May 20-23
Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, SC
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

KIAWAH ISLAND, SC. The late actor Paul Newman made famous the title character in the 1967 movie "Cool Hand Luke." The character Newman played was resolute in his ways -- undeterred by outside pressures and unwilling to conform to the expectations of others. In sum -- he marched to the beat of his own drum. During the 1st round at the 103rd PGA Championship Brooks Koepka reprised the role in a big-time way.

Beginning his round on the 10th hole the four-time major winner promptly started the round with a double-bogey and instead of showing any signs of panic held himself together. Eventually the 31-year-old righted his golf ship with a round of three-under-par 69 and stands just two shots back of first round leader Canadian Corey Conners.

Cool hand Koepka front and center.

Koepka's round included six birdies against the aforementioned double-bogey and one other bogey on the par-4 15th.

Coming into this week's 2nd major championship in 2021, Koepka's performances have been a roller-coaster of sorts. He won the Waste Management event earlier in February for this 8th PGA Tour title. Brooks followed up with T2 several weeks later at the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession. But then he went through a series of injury issues -- having knee surgery in late March he opted to play in Augusta for the Masters and failed to make the cut. Playing prior to this week's PGA Championship, Koepka returned to the Tour in little over a month's time at the AT&T Byron Nelson and also missed the cut.

For many players the thought of consecutive missed cuts and little real competitive results prior to a major championship would likely set in motion a series of pressure-oriented decision inevitably ratcheting up the meter of concern.

Not so -- cool hand Koepka knows himself far too well.

Koepka played his opening round with Justin Thomas, ranked number two in the world and Rory McIlroy who ended his winless streak on the PGA Tour when winning the Wells Fargo event just a few weeks back. Both men played haphazardly -- settling for rounds of 75 respectively. Given McIlroy's win at the '12 PGA Championship -- also at The Ocean Course -- he was installed as the pre-tournament favorite and like Koepka is the winner of four major titles - the last coming in 2014.

Since claiming his first major championship when winning the 2017 U.S. Open -- Koepka has played 13 majors since that victory -- finishing in the top ten a total of nine times. In sum -- when big events happen -- it is Koepka who has shown a clear appetite to engage in the competition.

In years past, golfer Raymond Floyd was known for his "stare" -- the wherewithal to block out all distractions and demonstrate a golfing ability to rise above others when playing his best. Koepka does so similarly -- eliminating the distractions and enveloping himself in a shot-by-shot dissection with his caddie since 2013 -- Ricky Elliott. 

Elliott, who hails from Northern Ireland, highlighted the mental edge Koepka has shown when playing. Following Koepka’s second US Open victory in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills in an interview he gave to ESPN he said of Koepka, “He’s just a real strong mental guy, he’s unflappable. When he hits a bad shot, he never gives me any grief. He gets on with it. I mean, to this day, if we hit one over the back [of the green], he’d probably just turn around to me and go, “Well, I hit that quite a bit hard.”

Reputations in golf are cemented through the four major championships. Koepka has faced such situations and with three rounds to play there's much golf that remains. A younger generation of players has emerged and their names are also in contention with this week's event. They include defending PGA Champion Colin Morikawa (-2), Victor Hovland (-3) and Will Zalatoris (-1). 

Will Koepka be able to sustain the physical rigors for the final three days? He indicated in a post-round news conference that playing in pain is something he's been doing for some time and doesn't see that interfering with his efforts in claiming a 3rd PGA Championship title. That's clearly bad news for everyone else as the man who previously was ranked the best player in the game is looking to re-establish himself as the golfer most able to succeed when the biggest golf events are contested. Cool hand Koepka is well aware of his presence -- and so is the opposition.

Notes --

*The hardest holes in the 1st round came with the likes of the par-4 15th, the par-3 17th and par-4 18th. Players faced a difficult headwind when arriving at the par-3 14th. The 18th was the hardest hole with over a 4.50 average and the 17th followed closely behind. Wind patterns are expected to remain the same for the next two rounds but Sunday's final round is expected to see a shift with the wind pattern coming out of the southwest -- meaning the final five holes will play downwind and likely forcing players to make adjustments from how the holes are playing now.

*50-year-old Phil Mickelson got off to an impressive start -- firing a two-under-par 70. Should Phil emerge victorious and claim his 2nd PGA Championship title -- he would become the oldest winner of a major championship surpassing the record set by Julius Boros who was 48 when winning the 1968 PGA Championship.

*Rickie Fowler's recent play has not been noteworthy but the PGA of America provided him with a special exemption into this year's event and he made the most of it thus far with an opening round of 71. Fowler has never claimed a major win and his last PGA Tour triumph came in February 2019 at the Waste Management event.

*A total of 30 players scored under-par for the opening round. During the 2012 PGA Championship held here -- 43 players scored at least one-under-par for the 1st round.

*World ranked number one player Dustin Johnson continued his recent poor play with a round of 76. Johnson was part of the afternoon wave of players and again was held back by a balky putter. It did not help matters that Johnson's driving -- normally a key strength was also inconsistent. For Dustin to be playing this weekend -- his Friday round has to be a major improvement.