Following his victory at the US PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka became the first former European Challenge Tour player to win three Major Championships.
After starting out his professional career on Europe’s top developmental tour in 2012, Koepka has been on a steady ascent to the summit of world golf, and following his second Major triumph of the year the American took the Challenge Tour’s Major haul to ten titles by seven different players: Michael Campbell (2005 U.S. Open), Trevor Immelman (2008 Masters Tournament), Louis Oosthuizen (2010 Open Championship), Martin Kaymer (2010 US PGA Championship, 2014 U.S. Open) Justin Rose (2013 U.S. Open), Henrik Stenson (2016 Open Championship) and Koepka (2017 and 2018 U.S. Open, 2018 US PGA Championship.
Koepka held off the challenges of a resurgent Tiger Woods and Adam Scott to win at Bellerive Country Club, capping off an incredible two months.
The victory for the four-time Challenge Tour champion means he is the first man to win the US Open and US PGA Championship in the same year since Woods achieved the feat in 2000 on his way to the 'Tiger Slam', and only the fifth person to do it in history.
In winning his third Major, the 2014 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year also becomes the first player to win more than one in a season since Jordan Spieth in 2015, and his aggregate total of 264 is the joint-lowest in Major history – matching Stenson's score at the 2016 Open Championship.
He's now a three-time Major Champion
— Challenge Tour (@Challenge_Tour) August 13, 2018
But five years ago @BKoepka was riding in tuk-tuks in India while competing on the Challenge Tour! pic.twitter.com/AR29DGrMVK
The 28 year old's stunning season is all the more remarkable considering he did not play any events between the first week in January and last week in April due to a wrist injury.
"When I look at what I've done in the past two months, it's incredible," he said. "Looking where I was, sitting on my couch watching the Masters, and to think I would do this, I would have laughed at you and told you there was no way, no chance, and to do it is really incredible.
"I think sitting on the couch made me really appreciate how much I actually love this game and love competition.
"I think, other than me, my team, everybody was rooting for Tiger, as they should. He's the greatest player to ever play the game and to have the comeback that he's having is incredible.
"I'm excited for the next few years. Tiger's come back. You look at what Dustin's doing, Justin, Rory, Spieth, it's a great time to be a golf fan. I can't wait to duel it out with them over the next couple years or next however long."
