Brooks Koepka has offered an explanation as to why he’s not more popular – his unwavering confidence.
The 32-year-old American had an excellent second round in the US Open at The Country Club to leave him five behind the lead going into Moving Day as he bids for his third US Open title since 2017. For Koepka, that's not a surprise. He said: “I don’t come here hoping for second place. I think if you are a good player, you want to come in here and win. That’s why everybody is teeing it up. Nobody has a goal of just making the cut or anything like that."
Video: Things You Didn't Know About Brooks Koepka
Nevertheless, while self-belief is clearly playing a pivotal role in a highly successful career so far, the four-time Major winner claims the trade-off is he’s not as well-loved as he could be. He said: “I mean, I’m pretty confident, but I feel like everybody should be confident in themselves, and if you’re not - people hate confidence. That’s why people aren’t a big fan of me.”
Koepka is certainly showing signs of returning to his best – particularly in this week’s second round, where an impressive 67 moved him into contention. Even then, though, the American was still not entirely satisfied. Controversially, Koepka has made a driver and golf ball switch for this year’s tournament, but it’s another area of his game that he says needs to improve: “I’m happy where I’m at this week. Maybe a little bit disappointed where I’m at just because of how poorly my iron play is, and usually that’s the best part of my game, and it’s just not even close to even average.”
Still, Koepka thinks that’s an issue that’s easy enough to rectify. He said: “I don’t know if it has to do with turf being quite tight, but it’s an easy fix. Just got to be a little bit more on top of it.”
If he brings his iron play up to his usual standards and the rest of his game is as solid as it was on Friday, Koepka will surely be one to watch over the final two rounds. One thing's for certain - as far as Koepka is concerned, that's just to be expected.
