|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
THE HONDA CLASSICFebruary 24, 2015Brooks KoepkaPALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA MARK STEVENS: We'd like to welcome Brooks Koepka. You got your first win on the PGA TOUR a couple weeks ago at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and returned home this week to The Honda Classic. Just talk about your thoughts coming into the Honda this year and playing in front of a home crowd. BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, first off, playing in front of a home crowd is special. You don't get to do that very often. Especially here at PGA National, family is here, a bunch of friends, things like that. It's special for me, and especially since I've been playing well, it's kind of neat to come back. Since I missed the pre‑qualifier here two years ago, which was really funny, my brother was playing and I was telling him how I missed it, and then he unfortunately missed on the Monday. I'm excited to get back here. I've been back for two weeks practicing, trying to get ready for this event. Things are going well. Q. How many more friends do you have after winning Turkey and Phoenix? BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I'd say quite a few more, I don't know. A lot of them, everybody wanted to celebrate, so it felt like every other day I was celebrating, but it was fun. Q. What's been the biggest change in your life since you won on the PGA TOUR? BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I don't really‑‑ nothing's changed. I'm still the same guy that I was, what, two years ago, till the win after Phoenix. I'm still the same guy. Just trying to enjoy every minute. It's still fun for me. That's a big thing. When it's fun, I feel like I can play my best and I'm doing the things that need to be done for me to succeed. I'm on the right path. I'm not where I want to be but I'm on the right path. Q. From leaving college until now, has there ever been a stretch where it wasn't fun, and if so, how did you work your way through it? BROOKS KOEPKA: It was really funny, looking back at it now, when I was on The Challenge Tour, right before I got the third win, I wanted to actually pull out of the event. I was tired, I played so many weeks in a row. I called my agent, Blake, and told him I was like, I'm ready to come home. I'm ready to just to get away. I'm tired of golf. I'm not somebody that can play golf every day. I enjoy my time at home. I enjoy time off away from golf, and I really wanted to leave in fairness, and luckily I stayed around. I got the third win that week, and the next day‑‑ it was Saturday when I wanted to just go home. It wasn't like it was the beginning of week. It was actually the end of the week. Q. Why did you stay, because of Blake‑‑ BROOKS KOEPKA: Blake talked me into staying. I guess that's part of reason why I'm here today. Q. Sorry to press on on this, but where were you position‑wise in the tournament? BROOKS KOEPKA: I think I was probably fourth maybe, fourth in the tournament. I might have been leading. I think I was leading after the Saturday‑‑ I think I was, somewhere around there. I just didn't‑‑ I like golf. It's not my entire life.  It's my job. Q. And that was the week where you went down ‑‑ BROOKS KOEPKA: And literally went down a couple days later and qualified. It's crazy how things work, isn't it. Q. Talk about your relationship with Warren Bottke, what he's done for your game over the years. He talked about an AJGA tournament you won that woke him up to the fact that you had a bright future. Can you talk about that? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, Warren is my second dad, basically. He's part of the family. He's someone that I've known for I'd say 15 years. Besides my dad, kind of the real reason I'm into golf. He was a mentor. Still is a mentor. I enjoy spending my time around him.       He's got a wonderful family, and it's always neat to come back and see him because I don't get to see him that much because I'm traveling and things like that. But as far as‑‑ he comes out this week. I saw him last year at this event. Saw him I think one other time just kind of randomly bumping into him. It's nice to go see him. Like I said, he's a second dad to me. Q. We've seen a lot of guys in their early to mid 20s playing well on TOUR. Did you look to any of those guys and draw lessons or confidence from guys who are your age or just a couple years ahead of you? BROOKS KOEPKA: All these guys, Rory, Fowler, Spieth, I mean‑‑ Spieth's 21 (laughter). But we've all played against each other, like I said, for years and years now. Now that we are all out here, it's cool. When you see someone else succeed, you're thinking in your mind, hey, I've played with him for years and years. I know that I can compete with him