently.

Rickie Fowler, and Billy Horschel continue to fall on the Big Board, and both need to make some noise soon, or face falling further behind some of the good young players on both tours. Rickie needs a win, somewhere soon, if he wants to stay on the first page of the rankings.

Horschel has gotten off to a slow start in the early 2015 going, and needs to finish some tournaments at, or near the top soon.

Players around the bubble at the 50th position where the magic starts, include some good young European Tour players.

Marc Warren, from Scotland is ranked 50th, with Race To Dubai leader, Danny Willett at 47, Austrian, Bernd Wiesberger at 48, and Frenchman, Alexander Levy at 49. All four of these players will be active this week at the Maybank Malaysian Open.

Just outside of the top 50, is Mikko Ilonen ranked 51st.

Moving out of the top 50 for the first time in over a decade is Tiger Woods. After being inactive for most of the 2014 season, he finished the year in 32nd position, but being inactive for the early part of the season, moved him down to 46th. After finishing last at the Phoenix Open this past week, Tiger dropped to 56th.

Source: Official World Golf Rankings

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