Brooks Koepka

Lore & Background

After playing collegiately for the Florida State Seminoles, Koepka turned professional in 2012 and achieved a three-win promotion on the Challenge Tour in 2013, which secured status on the European Tour. He won his first European Tour title at the Turkish Airlines Open in 2014 and his first PGA Tour title at the Phoenix Open in 2015. Koepka won his first major championship at the 2017 U.S. Open, which spearheaded a streak of major victories. He defended his title at the 2018 U.S. Open, and won both the 2018 and 2019 PGA Championship. In 2022, Koepka joined LIV Golf. In the following years, he won multiple LIV Golf events and added his fifth major championship at the 2023 PGA Championship. He left the LIV Golf League and returned to the PGA Tour in 2026.

In Their Own Story

The air at Valhalla in June hangs thick, the Kentucky heat pressing down on the 18th fairway like a hand on your chest. Brooks Koepka stands over a 14-iron, the TaylorMade club head catching the low sun, and you can hear the quiet click of the ball settling into its groove. Patrick Rodgers is crouched a few feet behind, reading the subtle undulation of the green, his voice low and steady: "Two feet left of the flag, hold it a touch." Brooks doesn't answer. He never does in those moments. He just swings — that full, violent, everything-on-the-line swing that has become synonymous with his name — and the ball rockets up into the humid sky, a white thread against the blue. The gallery is silent. The flagstick trembles in the breeze. And somewhere in the crowd, a man in a faded Florida State cap lets out a breath he's been holding for four years, because he knows, the way Brooks knows, that this is the course that made him, and he has come home to take what's his.

Reader's Guide

Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, on May 3, 1990, Koepka was raised in Lake Worth, and attended Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach. He played college golf at Florida State University, where he won three events and was a three-time All-American. He qualified for the 2012 U.S. Open as an amateur, but missed the cut by six strokes. His caddie since 2013 is Ricky Elliott.

Did You Know?

• Koepka won his first major at the 2017 U.S. Open, not the PGA Championship.
• His 2019 PGA Championship victory was at Bethpage Black, not Riviera.
• Koepka turned professional in 2012, not 2014.
• He was raised in Lake Worth, Florida, not Fort Lauderdale.