week‑in, week‑out. When you see guys winning and things like that, it builds confidence, even though you might not be winning and you might not be playing that week, you might have missed the cut, whatever it may have been but they are winning and they are playing well and they are in contention and you can build off that. Q. Is there a specific lesson you draw on, as far as handling being close to the lead? BROOKS KOEPKA: I think you have to fail before you can actually really succeed. I know there's some odd exemptions and things like that but for me, I've learned off my failures. That's been a big thing. I've failed a lot. I think I should have won, I'd say maybe five, six more times‑‑ in my mind, that's what I see. But I haven't, and I've learned from it every time. So I'm taking something into the next week that I'm playing and building on that and learning, and I think that's a big thing if you want to be successful. Q. Going back to that tournament that you wanted to pull out and you end up winning, was there some mental reset, just expressing that you were tired, that enabled you to play somehow freer; that allowed you to win, or what do you take out of that experience? BROOKS KOEPKA: It was just, I guess you could say, mental toughness. It wasn't anything; it was just down to grinding it out. It was in Scotland. It wasn't the best weather. I was in the hotel all by myself. Pete had already won. He was out on The European Tour. I guess you could say it was more, maybe not a loneliness thing, but more of I just wanted to get back home. I wanted to get back somewhere. And like you said over here sometimes, you want to go watch a movie, you can go watch a movie. Over there, it's not in English.       So it's hard to do the things off the golf course that I want to do, and off the golf course is a big thing for me. I just don't think that particular week, kind of rainy, things like that, there wasn't much to do. And I think that really got at me. Q. It's a hard road that you took that not a lot of Americans take. What went into the decision to do that, and what do you think the upshot is now for the future that you got out of it? BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, first off, I think going over there‑‑ I didn't have any other place to play. I went over there and that was the only place I could go. Went over there, right after U.S. Open. When I went over there, I won, I think my fifth start, whatever, fifth, sixth. Went back, tried Q‑School here, failed‑‑ same thing as Jordan. I think we might have tied, finished one out, something like that. Then went to Europe and missed Q‑School. So I didn't have anything. That was the only place I had to play. If I wanted to play over here, it was basically just wait till Q‑School. Over there, there was a chance where I could get on The European Tour, and that was something that it was a goal that I set out. I went and accomplished it pretty quickly‑‑ well, ten tournaments maybe and got out. It was part of the plan. Did I see that three years ago? Probably not. But I'm very happy. I did go over, and I've learnt so much about my game, about how to travel, about how to go about things. It's, how do I put it, it's unique, but I've learned a lot‑‑ I've grown as a person just off the golf course. Q. When you go from playing on poa annua on the West Coast bermudagrass this week, the transition, is it difficult? BROOKS KOEPKA: I'm very excited about playing this. (Laughter) very excited. I grew up here. Bermuda, it's something I can't wait to go play these next couple weeks. I'm very excited to get out and go play. Poa annua, I've 5‑putted on poa annua (laughter). So I guess you could say‑‑ don't get me wrong, I thought Torrey was great but I'm excited to get to bermuda. It will be nice to have greens that I basically grew up on. Q. Because you've spent so much time in Europe, you're probably better positioned to answer this than most. Is there something that you see away from the course that helps explain the European success on the course in Ryder Cups of late? BROOKS KOEPKA: It's more of a family out there.  Guys are staying in the same hotel. They go eat together. They do things links‑style golf course that and I think you can see that in The Ryder Cups, the camaraderie, everything. Over here, guys, a lot of times they are travelling with their family where in Europe, they are not. We are all on the same plane fight. In Europe, we were on the same plane flight from place to place and the whole plane was filled with players, players' wives, whatever it was. It was kind of fun. After the round, same thing. There wasn't much to do so everybody kind of hung out together. Whether it was go to dinner or go downtown or go sightseeing a little bit; it was more of a family off the golf course, and I think that's why they have had a lot of