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TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 21, 2019Brooks KoepkaAtlanta, Georgia THE MODERATOR: Want to welcome Brooks Koepka here to the interview room at the TOUR Championship. New format this year. You're settling in within the top three. If you could just talk about heading into the week and your goals as far as getting to the end of the season-ending event. BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that's always the goal every time you start the year off is you want to make it to East Lake. I think that's everybody's goal that plays on TOUR. To have a chance here this week is important. It just shows how consistent I've been all year. I'm looking forward to teeing it up this week. Finally found some rhythm, playing a lot better than I have the last few weeks. I was playing terrible there. But found something, so I'm really looking forward to it. Q. Hi, Brooks. Rory was in earlier talking about his approach to the playoffs, describing it as though he's treating it as a 12-round tournament now, in effect. I was just wondering what your mindset is, what your approach is to it all in terms of specifics and approach. BROOKS KOEPKA: It's another golf tournament. Go out and go try to win it. That's what you do every time you tee it up. That's a little different approach than what I'm going with. It's take one week at a time, go with the process, and see where it puts you. Obviously, I've got a good chance here, being third in the FedExCup, having a chance to win it. It's important, but I just need to go out and play some good golf this week. Q. Can I just ask, as a followup, the European Tour this week came out with new rules for next year in terms of trying to speed up play. They will assess penalty to players who have two bad times during a round. I just wanted to get your thoughts on that and whether you feel others should follow suit. BROOKS KOEPKA: It sounds great. Yeah, I mean, I haven't seen the rules, obviously. What did you say, penalize them after what? Q. Two bad times. BROOKS KOEPKA: Perfect. We should adopt it. I mean, I'd love to see how many bad times guys get. I think you'll see some urgency to play. It doesn't matter how quick you walk. It doesn't matter how quick you do anything. You just -- guys don't do anything until the pin's in and everything's ready to go and everybody's cleared the green, when all information should be already done, and it's just: Does the wind pop up or not? Q. I was curious, if you were to shoot the lowest score this week and not win the FedExCup, what your thoughts would be on that. BROOKS KOEPKA: Obviously, I'd be disappointed. The goal is to win it. So I need to, what, beat Justin by four? You know, it's one of those things where everybody's got a chance. Usually anybody within ten shots of the lead at a major at Augusta makes the cut, and there's ten shots here for four days. I've won from seven back before after 36, so anything's possible. Even the guys at even par, they've still got a chance. You've got four days on this golf course. You never know what's going to happen. As long as J.T. doesn't go out and go shoot 62s on the first two days, then I think everybody has a chance. Q. Brooks, how's your comfort factor with your game right now? You've been kind of talking about how you weren't quite feeling comfortable over the ball the past couple weeks. Where do you stand right now? BROOKS KOEPKA: I feel good now. I've got it figured out. I grinded last week. I was on the range for quite a while after the round on, I think, Friday, Saturday, and just really didn't have -- like you said, I just wasn't comfortable over the ball. Finally feeling comfortable over the ball and know which direction it's going to go. And now it's the feelings of, if I do hit a push cut or a pull draw, I have that feeling, and the ball's doing that. Where last time it felt like it was a pull draw, and it would be cutting. So I didn't have the feel, didn't exactly know where I was at, but I feel a lot better right now. I feel like I'm hitting it how I'm supposed to. Q. Brooks, J.T. holed out in the third round last week and immediately afterwards said, hey, I'm getting some of Brooks' cash. Can you just provide some insight as to what you guys have going on there? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, in Korea, we were playing together, and we were talking about how all through the year, we were going to have a little action on how many times we holed out. I can't even remember the last time I holed out. Q. You've got zero? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I've got zero. But I can't even think -- double eagle at THE PLAYERS was the last time I holed out. Time before that was Oakmont. I don't really hole out much, so that was a stupid bet on my part. Q. So he hasn't got paid yet either. You're waiting until the end of the year? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. We're just going to total it out. That's what I assumed. Heck, I'll pay him on Sunday. Q. How far does the shot have to be? BROOKS KOEPKA: It's got to be over 50 yards. Q. More motivation to win $15 million so you can pay up for that? BROOKS KOEPKA: I've got the cash. I can go pay him. That's fine. I've got it here with me. I've got enough. Q. There are only two par 5s here unless they've changed the golf course since last year. So you're going to need to find some birdie holes elsewhere. Where do you look at East Lake for birdies? Because it's not reputed to be an easy course. BROOKS KOEPKA: It's one of those courses where, if you find the fairway, you've got a lot of wedge shots. I feel like, if you can dial it in from anywhere from 70 to 130 yards, there might be six or seven holes where you might have that yardage coming in. 1, they've moved it up, the tee box this year. So instead of going in with maybe a 7 iron, you're going in with maybe a wedge. The 3rd hole, you've got a wedge. 8, you've got a wedge. And there's quite a few holes on the back. So if you're on with your wedges, you can shoot a good score around here. But it needs to be in the fairway because, if you're in the rough, you've got no control over that golf ball. I feel like, in this golf course, there's a lot of bunkers in front you need to carry. If you're coming out of that rough, you can't quite run it up the green. You can't fly it on the green and hold it. So it puts a lot more importance off the tee too. Q. Brooks, I believe last week you noted that you don't pay too much attention to the prize money at this point. But back when you first turned pro, maybe when you were on the Challenge Tour over in Europe, do you recall an instance when you did, when it really meant something to win a certain amount of money? Whether it helped you keep your card or if it just meant having just some personal financial relief. Was there anything that stands out? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. Right when you get started, I didn't have any money. I didn't have anything. You're trying to pay for the flight for next week. You're trying to pay for the hotel room. I mean, you don't have enough -- when I started, I really didn't have any funds to kind of keep going through the year. It was more of I need to go out there and go make some cash so I can go play. Obviously, now things have changed a little bit, and it's a little bit different where I'm fortunate enough where I do have the finances, where I'm pretty comfortable. I don't want to say it makes it easier, but it's also one of those things where, if you're comfortable financially, you're not thinking about the money. I'm not thinking about prize money while I'm playing. I've never thought about that. I had a buddy not too long ago that asked me, can you imagine how much money you've lost by every putt you've missed? Or something like that. I've never looked at it that way. I've just always looked at it as a shot that I missed. You know, you can look at it negatively too. You've lost a lot of money by missing maybe a tap in or whatever it might be through the year. I think every pro starting their career, it's crucial to get off to a good start. That way you relieve the pressure. I see my brother going through it right now. It's difficult. It's difficult, especially if you're not out here on the PGA TOUR. You're grinding each week to pay for travel, pay for -- people forget we've got a lot of expenses too. Q. Did you have a sponsor or supporters that you had to repay perhaps that helped you get started? Is that an extra burden? BROOKS KOEPKA: No. I mean, I had some sponsors, but I never had to pay anybody back. I never borrowed any money. I was fortunate enough I was in a decent situation where I was just going off what I had gotten, and then just turned it into a nice little run on the Challenge Tour. It's funny because I look back on the Challenge Tour, and I thought I was super rich at the time. It's a great feeling. The first big paycheck I made was at Frys. I think that's the first time I'd made six figures, and at the time, I remember thinking how cool that was. If only every week was like that. Q. As kind of a follow on that actually, I think some people are taken aback a little bit by the sums of money now, especially in an event like this, winner taking 15, whatever. And those numbers are probably going to continue to increase over the years. I just wonder if you think it's -- how you would think about the idea of maybe down the line this could be shortening the careers of some guys who are able to have massive earnings in their careers now, and that might not play as much into their 30s or 40s or things like that. Do you think that's reasonable? BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. If you want to give up a chance for $15 million, go for it. I'll still be here. I don't see how it's going to shorten a guy's career. Maybe you won't see as many guys playing the Champions Tour and things like that. Obviously, there's a lot more money in the game now than there was 20 years ago, 10 years ago, and then 10 years down the line, you could say the same thing. It's great. I love what the TOUR's done, what the sponsors have done. FedEx, everybody has done an unbelievable job of helping us out and making it enjoyable to watch. There's a lot of excitement now for just the FedExCup, these entire playoffs. Everyone's been looking forward to it, and it's incredible what they've done. Q. Your friend Justin made more than three times as many FedExCup points for winning last week -- or Sunday -- than you did your Major. How do you feel about that? BROOKS KOEPKA: Doesn't matter to me. I don't think of it that way. It's the playoffs. You know, it's different. You look at the Patriots, they can go undefeated and lose the first week in the playoffs and they're out. It's a great regular season. I'm