Brooks Koepka Dominates Rory McIlroy And Company On Way To WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Win

Brooks Koepka WGC St. Jude

Getty Image / Sam Greenwood

We were set up for a big-time Sunday in Memphis. Rory McIlroy held a one-shot lead over Brooks Koepka and the two were set to play together for the first time ever in a final-round. It was World No. 1 chasing World No. 3 for a WGC title and a $ 1.845 million paycheck.

Well, it turned out to be quite the snoozefest thanks to Koepka playing like a machine, not making a mistake and McIlroy not showing up to the party.

After matching pars on the opening two holes, Koepka was able to birdie the Par 5 third while McIlroy missed a five-footer for birdie. McIlroy would follow that up with pars on his first 11 holes while Koepka was four-under at that point holding a three-shot advantage over his playing partner.

The McIlroy – Koepka battle was over at the turn and the rest of the field was too far back to catch the machine.

Koepka made things look too simple on Sunday, as he usually does whenever he’s in contention. No player on the planet executes a gameplan like Koepka does. He always speaks on his ‘simple’ and ‘basic’ gameplans and going out and executing them and that’s exactly what he did at TPC Southwind on route to a three-shot victory.

He wasn’t perfect off the tee and found a few tough spots, but followed that up by either hitting his approach to the fat part of the green or missing it in the correct spot and giving himself a chance at par. More often than not those par chances found the bottom of the cup as well as he reeled off 20 straight up-and-down chances dating back to the 13th hole during the opening round.

Koepka’s lone ‘bad hole’ on Sunday was the Par 5 16th, but he was able to make par and at that point, the trophy was already in the backseat of his car.

Starting the day one back and carding a bogey-free 65 alongside the No. 3 player in the world is a pretty big-time move, but then again this is Koepka we’re talking about. It’s another tally to add to his board.

It’s also worth pointing out that Koepka was nowhere to be seen an hour from his tee time and eventually showed up about 45 minutes prior to stepping on the first tee. But then again, it shouldn’t really surprise us seeing as how he doesn’t play much golf nor practice when he’s back home.

 

As for McIlroy, his wedges were the story of the afternoon, and not in a good way. The putter wasn’t great by any means, but he didn’t give himself enough birdie chances within 15 or so feet to keep up with Koepka. He had just one birdie on the afternoon, and that’s not going to cut it.

The running joke is, of course, Koepka only shows up and delivers in big-time events. His first WGC win in Memphis will keep that joke ongoing, but come on, it’s time to nix that talk.

Over the last 25 months, Koepka has won two U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, a CJ Cup, this World Golf Championship in Memphis and on top of all of that has finished worse than T-6 at a major just twice in that time frame.

He may have just one ‘traditional’ Tour win to his name, the 2015 Waste Management, but I don’t think that hinders his resume too much. That’s a bit of sarcasm for those not keeping up here.

Koepka is set to take next week off before the FedEx Cup Playoffs start at the Northern Trust Open in Jersey City, NJ the following week, which he has already committed to playing in.

Mark Harris avatar
Mark is an associate editor and the resident golf guy here at BroBible. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris. You can reach him at Mark@BroBible.com.