SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – At the lowest point of an 18-month battle with knee and hip problems, Brooks Koepka wondered if he would ever return, let alone regain the magic that led him to four major championships.
“It’s been a wild ride for the last year and a half and very frustrating,” Koepka said. “I had moments when I didn’t know if I would be the same, if I could even come back.”
He looked as good as ever behind the nine Sundays in the Phoenix Open Waste Management, gathering for a victory that didn’t seem possible until recently.
“I went through this mentally,” Koepka said. “I think that’s probably the hardest thing, where you don’t know if you’ll ever be the same competitor you’ve been. You go through some real dark places and it’s not a fun place to be.”
It was a sunny and fun Sunday in the desert, especially on the 17th hole. There he entered from 32 meters for the second eagle of the day, to break the driving equality. A routine tie on the 18th gave him a 1-hit victory.
Five shots behind Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele who entered the round, Koepka shot a 6 under 65 to finish 19 under 265. He also won in 2015 at TPC Scottsdale for the first of his eight titles. PGA Tour.
The return in 5 strokes was the biggest winner of the tournament in the last two seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
On the 334th yard 17, Koepka hit a fairway wood at 305 meters to the fairway, short and to the left of the green, then came out at the biggest roar of the day from the crowd limited to 5,000 a day .
“I felt like a chip, if I caught it right on the periphery, it was going to check on me and it did perfectly,” he said. “I made a nice little shot for myself and didn’t show anywhere but the hole.”
The crowd was a fraction of the usual size, but the largest in the tournament during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I missed the fans,” Koepka said. “Just being around the fans is something else. I like it. I’ve played the best golf with my fans, so I have to find something when I’m not there.”
Coming from the heaviest three missed cuts in his career, Koepka came back from a bogey in the second with a 24-foot eagle placed on par-5 third and with birds no. 13, 14 and 15.
“I live in those moments when you got to close, you managed to hit some quality photos, quality wells,” Koepka said. “I just like to show myself, I think.”
Schauffele observed par-4 on 18 for a 71 in a tie for second place with Kyoung-Hoon Lee (68). Schauffele, ranked fourth, tied for second place last week at Torrey Pines.
“It was a good day to learn from some mistakes,” Schauffele said. “I thought I was pretty patient all day.”
Lee flew 17 to shoot at one of Koepka, but drove to the right on par-4 18 and had a 34-foot bird try to slip on the high side.
“I’m pretty excited this week,” Lee said. “Everything good – irons, driver, birds, everything – and a lot of savings.”
Steve Stricker, the 53-year-old US Ryder Cup captain who was trying to become the oldest winner in the PGA Tour, finished with a 67 to finish fourth with Spieth (72) and Carlos Ortiz (64) at 17 years.
“It was a lot of fun,” Stricker said. “That’s why I’ve come to play in these yet. I haven’t shown that in the past, but I’ve played better lately. I feel a little better physically, too.”
Spieth and Schauffele fought from the start, with Spieth making the first hole after driving almost into a desert bush. Each had two bogeys in the front nine, with the Schauffele making the only bird of the two in the front at number 9.
Schauffele and Spieth each went into the water on the 17th to finish their chances, then they both noticed 18.
Spieth was shot 61 on Saturday for part of the leadership. With no victory at the 2017 Open, the 27-year-old Texan is trying to regain the form that led him to 11 PGA Tour victories – three of them major – in his first five seasons in the tournament.
So a point in fourth place is something that Spieth can build after thinking about giving up the tournament altogether.
“I just wanted to go home and I felt like I was very far from where I was supposed to be,” Spieth said, “and this golf course is generally not a great golf course for me historically. so I thought I could go to Pebble then [Beach] a little fresher. Boy, I’m glad I came. “
James Hahn, with 3 strokes ahead in the middle of the round, missed four of the last eight holes for a 69. He finished 10th to 15th under.
Josh Weinfuss and The Associated Press contributed to this report.