Brooks Koepka’s dream wasn’t to play golf.
Growing up, Koepka had a burning passion for baseball. His great-uncle won two World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but a car accident when he was 10 years old prevented him from pursuing his dream of playing in MLB.
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That’s when Koepka turned to golf and found that he was good enough to turn professional. He rose to number one in the world and won five major championships, but he never appeared to truly fall in love with the sport.
Koepka once called golf ‘boring’, and cut a demotivated figure while playing on LIV for the last few seasons. And he even once wrestled with the idea that golf wasn’t a real sport.
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Brooks Koepka explained why golf might not be a real sport
Koepka once appeared on Jake Paul’s “BS Podcast”, and he was asked if golf was a real sport. He gave a surprising answer.
He said, “Sometimes I think it is and sometimes I think it isn’t. I go back and forth. I kind of flip-flop on that one. I think sometimes it’s not. I look at the guys. I hate doggin’ them, but I know what real athletes do.
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“I know how guys train. I know how guys do all this stuff. Then watching some guys go, ‘I’m going to go slam seven or eight beers every night then go play in the morning.’”
Few people in the sport work on their bodies more than Koepka, but the very best in the game also work relentlessly hard. Bryson DeChambeau hits hundreds of balls on the driving range during tournaments, and he’s not the only one.
But when a guy like John Daly rocks up, hits a few of balls on the range and wins a couple of majors, it’s easy to see why Koepka might have doubts.
Brooks Koepka refound love for golf on PGA Tour
Koepka might have come across as indifferent to golf, especially while playing on the Saudi-backed LIV league, but he said that since he’s returned to the PGA Tour, he’s refound his passion.
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Speaking at the Farmers Insurance Open, his first event back on the tour, he said, “I’ve fallen back in love with the game, and honestly, watching my son play a little bit, and… wanting him to watch me play well and realize how much this game’s given me, how fun it is and just how cool it is to be out here.”
It seems that Koepka has rediscovered what got him into the sport in the first place, and he looks truly happy back on the PGA Tour.
It would be interesting to see if Koepka would give the same answer if asked today, now that he’s refound his love for the game.
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