Brooks Koepka is Back and the golf world should be very excited

No one swaggers like Brooks Koepka on the golf course.

Outside of Tiger Woods in his prime, no other golfer could physically intimidate his opponents like Brooks Koepka. It’s been a long while since we’ve last seen him saunter down the fairway to secure a victory.

I’m glad he’s back. It wasn’t easy.

You don’t hear a lot about knees in golf. Backs, elbows, shoulders, hands – sure, those all make sense. Those areas also suffer the most frequent injuries.

But knees? You may not think of that as a common golf injury as you might in football or basketball, but it’s just as debilitating for a golfer.

That’s what Brooks Koepka has been fighting. Those who have had a similar injury will tell you – a bad knee, like a bad back, affects every part of the swing.

It’s even more difficult and frustrating when power is your signature trait. The legs create power and a bad knee is like kryptonite. It sucks all the life out of your ability to transfer energy to the ball.

After his win at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Koepka admitted he had doubts he’d ever get back to his old self as his rehab seemed to stall.

"“I went through it mentally, I think that’s probably the toughest thing, where you don’t know if you’re ever going to be the same competitor that you were.” Koepka continued, “You go through some real dark places, and it’s not a fun place to be.”"

Koepka admitted that, despite a rigorous rehabilitation, he wasn’t feeling like he was making sufficient progress. That began to create a mental barrier that set him back even more.

We forget that Brooks Koepka is perhaps the main reason Bryson DeChambeau started his Hulkian odyssey. That’s how impactful a healthy Brooks Koepka was on Tour a couple of years ago. He forced other players, some of whom were top 10 players in their own right, to completely rethink their own games.

Remember what he did to Bethpage Black at the 2019 PGA? He bombed one of the toughest courses on Tour into submission. Only Dustin Johnson, an equally prodigious driver of the ball, could keep him in sight.

And then it all collapsed in an instant. A slip on some wet pavement and a series of reaggravations eventually forced Koepka to stop playing altogether. He did stem cell injections on the partially torn patella. He considered surgery. His career suddenly looked like Haley’s Comet, streaking brightly and fading just as fast; gone forever in the night sky before we could really appreciate it.

But then that chip went in on number 17 in Phoenix.

How do I know Brooks is feeling like his old self? Watch his reaction when it drops. In the background, you can see his caddie throw his head back and hoot at the sky. It looked like half joy, half disbelief.

Brooks? He just stared it down and began that Clint Eastwood-walk to the hole to retrieve his ball. He expected it to go in, don’t you know?

That brief scene is why Brooks Koepka is considered a bit of an enigma. Is he mean and tough or is he silly and laid back like his instagram feed suggests? Is it all just a persona like a pro wrestler when he’s on the course?

The answer is probably a little of “Yes” to all of it. Brooks is just like you and me. He has different sides of himself he shows to people in different situations. He’s complex and transparent all at the same time.

That’s the most intriguing aspect of his return to the winner’s circle after a long rehab, self-doubt, and outside criticism. Finding out that Brooks Koepka is indeed human.

He’s passionate about the game, he likes to joke around and poke fun at himself occasionally, he can sometimes be a little vulnerable, and he can be more than a bit prickly to the media.

Most of all, he’s unapologetic for all of it. And I love it.

I’m reminded of another guy, from another era, that blazed his own path and didn’t give a damn – Ben Hogan.

Hogan won three Majors before a car crash almost took his life and career. He won five Majors after his recovery.

Brooks Koepka is 30 years old. He has 15 good years left in his prime. And he’s already won four Majors.

If the body can hold, Brooks can easily catch The Hawk in Major wins.

How do I know Brooks Koepka is feeling like his old self? Watch his reaction when it drops. He just stared it down and began that Clint Eastwood-walk to the hole to retrieve his ball. He expected it to go in, don’t you know?

Koepka, like Hogan was, is criticized for his obsession with winning. It strikes a harsh tone in a quintessentially understated Gentleman’s game. But that’s what it takes for some golfers to realize their potential.

Hogan had it, Tiger had it, and Brooks has it.

None of these three ever won Mr. Congeniality on Tour. More importantly, none cared to win it. Hogan and Tiger are arguably the two best ball-strikers of all time. I suspect that’s not a coincidence. It’s the kind of thing that happens when obsession and generational talent collide.

Hogan and Tiger came back from potentially career-ending injuries to recapture Major glory. That didn’t happen by serendipity, either.

In a lifetime, almost every person gets one good look at Haley’s Comet, two if they are especially lucky. The PGA Tour is defined by players who streak brightly and quickly fade, often never to be seen again. That’s the normal course of a great PGA career.

Some like Nicklaus and Player have long successful careers, but the window to achieve greatness generally doesn’t stay open very long on the PGA Tour. And it almost never opens again once it’s closed.

Hogan created another window. Tiger did, too. Both times the second streak across the golfing cosmos looked even brighter than the first.

The window may once again have just been cracked open in Phoenix this past week. Perhaps, if we are lucky, we’ll get another look at Brooks Koepka at his shining best.