AT&T Byron Nelson: Top 10 power rankings at Trinity Forest
Koepka doesn’t always play the week before a major, but he’s giving it a go this week to make his Byron Nelson debut. He doesn’t seem like the type of golf junkie who’s watching all four rounds on TV when not competing. But he did claim to catch some of the inaugural action at Trinity Forest.
“He told me he really liked how the course played on TV,” tournament director Jon Drago was quoted by SportsDay. “He said it looked like a lot of fun.”
Koepka took last week off after posting T22 with brother Chase at the two-man Zurich Classic of New Orleans. At 16-under, it wasn’t a bad finish considering Chase is No. 987 in the world and is not playing full-time on a major tour.
More notably, Koepka turned out to be the contender who had the best shot of stealing Tiger’s thunder at Augusta. Koepka finished T2 for his ninth top-10 in 21 major starts.
In this PGA Tour season, Koepka was a winner in the fall at the CJ Cup and played reasonably well early on in 2019 highlighted by a T2 at the Honda Classic.
A downturn in the spring due at least in part to his weight loss appears to have now subsided and he looks to be one of the big favorites next week at Bethpage.
He’s obviously a favorite here this week at a wide open track that allows him to have some freedom off the tee. As much as I like Trinity Forest, there’s no business comparing it to Carnoustie, the site of Koepka’s 2018 Open Championship win. Stylistically, however, both courses are links/links-like and play firm, fast and without treeline.
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Koepka is 48th in strokes gained approaching the green, but his stats don’t do him justice when considering his talent when fully firing. If he’s locked in this week, he can stand to get a leg up on the field by skirting some of the trouble that awaits wayward iron shots.