|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPAugust 22, 2019Brooks KoepkaAtlanta, Georgia THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome Brooks Koepka into the interview room here today, co-leader. Started the day 7 under, birdied three of your four final holes to shoot 3 under, tied for the lead. If you could provide some comments on your opening round. BROOKS KOEPKA: I got off to a good start. It was nice to make a putt there on 4. But at the same time, I felt like the train was off the tracks there on 9 and 10. I hit that ball on 10, 75 yards right. I mean, it started 70 right and cut 5, so that wasn't very good. Then found something there. Just kind of went back to basics and what we've been working on and hit some good shots coming down, which was nice. These greens are so good, you put it inside of ten feet, you should make it just about every time. It was nice to kind of make some putts and hit some good shots coming in there. Q. Given the format, how long did it take to feel like a normal tournament, or did it immediately feel that way? BROOKS KOEPKA: I just -- I guess you could say I played it like a five-day event. I knew I was three down and go out there and try to -- by the time the turn comes, try to get back to all square. It's nice to be tied for the lead after the first day. I'm not very good at getting off to good starts, so I usually never get in that position, but it's nice. Three more days to grind it out and finish the year strong. Q. Brooks, the announcement yesterday about The Body Issue. Congratulations. In your mind, do you feel like it's almost a relief that it's out there now and people can see exactly what you went through to do the shoot and what you accomplished doing it? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it was fun. It's something that I wanted to do. It's something that's so much fun. You see all these other athletes do it. Like I said in the interview with ESPN, you know, to get chosen for that, you have to be one of the best in your sport. So obviously, I'm doing something right on the golf course, and it's fun. Getting naked's a bit weird; the first time you actually pull that robe off in front of 30, 40 people. It was something I enjoyed. I was looking forward to it for months. It's something I definitely don't regret doing. It's been enjoyable to see the pictures over the last couple of months and see, I guess, all the hard work I put into it and see the results. Q. Brooks, it takes an element of bravery as well to do that because not a lot of people would be comfortable showing their body in that regard. You're in the public spotlight anyway. Was that a consideration for you, or were you feeling confident in what you were doing? BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I've basically given everybody a preview in a thong, so I mean it wasn't -- just a little strip of clothing left I had to pull off. It's one of those things where all these people that talk crap and whatever on social media, they don't have the balls to do it, and they wouldn't look that good. Q. You talked Tuesday kind of about being a little stressed out about the state of your game. Where do you feel it's at right now? BROOKS KOEPKA: After 10, it was full-panic mode, but I found something there. Again, I don't -- I got away from what I was doing a little bit and tried to do more shaping shots instead of just looking at it and firing. My game is very simple. If I'm trying to aim 15 feet right of the flag, that's what I'm trying to do. And if it happens to draw to the flag or I pull it and it goes straight, it doesn't matter to me. I could -- it's no difference. It's close. I'm just trying to look and hit it where I'm intending to do. It just got a little -- I was just trying to be too perfect. It's funny about this game. When it's going really well, you're never thinking. And then all of a sudden, everything kind of abandons you, and you're trying to figure out, what's the answer? What's the answer? How do I right the ship? How do I figure it out? And you start looking at ten different things, and odds are it's one simple thing. I mean, everybody out here is going through it, and everybody out here knows what it's like. Once you get that one swing thought or that one setup thought, then you're off and running. Q. Any good comments in the locker room from players about the photos? BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I never spend too much time in the locker room. I mean, I got here probably an hour and ten minutes before the tee time, an hour and five. They've all known. They've all known for a while. So to see the picture -- it's all good. I mean, I've walked around naked in the locker room before. I don't know, maybe some of them have seen it. I don't know. (Laughter). Q. You know, at the time when there was a whole lot you couldn't say about it, there was some conjecture about the losing of the weight. As was noted now that it's come out, this is something you do in the off-season, you know, weight loss and training is part of what you do. Was it really that big of a deal? Did it really impact your game? Or was it no impact because you've obviously gone through this at other times? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I mean, I go through it. I've got five weeks off. So I start training. I've got a great dad bod right now. I'm probably 210 right now. I'd like to -- usually 200, 205 is what I like to be at. At the time, I was super sick too during the THE PLAYERS. I didn't feel well, but I'm not going to make an excuse of why I felt so bad. We did some blood work, and my testosterone was down. Just wasn't feeling well. It was a combination of things. When you're sick, everything just never seems to go right. But at the time, I wasn't playing good golf either. That's not an excuse. I've lost a bunch of weight before, and I've gained a bunch of weight. Phil's done it, and everybody's happy that Phil did it, and then I did it, and I get criticized. I don't know what the deal is. I mean, all I'm concerned about is making myself happy. I'm going to do what I want to do. I think everybody out here knows that by now. I'm going to do it my way and enjoy the ride. Q. So it sounds like you're not obsessive about what you eat at certain times. You're okay with, I guess, cheating? I guess, cheat meals here and there and that sort of thing? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. I enjoy a cheeseburger and French fries just as much as anybody else does. Obviously, when I'm trying to lose weight, I'm watching what I eat. It's a little bit more strict, and going to the gym two, three times a day, whatever it might be. I'm more active at home, doing things. I'll run with my dog, running sprints with her. I try to do different things. It might be swimming, doing laps, whatever it might be. And then on the road, I mean, you think about it, you've got a tee time at 1:00, I'm not trying to kill myself by the time I tee off. So when I go to the gym at 7:30, 8:00, I'm trying to -- I mean, they're 12-hour days. They're probably the longest days of anybody, other than Dustin. I know exactly what Dustin's days look like. They're pretty much the same thing. You know, you're trying to conserve energy, and obviously it's tougher on the road to eat right, do certain things. So you're going to put on a little bit of weight. Q. Brooks, big picture, though, from today. You've already wiped away that three-shot deficit. Let's talk psychology a little bit. How much do you really enjoy being out there right in the thick of the heat of battle, reeling in those in front of you, and then hopefully from your point of view, powering on past them? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that's the goal. I enjoy -- I just enjoy competition. I enjoy playing for something. It doesn't matter what it is. I enjoy the -- I guess some people call it pressure or nerves. To me, it's excitement. I'm just excited to play. I know it doesn't look like it on my face, but inside, I can't wait to get to that 1st tee. That's why, I think a lot of times, I play so quickly. I'm just excited to go. I've already got my number. I'm raring to go. I just want to hit the ball and see where it goes next and go find it. I think that's the reason. I don't want to say I'm an anxious person because that's not true, but I'm excited to go hit that shot. Q. You don't ever seem to display -- I don't ever sense that you look nervous, you feel pressure. I mean, do you? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, you can. If you start thinking about the results, I think you'll see pressure, but a lot of times, I don't want to -- I don't want guys to know if I mis-hit it. If I hit 7 iron and mis-hit it and they don't know and it comes up short, most of the time they're going to be hitting a 6 iron. And all of a sudden, they go back, and they go to a 5, and it goes over the green. It's, oh, I mis-hit that. Now I can gauge off who I'm playing with exactly -- you know, did he get high and right or pull it left and it went hole high? And you can kind of gauge off it, but I'm not trying to give anybody else an advantage of knowing what -- you know, did it come off spinning, or did I just murder the ball? You know, things like that. I'm just not trying to give anybody an advantage. Q. Brooks, it's one thing to drop your robe, as you described it, in a studio setting, but it looked like some of those shots were outside at a golf course. How does that work? I mean, I have this vision in my head of some old geezer walking by and having a heart attack maybe seeing you swinging. BROOKS KOEPKA: There were people playing the golf course, so they saw. I did it at Floridian, Jim Crane's place, and Claude was giving a lesson. They were trying to -- I'll never forget this one shot. They were trying to get this shot, and I'm up on the tee box. They had all their camera stuff set up in front of me, like face on, but around the corner, I see Claude teaching this maybe 12-year-old kid, and his mom is just over here. I'm like, this is awkward. And Claude's peeking around the corner laughing. You know, it's fun. I'm sure half those shots -- I'm pretty sure everybody that was at the golf course saw me that day, but whatever. Q. Were you self-conscious? BROOKS KOEPKA: No, I don't think so. I never really thought about it. It was fun. I enjoyed it. I've got nothing to be ashamed of. Q. It sounds like the making of that photo shoot would probably be the viral video of the year. I hate to interrupt this with golf, but can you maybe pick up what was your most memorable shot of the day and why it was? BROOKS KOEPKA: Probably the shot on 16. It was kind of very late in the round and just coming off a birdie and feeling like you could really take advantage of those last couple holes and stick it in there four feet. It was nice and something I -- I had struggled drawing the ball all day, so to finally -- it just reassured me that what I was doing or what I was trying to do the last couple holes, you know, starting on 14 was working. And the contact was finally there, just going back to basics. That was kind of the shot where it was like, okay, I've got this. I've got it down. Sometimes you can't -- when you've got confidence, that's all you need. Q. Brooks, what did you weigh at the photo shoot? What was your weight? BROOKS KOEPKA: I think it was about 187. Q. And did you find it interesting that Phil came out with a shirtless photo this week? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. He kind of let that one go right before I let mine go. Laid one on me again. Leave it to Phil. He's good at it. He knows what he's doing. He looked good, though. I mean, I played with him last week. So I mean, he looks good. He said he feels good, which is nice to see. Hey, he's doing an incredible job. Obviously, he's working hard at it. Hopefully, he stays that way. Q. Brooks, to go back to the shoot, do you think you looked as good as Greg Norman? BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know, man. He's got a lot of free time to work out now. He's around naked, I think in his house quite a bit. I mean, probably not, but that's all right. I'm good with how I looked. Q. Just curious, how did you lose the weight diet-wise? BROOKS KOEPKA: Just diet and then trained my ass off. Q. Was it like eating in intervals and no carbs? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. I mean, I basically was meal prepping just like any other guy trying to lose weight. Meal prepping and going to the gym in the morning and then trying to do something late at night at tournaments. I think me and Joey were in the gym usually in the morning around 7:00 and tried to go back late at night and at least do something, do some kind of cardio. Q. Did you have to stick to a certain amount of calories every day? BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. They were counting calories for a long time. It was more when I was home and doing it. On the road, obviously, everything's tougher, but if I had the chef out, he was counting calories and making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. 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
|