success. I think‑‑ I hope so, that it changes in the next few years with a bunch of the guys, you look at Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, trying to think, who else was on the teams‑‑ I don't pay that much attention‑‑ the young guys ‑‑ Rickie; we have all grown up together. So there is that camaraderie. I think if all four of us were to get on there, I think it would be cool to see, because we've grown up and we've spent so much time with each other. Q. So as a follow, what can the Americans do to counter that? It would be inorganic as you explained to try to create camaraderie. BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know if that's the answer. That's just from tour to tour, that's what I've seen. I don't know whether that's the success‑‑ I mean, someone's got to win. It doesn't really‑‑ I'd love for it to be the U.S. every time, don't get me wrong. But the quality of players in Europe is really good, and I think sometimes people underrate that; that the players are really good over there. I mean, I would say most people in the United States have never really heard of Jamie Donaldson, and Jamie Donaldson is class. I mean, he's really good. Q. They have heard of him now. BROOKS KOEPKA: Exactly. They know who he is now. Q. Which European, I wouldn't say took you in, but who did you first start hanging with? BROOKS KOEPKA: Over there? I mean, there's so many guys. They are all very welcoming. Q. Easy to blend in? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, easy‑‑ I'm trying to think of names right now. Jamie was kind of one. Lee when he was over there was. I'm trying to think who else‑‑ drawing a blank on it now. Q. Graeme? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, well Graeme's more over here, but he's been I would say the biggest mentor that I have. He's best friends with my caddie and kind of picked his brain over the last two years and it's worked. He's a grinder. He gets the most out of his game out of anybody I've ever seen and I respect that to the max. Every day, every shot, he grinds over, and he might not be the most talented, but he gets the most out of it, which is‑‑ you don't find that too often. Q. The other thing I was going to ask you, kind of the big world of golf, the upper world of golf, not a lot of people even knew who you were a couple years ago? BROOKS KOEPKA: I still don't think they do. Nobody knows me. Q. But how many guys do you think are like you and what does it take to get where you are now, does that make sense? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I think there's quite a few. I mean, Pete Uihlein, last year he struggled a little bit with injury and things like that and wasn't playing well. Really couldn't just because of the injuries, but now that he's healthy I think you'll see that he's starting to make a real name for himself. A lot of the younger guys‑‑ Justin Thomas, I would say most, the average golf fan probably doesn't know who he is, and I would say he's one of the best players out here, things like that. There's a lot of young guys. When you get the right fit, whether it be a good caddie, a good team around you helps, too. I think that's a big thing when you are able to be comfortable week‑in, week‑out. Q. You worked hard to get to where you are. Is it easy to not work hard? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, you can get complacent I guess. After the win, I could have came hope and celebrated for two weeks‑‑ I could have; every night I was asked to go out. Doesn't mean I went out. I went out a few times, all right (laughter). But you can go out, have a good team and think you can just rely on your talent. But at the end of the day, just talent isn't going to do it out here. It's hard work. You've got to grind your butt off on the off‑weeks, and what I think's actually been key to me is I found what works for me. Rest actually works. Might come home, take a week off, go back in. When I came back from Torrey, took a week off. Same thing, when I won in Turkey, took the week off, didn't even hit a ball. Phoenix, started hitting balls two weeks before the event. That's what works for me and I've been lucky enough that I know that works for me. Q. What stands out about Chambers Bay, do you remember anything? It's been five years. BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I remember. It was very hard, links‑style, that afternoon‑‑ I had the last tee time actually, I think, and it was delayed an hour. But it was really hard. I think Pete might have had the low score of the afternoon with like 75, 77, something like that. But it's a hard golf course. I'm looking forward to getting out there and seeing the changes, because I know they made quite a bit of changes. It will be interesting to see what they did. I know the first hole right, the big swale off