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THE PRESIDENTS CUP

September 27, 2017

Brooks Koepka

Jersey City, New Jersey

Q. Just talk about your first Presidents Cup experience so far this week.
BROOKS KOEPKA: It's been good. I'm excited. It's going to be nice playing Berger. I've known him for 10 plus years now. It'll be fun. I think it'll be an interesting pairing. You know, both of our first Presidents Cup, but I've got a little experience with the Ryder Cup, and I'm excited. I really am. I think we've got a good group of guys. It's a little bit different than years past, what you've seen, but I think it's going to be this way for a while.

Q. How has this experience been different than the Ryder Cup last year?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, there's a bunch of new faces, a bunch of rookies, including myself, this week, I guess. But we're all excited. We're all fired up. I think this is the group that's going to be there for a long time. I think everyone is playing really well. We're excited, and you've got a great group of guys that are in the team room, everybody from Strick to T-Dub to Freddie, it's really a joy to be around.

Q. I saw you with Tiger yesterday on the putting green. Any tips he was giving you?
BROOKS KOEPKA: We weren't even talking about golf. We weren't even talking about anything. We were just talking about what was going on, what I've been up to, what he's been up to, a little bit about the pairing with Berger. But no, we weren't doing anything. We were just more or less just talking and trying to kill some time.

Q. What's so great that you're paired with Berger? Why do your games match up so well?
BROOKS KOEPKA: We play a pretty similar game. I think it's good. I think he's -- the way it's going to work out, I think he's going to be more comfortable with me just because he's known me for a little bit longer. I think it'll ease him up a little bit, maybe free him up, which will be nice. I just want to play. I'll play with anybody, but I am excited to play with Berger. We played a year together in college at Florida State and both grew up in West Palm.

I think knowing a little bit more about his game probably than I do anybody else on the team I think is a big benefit.

Q. What's it like just to have Tiger here?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it's nice to see him back. We'd love to see him back playing. I think everyone would be crazy if they didn't say that. I think he's good for the game. He's good for the sport. It's fun to have him around cheering you on and rooting you on. But we'd love to see him back out here.

Q. Have you been invited to his house for a chipping contest?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, I don't really do golf in my off weeks. I'd rather be out on the boat or going on vacation somewhere.

Q. Your thoughts on your opponents tomorrow?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, they're good. They've obviously got a good record. I think it'll be good pairing up with Berger. I think we're going off fourth, I believe, and they're both good ball strikers, and so are we. But we've got -- I guess we haven't -- we don't have the experience that they do, but I mean, we're as confident as anybody. I mean, Berger is probably one of the most confident kids I've ever been around. I'm not lacking it myself. So it'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it.

Q. You've got that Ryder Cup experience and now all of a sudden a major champion. Compare the pressure you'll face. It's obviously a different thing, match play, but doing it on your own in a major --
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it's a lot different. The most nervous I've ever been was on the first tee at the Ryder Cup, and I wasn't even teeing it up. Watching those guys tee it up last year was incredible. It was fun. It was probably the coolest experience I've ever had, that part of golf, just being on the tee box, and I'm sure it'll be the same this year. I can't wait to go. I can't wait to tee it up and get started.

Q. What are your thoughts on this golf course in particular? Have you found yourself sort of looking around at the views as much as the golf course?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it's nice. You know, the golf course is in good shape. The views are incredible. You look at the driving range is where you start off the first part of the day, you're hitting into the sky line. It's beautiful. It really is cool to see. It's good to be here. I've never been out here. This is the first experience, and you walk on the driving range, and you go, wow, this is really incredible.

Q. Is it a little weird that match No. 4 tomorrow will feature four guys who all live about 12 miles from each other?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, we do actually, don't we. Berger lives down the street -- well, it's like a five-minute boat ride to his place, and it'll be -- I guess Louis was Old Palm, I think, and I'm not sure where Branden -- yeah, it'll be fun. I guess we could have had this match, could have practiced it back home. But no, I'm looking forward to it. I think it'll be fun. You know, they're a fun group of guys, but we want to kick their butt, and I'm sure they want to kick ours, too.

Q. Is it maybe a little different, most of these guys play all the time on the PGA TOUR, a little different than the Ryder Cup, you guys know each other maybe a little bit better than some of the guys on the Ryder Cup team?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, we're all friends. I know all the guys over in Europe. It's the same thing. As much as we're ready just to kick each other's butts, at the end of the day we're all still good buddies. We're all friends. They've got some incredible guys, if you look at Adam Scott, Jason Day, Louis, Branden, some of the nicest guys on the TOUR. But when the gun goes off, it's just competition, and we're ready to go out there and take care of business and win.

Q. What's the funniest thing you've seen this week?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I watched Jordan almost trip and eat it today walking off No. 11. I think he caught his foot in the weeds and almost went right in the Port-a-Potty, which was pretty funny. That was the funniest thing I've seen this week.

