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Where Brooks Koepka’s 2019 major season ranks all-time

By Bill Felber

PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 21: Brooks Koepka of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the final round of the 148th Open Championship held on the Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 21, 2019 in Portrush, United Kingdom. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
PORTRUSH, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 21: Brooks Koepka of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the final round of the 148th Open Championship held on the Dunluce Links at Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 21, 2019 in Portrush, United Kingdom. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images) /
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Yes, a few have been better…but Brooks Koepka is solidly in the all-time top 10.

Brooks Koepka may have merely tied for fourth – as if that’s only a minor achievement – at last week’s British Open. But it still put the wraps on one of the greatest major seasons in golf history.

Koepka’s 2019 major championship finishes include a runner-up at the Masters, victory at the PGA, another runner-up at the U.S. Open and that fourth at the Brit. Only 5 players all season beat him in even one major: Tiger Woods at the Masters, Gary Woodland at the U.S. Open and Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and Tony Finau at the British Open.

He missed a Grand Slam by a total of 13 strokes, and nine of those came this weekend. Koepka finished one stroke behind Woods at Augusta and he trailed Woodland by three at Pebble Beach.

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The average standard deviation of Koepka’s major tournament performances in 2019 was -2.10.

How good is a -2.10 standard deviation? There are several ways to answer that question. Here are a few:

  • It would have been good enough to beat Woods (-1.78) at this year’s Masters.
  • It’s about a half standard deviation better than Koepka’s 2018 score when his U.S. Open and PGA victories were offset by a tie for 39th at the British Open. (Koepka was unable to compete in the 2018 Masters due to an injury.)
  • Measured by the average standard deviation for those competing in at least three events, it’s the best season in majors since Jordan Spieth in 2015. That year Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open, then tied for fourth at the British Open and finished second at the PGA. It all added up to an average rating for the season of -2.32.

But the best way to judge Koepka’s major season is against the broader historical record. Here’s that comparison.

Since the end of World War II, Koepka’s -2.10 score is the eighth-best achieved by any player in major tournaments. It’s better than many seasons those of a certain age will recall fondly: Jack Nicklaus’s 1972 or 1975, Tiger Woods’s 2002 or Arnold Palmer’s 1960.

In fact, it stands Koepka’s 2019 squarely amid the great seasons in golf history. Here are the dozen best since 1946, a litany of immortals if you’ll ever see one (Numbers in parenthesis indicate finishes in, sequentially, the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA):

  1. Tiger Woods, 2000, -2.77 (5-1-1-1)
  2. Ben Hogan, 1953, -2.58 (1-1-1-DNP)
  3. Jordan Spieth, 2015, -2.32 (1-1-T4-2)
  4. Tiger Woods, 2005, -2.28 (1-2-1-4)
  5. Arnold Palmer, 1964, -2.20 (1-T5-DNP-T2)
  6. Sam Snead. 1949, -2.16 (1-T2-DNP-1)
  7. Arnold Palmer, 1962, -2.15 (1-2-1-T17)
  8. Brooks Koepka, 2019. -2.10 (T2-1-2-T4)
  9. Jack Nicklaus, 1975, -2.07 (1-T7-T3-1)
  10. Jack Nicklaus, 1973, -2.05 (T3-T4-4-1)
  11. Tom Watson, 1977, -2.01 (1-T7-1-T6)
  12. Tiger Woods, 2002, -1.99 (1-1-T28-2)

Next. PGA Tour: Is Brooks Koepka is the golfer we need, but don’t deserve?. dark

There you have it. Brooks Koepka goes down as having one of the best Major seasons of all-time.

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