fbpx
Brooks Koepka

The time a horse was shown more respect than Brooks Koepka

It’s been an odd week in the world of professional golf, with tales of woe for Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed. Alex Perry explains in The Slam

 

Hello. Can you keep it down, please? It was the National Club Golfer Christmas party last night and we’re all a bit delicate. It is also the reason there is no video version of this week’s edition of The Slam, so I’m just going to poke my keyboard several hundred times and see what comes out at the other end. Starting with Brooks Koepka…

Koepka steals Ariya’s thunder

First up, a shout out to Ariya Jutanugarn for her inclusion at No. 4 in ESPN’s The Dominant 20 – their rundown of the most dominant athletes of 2018.

Jutanugarn won three times in 2018, including her second major at the US Women’s Open.

The 23-year-old World No. 1 also won EVERY individual achievement for which she was eligible:

  • LPGA Tour money winner ($2,667,983)
  • Race to the CME Globe winner (and its $1,000,000 bonus)
  • LPGA Tour Player of the Year
  • Rolex Annika Major Award (best overall performance in the majors)
  • Vare Trophy (lowest scoring average over the season with 69.415)

She also set season records for most rounds in the 60s, with 57, and most birdies, with 470.

470! Trying to work how long I’d have to play golf for before I holed 470 birdies, but when you start having to round up to the nearest thousand years then there’s not really any point…

Unfortunately, Jutanugarn’s inclusion has been completely overshadowed, particularly in golf circles, by Brooks Koepka’s snub from the list, which is a tremendous shame.

On the flipside, it is also utterly ridiculous that he was left out.

Koepka’s hardly made it a secret that he feels like he doesn’t get the respect he deserves – he was left bemused by media snubs at both the US Open and PGA Championship – and he made his feelings known on Twitter:

You have to admire Koepka’s restraint of opting for the face-with-monocle emoji approach over the “Where the hell am I?” tactic.

Not long after, I tweeted this:

I’ll hold my hands up, I tweeted that before I’d even noticed Jutanugarn’s inclusion, but my overall point about Koepka still stands.

Now whether or not you consider a horse an athlete – I don’t, for what it’s worth – is your own call. But there are certainly cases for some of the others to be shuffled aside for Koepka.

Just a reminder: Koepka won two majors out of the three he played – he missed The Masters due to injury that ruled him out for much of the start of the year, remember – as well as the CJ Cup against a strong field, he was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year, and went to World No. 1 for the first time.

Not really all that different to Novak Djokovic, who also won two of his sport’s majors, as well as two regular season wins and reclaimed top spot in the world rankings. And all this despite his season not really starting until June having undergone elbow surgery.

I should make it clear I’m not arguing against Djokovic’s inclusion – he absolutely should be in there – but his season was almost a carbon copy of Koepka’s and that was good enough to get in at No. 10.

But venture further down the list and it’s easy to see why Koepka is irked. Basketball ubergod Lebron James, for example, is in at 13 and his team didn’t even win the NBA title, nor did James win any individual awards. The NBA’s MVP, for what it’s worth, was James Harden, who sneaks in at 19. How can there be two “most dominant athletes” in the same competition? It just doesn’t make sense.

But still, Ariya is flying the flag for golf and that’s fantastic.

The Slam continues on the next page, where Kevin Kisner has some very interesting stuff to say about Patrick Reed and a hilarious gaffe from the Golf Channel…

Pages: 1 2

Latest Posts

dan bradbury

The Slam

‘LIV Golf and PGA Tour have blinded us – playing for $20 million every week isn’t realistic’

Read full article - ‘LIV Golf and PGA Tour have blinded us – playing for $20 million every week isn’t realistic’
paul casey ryder cup

The Slam

Will the DP World Tour schedule put a dent in Europe’s Ryder Cup hopes?

Read full article - Will the DP World Tour schedule put a dent in Europe’s Ryder Cup hopes?
Cam Smith

The Slam

All’s fair in LIV war – but for many of us it’s nothing new

Read full article - All’s fair in LIV war – but for many of us it’s nothing new
Ashleigh Buhai

The Slam

Grit outdoes grace as Muirfield crowns an underdog

Read full article - Grit outdoes grace as Muirfield crowns an underdog
Sophia Schubert

The Slam

Composed Schubert the star as LPGA delivers again on major stage

Read full article - Composed Schubert the star as LPGA delivers again on major stage
LIV Golf

The Slam

Breaking down one of the most bizarre press conferences in golf history

Read full article - Breaking down one of the most bizarre press conferences in golf history
Women's PGA Championship

The Slam

Days after her own family called on her to quit golf, Chun is a major champion again

Read full article - Days after her own family called on her to quit golf, Chun is a major champion again
Minjee Lee

The Slam

A walk in the Pines: Lee is elegance personified in US Open win

Read full article - A walk in the Pines: Lee is elegance personified in US Open win
Saudi Golf League

The Slam

‘We’ve all made mistakes,’ says Norman in latest foot-in-mouth moment

Read full article - ‘We’ve all made mistakes,’ says Norman in latest foot-in-mouth moment