pretty sure Belichick's not very happy if that happens. Q. You could argue, though, that your Major was your Super Bowl, whereas they're playing toward their biggest victory. BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, you could argue that, but also at the same time, golf's so different. We've got four Majors, the THE PLAYERS, and then the FedExCup. Those are arguably some of the bigger events. You've got World Golf Championships. There's so much to play for every week. You look at the schedule, you could play just the Majors and the WGCs, and those are some of the eight most important events, you know, world ranking-wise, FedExCup points. Then the playoffs, they need to be different. I think they need to be. I think they need to have more weight, put more emphasis on it. You know, you could have a guy that struggles, barely keeping his card, and comes out and plays great the first week and then all of a sudden is here. I think that's awesome. One week out here really can change your life. Q. Brooks, you said that you remember back when you felt like you had had some success on the Challenge Tour and you felt like you were rich. Do you remember what your first big paycheck was on the Challenge Tour? BROOKS KOEPKA: Big one? Probably when I won, right? It was probably about 25,000 Euros, about that. That's what I got for winning, maybe 30,000 Euros, yeah. Somewhere between 25,000 and 30,000 Euros. Q. Things have changed a little bit? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, a little bit. Q. Brooks, after this week, what are you going to do between now and playing the Presidents Cup? How will you shape your fall knowing you've got a tournament that's going to end ten days before Christmas? BROOKS KOEPKA: I just want to enjoy my off-season when I'm not playing. Obviously, it's been a long year. Enjoy some time off. I've got a couple weeks off here where I can go vacation somewhere for a while, got some things I need to take care of, and play a couple times overseas and try to get the year started right. Because this is our off-season. I've got a couple weeks, and I want to -- starting in Korea, I think that's -- I've won there. It's important to me. And try to get off to a good season and stay up there in that FedExCup, maybe win once before the year is over, starting the New Year. Q. Will you play anything domestically in the fall, and have you figured out any beach yet? BROOKS KOEPKA: I'm not saying now. I don't want people showing up where I'm at. I've got some vacations planned. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, there's a possibility I could play over here in the fall. I'm not sure yet. See how I feel and see how things go. A lot of things are kind of up in the air. See how I'm feeling, get over some things, and make sure -- I just want to be healthy. Q. Just a quick follow. In your previous beach vacations, has anyone even recognized you? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. Q. And were you wearing a thong? THE MODERATOR: That's a personal question. What are you wearing right now? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I've had people. I think -- where were we last time? I think we were in the BVIs, and we were walking through some rocks, and some fans walked up and tried to take a picture. I think that's when, I don't know, Jenna was trying to make some Instagram photo. I don't know. It was pretty funny. She's laughing at it now. If you only knew what was going on. Q. Brooks, a two-part question. One, you talked about how you found the rhythm. Was it towards the end of last week and whatever the iron session you had yesterday, was that a confirmation of what you found? Second part, the clinching the money title for the PGA TOUR, where does that rank among your accomplishments? You checked the box the last three years, world number one to Player of the Year. But just wanted to get your thoughts on that. BROOKS KOEPKA: I think going home Monday, taking Monday off, and coming out yesterday was more of a -- just a reassurance of what I was doing was the right thing. Still yesterday in the beginning of the day, I still didn't quite feel 100 percent on where my swing was at, where my putter was at. Just kind of freaking out a little bit. I never felt that uncomfortable over the putter or just hitting the ball. I finally found something where I feel very comfortable, ball flight's coming out, and Claude's done a good job of just reassuring me. We just talked about how it's the first time probably in my life where I ever overthought things. I'm not a good thinker. I don't -- I start thinking about what shot I want to hit and where I'm set up and how this feels and doubting where the club face is aimed, doubting where I'm lining up, and I just kind of had them drill me. Claude and Jeff were like, listen, everything's going right where you're pointing. You're just freaking out, and sometimes that happens. Putting, it was -- I just wasn't hitting putts hard enough. They were good putts. For me, I don't know why, but I was freaking out over running it 3 feet by, and I've done that my whole life, just not -- the speed wasn't matching the lines and things like that. So just getting affirmation from them that everything's fine and I need to chill. I can definitely chill. I can definitely take it back a step. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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