BROOKS KOEPKA HAS been the best golfer in the world for the last two years and there is no denying it.
According to the official world golf rankings, he is the best. Judged on major wins in that period, he is the best. And in the opinions of many of his fellow professionals, he is the best.
Yet despite all that, Koepka still often gets overlooked.
On American television network Fox, there is a commercial for this year’s U.S. Open and he is not even included in it, despite the fact he is the two-time defending champion following victories in 2017 and 2018.
His rivals may not appreciate that snub, as Koepka clearly thrives on proving people wrong, including himself.
“You’ve always got to find something to give you a little bit of extra motivation. Sometimes it’s blatantly obvious,” Koepka said on Tuesday in a pre-tournament news conference.
You go back - there’s a commercial now where I’m not even in it, and Fox put it up for a preview of the U.S. Open. So I don’t know. You guys tell me. I wasn’t on ‘notables’ after winning. There’s a couple of things where it’s just mind boggling how - it’s like, really? Like, how do you forget that?”
Asked for his reaction to seeing the commercial, Koepka added: “I actually didn’t see it for a long time. A bunch of people on Twitter, I think, tagged me in it, in the promo. And I guess [they] were amazed that I wasn’t in it.
I just clicked on the link and saw it and watched it. Just kind of shocked. They’ve had over a year to kind of put it out. So I don’t know.”
Koepka then prompted laughter by adding: “Somebody probably got fired over it or should.”
The four-time major winner continued: “You’ve always got to find something to give you a little bit of extra motivation.
“There’s other things where I just find - I just tell myself I can’t do it. I can’t do it. And I just want to prove myself wrong.”
Koepka will play the first two rounds at Pebble Beach alongside Francesco Molinari and Viktor Hovland.
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