to the side. Q. They made the bowl bigger. BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that was the hole I remember, because I think I was playing ping‑pong, going back up, down, back up, down. Q. Any specific bounces you remember? Was that the worst? BROOKS KOEPKA: No, I mean, that hole's hard. It's a U.S. Open golf course. That's what it is. It's just hard. You can't relax on one shot. You can't take a shot off. You can't take a second off, and that's a really good U.S. Open golf course, and I'm excited to get out there and I'm looking forward to it. It will be fun. I think especially with the changes, it's only going to get better. Q. What are your thoughts on the Champions Course this week? BROOKS KOEPKA: It's a great golf course. I think the final seven holes out here are some of the toughest finishing holes you're going to find on any golf course. I've played it, hundreds of times growing up here, so I feel like I know a lot about it. But some of the changes they made, I think it's great. On 14, with the green moving it more towards the water and making it more of a‑‑ I think that's great.  It's awesome. It brings the water into play. Especially if you can get the wind blowing into you off the tee, and they have a back pin, it makes it interesting, because big risk/reward, and you have a little more of a swale that comes in. So you could play it‑‑ there's quite a few ways you can play that. If you have a long iron in, you can almost chase it up the left side and let the swale take over. And if you hit a great drive and you've got a short wedge in, you're looking at birdie. But if you're off by a few yards, I mean, you're going to make bogey or double. And that's the true sign of a great hole. Q. Your former FSU teammate Danny Berger played with some of the local high school kids here yesterday, and I believe you had that experience several years ago. Who did you play with and what did that do for you? BROOKS KOEPKA: When I played it? When I played it, it was‑‑ must have been like 14, is that what you're talking about, or when you played it last year? Q. When you were in high school, didn't you play in that? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I played in high school. I must have been 14. I don't remember who I played with to be honest with you. I mean, it was fun, I enjoyed it, I know that part. I enjoyed it, it was fun (smiling). It was a neat experience to get out and kind of see ‑‑ you can test your game. I'm sure they are looking at colleges and things like that. You can assess your game and figure out what you need to do. My goal was I wanted to get to the PGA TOUR and that's where I saw myself being. Did I have everything that I needed back then? No. I wasn't getting off ‑‑ I just didn't have the tools. But when you actually play with PGA TOUR player, it gets you a little more‑‑ I was hyped. I was ready to go. Any time you can do that, it's a big advantage for the younger kids. Q. Last year, you were here on a sponsor's exemption, I think you tied for 33 rd, and you went on, had a good year, great U.S. Open. Now you've won a tournament, full‑time member of the TOUR. How different is it to play The Honda Classic this time? BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, it's nice to know that I have a job for the next two years. But to come back, it's nice, because I think I've changed a lot since then. I was chasing, trying to get my TOUR card out here, and there's a big difference where I am mentally and where my game was at and where it is now I think. The confidence level, last year, I was a bit of a hothead coming out. But I understand where I was. I only had seven spots to really get my card over here, so every shot, everything, it was super important for me. I don't want to say the pressure's off, because I don't think that's the right term. But I can relax a little bit more and start to go back to what really worked for me is having fun. The day I stop having fun will be the day I stop having fun. Every day, doesn't matter, if I hit it in the water, I'm still going to laugh, I'm going to have a good time, and that's just me. Q. Based on your performance at Pinehurst last year and what you were able to do there, will you go to Augusta in April thinking maybe some different goals than you might have going there as a rookie otherwise? BROOKS KOEPKA: No. I'm going there to win. Every guy that's teeing it up that week is expecting to win. If they are not, then they probably shouldn't be there. I think every guy that tees it up this week, same thing. Guys aren't coming to finish second. It was great, when I played with Adam Scott in a practice round for the British Open last year, he said something that was really interesting. I mean, he's been my role model forever. And to hear him say‑‑ because I think he was up there with‑‑ he