Brooks Koepka’s ‘deep’ career question has already been answered

Brooks Koepka couldn’t find the words. Now firmly back as a member of the PGA Tour, Koepka, a five-time major champion and one of the defining players of his generation, was confronted with a big-picture question this week. It was the type of question that only those who have already etched their name in history face, but one Koepka was unsure of how to answer as his PGA Tour comeback rolls on.

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What do you want your legacy to be?

“I don’t know,” Koepka said on Wednesday at the Cognizant Classic. “I feel like that’s a very deep question. I don’t know what I want my legacy to be. I kind of don’t think about it. I just try to be the best person, best golfer I can be, and then wherever things settle up, they settle up. I just don’t want to look back at the end of my career and say, man, I really could have put more effort in and just give everything I’ve got, 100 percent effort, and trying to win as many tournaments and be as dedicated as I can to the game.”

Perhaps on the surface, Koepka doesn’t know what he wants his legacy to be. To think about legacy is to think about mortality, to come to terms with the end and imagine a time when you are not who you are and have always been. But athletes whose achievements will echo across generations — those who have done things few can claim — often already have a sense of how they will be remembered. They tell us so in how they work to change it or strengthen it. It’s why the losses and misses often mean more than the wins. Those, as Scottie Scheffler noted, are often fleeting.

Koepka’s major wins didn’t come at an early age, as they did for Tiger or Rory or Spieth, but once he broke through, one win turned to four in a flash. He almost instantly became his generation’s great major killer. Four majors is a lot, but when you win four, everyone starts to wonder if you’ll win eight or nine or 10. You probably do too. Four majors in three years might be the first line of Koepka’s World Golf Hall of Fame plaque. But the body of it will be about his persona as the big-game hunter — golf’s elite competitor who showed up in elite tournaments and elevated himself in the moments that truly mattered.

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Injury and poor play in 2022 allowed Koepka to be consumed by doubt. He wasn’t sure if he would ever be who he once was again. He joined LIV Golf and then built himself back. He won the 2023 PGA Championship to eclipse Rory McIlroy’s major total and become the defining major winner of his era (McIlroy has now matched him). The doubts evaporated to reveal who Koepka is at his core — someone who, like his childhood idol Tiger Woods, relishes the grind. The payoff is nice, but it’s everything that leads to it; the discipline, the consistency and the fight that makes it worthwhile.

“This is probably the sweetest one of them all because of all the hard work that went into it,” Koepka said at Oak Hill in 2023.

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When Koepka returned at the Farmers Insurance Open, he talked about doing so for his family. He wanted to be closer to them and spend more time with them. He’s a father now, and that changes you. But he also wants his son to see who his dad is and what made him great in the arena that built the legacy he would rather not contemplate.

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“Just because I care,” Koepka said of why he was nervous at Torrey Pines. “I think I’ve fallen back in love with the game. And honestly, watching my son play a little bit and wanting to be able to see him watch me, or I guess want him to watch me play well and realize how much this game’s given me, how fun it is and how cool it is to just be out here.”

Koepka has dodged questions about LIV, the PGA Tour’s future and politics since his return. It would be atypical for him to do otherwise. As it has always been, Koepka’s focus is on his game and where it measures up, especially against Scottie Scheffler and McIlroy, whom Koepka has only faced at majors over the last three-plus years.

“I’m excited to battle with them,” Koepka said. “I think that will be really fun. I think just the competitive side of me, obviously, you obviously want to do a little bit better, but that’s going to be very tough to do better than Scottie right now. I’m excited for it. I want to play with those guys, see where I’m at and how I can get better.”

Koepka doesn’t need to find the words to describe what he wants his legacy to be. His actions and his game have already answered that question. He’s one of only 21 men to reach five majors. There was a six-year period where he was omnipresent at the events that define the golf season. He left for human reasons and returned for the same. His desire was not to be a trophy or token on either side, but to see if he could once again push himself to the top.

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On Thursday at the Cognizant, Koepka hit the ball well in windy conditions but lost over two strokes on the greens. He entered Friday outside the cutline, but a hand adjustment on the putter helped him shoot a four-under 66 to move inside the top 30 and get a weekend tee time on a course where anything can happen.

Afterward, Koepka, who has failed to finish in the top 50 in his first two starts back on the PGA Tour, was asked if he viewed battling to make the cut as a small “win.” Unlike Wednesday, Koepka had no problem finding the words, offering a glimpse of the old Koepka, the one who has already told us how he’ll be remembered.

“No,” he said. “If I’m out here to try to make cuts, I’m probably done.”

But those final chapters are still being written.

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