Koepka joins legends with fifth Major win - "This is wild"

ROCHESTER, NY - MAY 21: Brooks Koepka holds The Wanamaker Trophy after his victory in the final round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Sunday, May 21, 2023 in Rochester, New York. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

Brooks Koepka joined some legends of the game and proved that rumours of his demise were very much exaggerated when he claimed his third PGA Championship and fifth Major in imperious fashion at Oak Hill.

The swaggering Floridian showed his emotional frailty in the Netflix documentary Full Swing, admitting he feared his best days were behind him.

Worn down by a serious knee injury, he surprised everyone signing up for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series last year.

But he turned it all around thanks to knee surgery and showed he was back to his best at the Masters, despite losing the green jacket to Jon Rahm.

“It’s just incredible,” Koepka said during the 18th green presentation as he claimed his third Major in the state of New York. "This is wild.

"I look back at where we were two years ago. Everything that's going on. I'm just so happy right now, I'm kind of at a loss for words, but this is this is just the coolest thing.

"Yeah, it's incredible. I don't know the list of guys How many guys have won five times but to to be with those groups of names is absolutely incredible.

"Something I'll be honest, I'm not even sure if I dreamed of it as a kid that I was gonna win this many but this is the coolest thing and I'm just happy to do it in front of these New York fans. I love you guys.

"I mean I think we've got we got three majors in New York. So New York's been I guess the second home for me so it's pretty special.

One clear of Norway’s Viktor Hovland overnight, he converted his fourth 54-hole lead into a major into a fifth win by closing with a three-under 67 to win by two shots on nine-under from Hovland, who shot 68, and Scottie Scheffler, who surged through the field with a closing 65

Koepka now joins James Braid, JH Taylor, Byron Nelson and modern greats Peter Thomson and Seve Ballesteros as a five-time Major winner and it was no less than he deserved.

The American birdied the third, fourth and fifth to stretch his lead to two over Hovland and while he bogeyed the sixth and seventh to see the gap reduced to one, he parred the eighth and ninth to head down the back nine with the lead.

Hovland was just one back on six-under with Scheffler three behind, but Koepka would come home in two-under 33 to win in style.

Incredibly he has nine PGA TOUR wins with the majority of them Major titles.
It was a tight run thing as he birdied the 10th, then followed a bogey at the 11th with a birdie from 12 feet at the 12th to go two clear.

Hovland closed the gap to one with a birdie at the 13th and kept pace with another at the 14th  But the Norwegian’s bid ended when he buried his attempted recovery from a fairway bunker in the high grassy face of the bunker and took six, just as Corey Conners had done on the same hole in round three.

Koepka birdied the hole to go four clear of the Norwegian and Scottie Scheffler on 10-under par.

A two-shot swing saw Scheffler halve the deficit as he birdied the last to set the target at seven-under with a 65 as Koepka bogeyed the 17th.

But the Floridian ripped his drive down the right side of the 18th fairway, found the green and two-putted to join Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as a three-time PGA winner in the strokeplay era.