might have been one back and hit it out‑of‑bounds on 18. We started talking about the tournament and he just looked add me and said, "I didn't win. It doesn't matter." The way I take that is the mentality, he's only there for one thing, one reason only, to win, and second's not good enough. Q. Unrelated completely, but what goes through your head in the middle of a 5‑putt? BROOKS KOEPKA: Don't miss the fifth one. Just don't miss that fifth one (laughter). I was more nervous on the fifth one, because I was like‑‑ the crowd started to cheer, I was like, all right, this is actually pressure. Because they are like, "Come on," trying to lift me up. I walked off the green and my caddie turned to me and goes, "Do you want the good news or the bad?" I said, "I'll take the good." "You were on in two instead of three. That's good." Could have been a lot worse. He knows. I just laugh about it, laugh it off. It's a unique thing, doesn't happen very often. I don't know how many guys have done it; in an exclusive club. Q. Brandt‑‑ BROOKS KOEPKA: Brandt, you said? Me and Brandt are in that club together‑‑ Q. Mickelson. BROOKS KOEPKA: Mickelson, pretty sweet group. (Laughter). Q. You have a former teammate coming in after you. Wonder when you first met and your first impression of him, and his season right now, he's doing really well? BROOKS KOEPKA: We both grew up here, so we knew each other for probably eight years. He's a good player, very talented. He's probably one of the most talented kids I think I've ever met. Just naturally gifted. Swings it really well, controls it. He works pretty hard. I mean, I know he was out, he used to work at Dye, I believe, just so he could practice. Shows how much he really wanted it. As far as this year, he's playing really well. He's figuring out how to take his game, and there's a big difference when you're playing college golf and out here on the PGA TOUR. It's a big difference. And to see him playing well, I think it actually gives a lot of credit to our college coach. He's preparing guys‑‑ you look at Jonas, myself and Dan, the preparation, the things that we were doing up there were correct and the way he recruited, I guess, and the mentality that he had is going to take guys to the next level. Q. With the Florida Swing getting that much closer to the Masters, what's the sense coming here, does it feel like things are ratcheting up on TOUR? BROOKS KOEPKA: I guess if you talk to most guys, they would say that this is probably the first week where everybody's like, all right, Augusta is right around the corner. It's, what, end of February, so just over a month away. So I think guys, everyone kind of realizes how close it is, and everyone's trying to make sure that their game is in tiptop shape for the Masters. I have know I've been doing that, been trying to prepare, be ready. I've been preparing for the last month and a half trying to get ready, learning things, just about my own game. I think it's important if you can learn about your own game, then you should be able to take it to whatever golf course it may be. Q. In an environment where a lot of people grind from dawn to dusk and where you could always hit another bucket of balls or hit more putts, how difficult is it to just do nothing and rest? BROOKS KOEPKA: It's pretty easy. It's pretty easy. Q. So without feeling I guess guilt or‑‑ BROOKS KOEPKA: I know what works for me. I know that I like golf. I just can't do that every day. It's not something that is for me. I just don't think I could ever be like that. I look back, the last six years of my life, and it's never been. ‑‑ I'm not the guy‑‑ when I go out, my practice session might be four or five hours, but the way I'm mentally approaching it, might be a full day's work. I have other things I'd like to do. I'd rather go to the gym or go hang out and just kind of be on the water. I think it helps me relax a little bit, is I guess the main thing. Q. You said when you go to Augusta, you're going there to win. Is there a greater confidence with where golf is today, someone of your age and experience level can do that; it's not just a sort of pipedream? BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, I think everybody should. It doesn't matter who it is. The Ams go in there, should think that they have‑‑ going there to win. I think it's unique, the way I guess the mentality is now. I think Tiger's changed that, the way he was so mentally focused and mentally driven. I think you're seeing that, because I mean, all the kids my age from Spieth, Fowler, all the way that age group, we idolized him, and you see someone so mentally focused and things like that. We all just wanted to aspire to be him, and I think that's kind of more of what you're seeing now. MARK STEVENS: Thanks for your time, good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|