Q. What's the most exciting thing about this week?
BROOKS KOEPKA: That could have been the most exciting thing if he had actually eaten it. But I'm glad he didn't. The most exciting thing I've seen this week? I don't know, I think --

Q. Or enjoyable moment, put it that way.
BROOKS KOEPKA: It'll be tomorrow. I know it will be tomorrow. I mean, that's the most fun. And being in the team room. When we're all sitting there at the end of the day just laughing, joking, telling stories, doing whatever we're going to do that night, I mean, that's the most fun, I think, that any of us have during the week is being around each other. The cool thing is when you leave here, when I left the Ryder Cup, it's a different -- it's a different sense of friendship. You know, a lot of times guys out here, they've got families and they go to eat with their families, and it's just a hey, what's up, man, how are you, and the conversation doesn't go so far down because you see them week after week, and it's hard to really get to know guys on that personal level I guess you could say. So I mean, it's crazy, the friendships and how deep they actually do run.

Q. This is your second team in a row. Phil is at No. 23 this week. What is the most impressive thing about his streak he's got going, and what are the odds that it gets broken? Is it health? Is it performance?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It's everything. Obviously he's a hell of a player. To be out here for this long and still be as good as he is is impressive. I mean, he's such a fun guy, too, you know, getting around -- everyone in the team room knows he's one of the best guys in the room. It really is a joy to be around him, especially -- hopefully he's on a few more, but as far as that being broken, I don't know if that ever will. Maybe Jordan. I mean, I think Jordan has probably got the best shot of anybody. I mean, he started at --

Q. 12.
BROOKS KOEPKA: And he'll probably go to -- he'll be playing long past me.

Q. It depends on good health.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that's the other thing, stay healthy and do all that stuff. There's a little bit of luck involved, I think, over the years, but still, it's a hell of a career.

Q. You're used to playing golf in front of me. Have you given any thought what it'll be like having three former Presidents standing on the first tee tomorrow?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that'll be awesome. That'll be a cool experience. I've met President Obama at the Floridian a few years ago. I've never met the other ones. I think it'll be a good honor. It'll be fun, and I'm looking forward to it. But I don't know if it'll make you a little more nervous. You're already nervous. You can't get that much more nervous.

Q. Did you guys ask at all to go up against Grace and Oosthuizen? Did that come up?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, when we were on the putting green, though, yesterday talking to Tiger, I just told him he could pair us up against anybody. As confident as Berger is, the last few days, how well he's hit it, how well I've hit it, it's been impressive. So I mean, we're ready to go up against anybody. I'm sure he feels the same way.

Q. What was it like for you to be able to have Tiger sitting there grinding over six-footers with you working on different putting drills on the green yesterday? What was it like to have him --
BROOKS KOEPKA: We were just chatting, we weren't doing anything. Those are drills I do all the time. We were just talking about life, what was going on, just kind of just talking. We weren't talking about anything else, nothing golf-related.

Q. How many rounds do you figure you've played with Berger?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I don't play with any of these guys when I'm at home. In college, I mean, we played a lot, obviously. We seemed to get -- if we were playing a little bit, we always seemed to be in different foursomes in college. I think they probably wanted it that way, probably two of the best players, so they were dividing us up. But I feel like I know his game better than I know anybody else's. I mean, I grew up with him. 10 plus years of knowing his game, I kind of know what shot he's going to hit, what his miss will be and the shape of the shot. It's important. He's a good player, there's no doubt about that, or he wouldn't be on the team.

Q. This pairing has been in the works for about 10 years; is that what you're saying?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I guess so. I'm sure we weren't thinking about that in college or in high school, but it's pretty neat when you think back to growing up in Jupiter and me watching -- same college, and then out here, it's pretty neat.

Q. You played against him in high school you said?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I mean, I don't think he actually -- he didn't play high school golf. He went to Jupiter. But I knew him from just playing events, and he's kind of right between me and my brother, so he played a little bit with my brother when he was younger, and then as he got better and better he started playing more events that I was playing. He was a good player.

Q. What was he like in college?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Same as he is now, a little goofy, a little funny.

Q. A little cocky?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, but everyone out here is cocky. If they're not, then there's something wrong with them. They need to believe they're the best, and if you're not, then you probably shouldn't be here. But he's a fun kid. Yeah, he's definitely full of jokes. He definitely lights a room. It's fun. He's definitely -- he'll definitely come around, I guess, in the next few years as probably one of the funnier guys out here.

Q. You never played alternate-shot back home with him or anywhere?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, just the last few days.

Q. How has that worked?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It's worked well. The practices have gone pretty well. We've got a good game plan going in, and we've kind of chatted about it over the last few weeks, and in the Playoffs we were kind of chatting about it. I was kind of picking his brain, what he thought, if he actually wanted to play with me and do that, because I actually really wanted to play with him.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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