Brooks Koepka in his own way: I was the best in 2019

Player of the Year award? Brooks Koepka doesn’t really care. He just wants silverware.

In a typical Koepka press conference that we’ve come to know and love, the world No. 1 told reporters ahead of his 2020 season debut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open: “I don’t play for awards.”

He added: “I play to win. Win trophies, win tournaments. Simple as.”

Koepka lost out to Rory McIlroy in the 2019 PGA Tour Player of the Year, voted for by their peers. Despite both ending the season with three wins apiece, many thought Koepka’s major run of T2-1-2-T4 would be the deciding factor. He was, after all, just the fourth player in history to finish in the top four of every major in a single year.

But Koepka didn’t need to say it like it is. He knows how to get his point across without having to actually get his point across.

“It would have been great but I think everyone in this room knows…” he added, before stopping himself and deciding to liken himself to basketball legend LeBron James: “I mean, LeBron has only won four MVPs and I’m pretty sure he’s been the best player for more than four years, so.”

Koepka, who won the Player of the Year award in 2018, has previous with personal awards, most famously missing out on ESPN’s most dominant athletes of 2018 list in a year in which he won two of the three majors he entered.

🧐🧐🧐 pic.twitter.com/hboyNl753P

— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) December 11, 2018

But even if his peers and the media are snubbing him, at least Koepka is still bringing in the love from golf fans.

“My life has changed dramatically off the golf course and on it,” he explained. “Every time you play there is a lot more people. Now it’s to the point where almost every restaurant you go to somebody is asking for a picture.

“It’s different. I’m still learning how to deal with it. It’s an adjustment period. You dream of all this stuff happening but you don’t know what’s really going to come from it until you get there. It’s a learning experience, but it’s been fun along the way.”

You can follow Koepka’s progress at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open on our live leaderboard or on Twitter.

Alex Perry

Alex has been the editor of National Club Golfer since 2017. A Devonian who enjoys wittering on about his south west roots, Alex moved north to join NCG after more than a decade in London, the last five of which were with ESPN. Away from golf, Alex follows Torquay United and spends too much time playing his PlayStation or his guitar and not enough time practising his short game.