Brooks Koepka tees off on the 12th hole during the third round of the PGA Championship on Saturday at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Brooks Koepka is on the cusp of some elite company at the PGA Championship – in the record book, not on the leaderboard.
He is all alone at the public course he has turned into his private playground.
Koepka wasn’t at his best in Saturday’s third round on the Black Course at Bethpage State Park, particularly with his putter on the toughest scoring day yet of this tournament, but he still kept everyone far enough behind to make the final round feel more like a victory lap.
With a par round of 70 that featured a pair of three-putt bogeys, he kept a seven-shot lead and earned another entry in the record book with the largest lead since the PGA of America’s major championship switched to stroke play in 1958. No one has ever lost a seven-shot lead in the final round at any major, or even a PGA Tour event.
That leaves Koepka 18 holes away from joining Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA Championship in stroke play. Not since Hal Sutton in 1983 has anyone led from start to finish in the event.
And a third straight year winning a major? Woods and Phil Mickelson are the only players to have done that over the past 30 years. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson are the only others to win majors in three straight years dating to 1960.
Asked if there was any doubt he would win, Koepka said flatly, “No.”
Former Baylor School standout Luke List has been tremendous in his third PGA Championship after missing the cut the past two years, with Saturday’s 69 following a pair of 68s that had him tied for fourth after reach of the first two rounds, but the 34-year-old former Ringgold resident might be looking ahead to another Sunday as his first with a PGA Tour victory.
He was tied for second at 5-under 205 with top-ranked Dustin Johnson (69), Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond (67), and Harold Varner III (67).
“I think we’re all playing for second,” List said. “I’m going to go out and try to have a good round tomorrow.”
List made the turn at par after a bogey on No. 3 and a birdie on No. 6, then surged with three straight birdies starting on the 12th. Back-to-back bogeys to finish the round, though, cost him a chance to make the chance at catching Koepka a little more realistic.
He will try to be realistic about everything in the final round, too, telling reporters after Saturday’s round that he must try to “treat it like a normal event” as much as possible. He didn’t seem fully convinced about playing for second, though.
“I feel like if we don’t get up trying to win a championship tomorrow, then all of us have no chance,” List said. “So it’s out there. I mean, there’s been some low rounds this week and I don’t know what the wind is supposed to do tomorrow, but if you go out there and shoot 5 or 6 under, you never know what can happen. That’s in my head. I can’t control what Brooks is doing. He’s been playing tremendous golf, and I just hope that I have a good day and that he doesn’t have his best day.”
So far, Koepka has proven unflappable in speech and on the course. He has never bothered to check his heart rate at rest, but he figures it wouldn’t be much different from standing on the first tee of a major championship with a big lead and thousands of rowdy New York fans witnessing a master performance.
“Every time I set up to a golf shot, I feel like I know what the ball is going to do,” Koepka said. “And if I don’t, then I guess I’d be nervous. I’m trying my butt off, and from there, sometimes you need a little bit of luck. But I’d say I’m pretty flatlined most of the time, as you can tell.”
He has all but flattened the strongest field in golf.
Johnson tried to make a run with six birdies, only to stall with five bogeys. No bogey was more damaging than the one on the 18th. A drive into the fairway would have given him a reasonable shot at a birdie. Instead, he sent it right into the bunker, came up well short into the native grass, left the next one in the bunker and had to scramble to limit the damage.
That kept Johnson from joining his close friend in the final group.
Koepka will play the final round with Varner, whose week began with plans to play a practice round with Woods on the eve of the tournament until Woods called in sick. Varner birdied the 18th to cap off a bogey-free round.
Jordan Spieth did not put any pressure on Koepka at all. Playing in the final group on the weekend for the first time since the British Open last summer, Spieth didn’t have a realistic birdie chance until the sixth hole, and he missed that one from eight feet. He shot a 72 and was nine shots behind.
Spieth would not speak to a reporter after the round.
There was simply no stopping Koepka, who is one round away from a fourth major in his past eight tries and a return to No. 1 in the world.
The plan for the final round was no different from the previous three.
“It doesn’t really matter. I’m just trying to play good golf,” Koepka said. “If I can get off to a good start tomorrow, these first six holes are very scorable. I feel like if you can get 1 or 2 under after six, you’re in a good spot.”