PGA Championship- Bethpage Black

Average Reds

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Image if the cut was 10 off the lead.
I know you were saying this is jest, but I've heard this a bunch today and it misunderstands the 10 shot rule.

The 10 shot rule doesn't eliminate players - it keeps them in. Meaning, if the rule was in force here, the cut would be top 70 and ties or 10 shots from the lead, depending on whichever includes more players. (At least that's the only way I've heard it.)
 

RedOctober3829

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A serious question: are there any Brooks Koepka fans as such? I'm in awe of the way he's playing at the moment - this is Tiger-at-his-best crazy good - but he seems a bit personality-free and rather difficult to love.
I like watching him play, but I'm a bigger fan of other players. Brooks just shows up, does his thing quietly, and is on his way to yet another major. Seems like he doesn't get the credit he deserves.
 

johnmd20

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I like watching him play, but I'm a bigger fan of other players. Brooks just shows up, does his thing quietly, and is on his way to yet another major. Seems like he doesn't get the credit he deserves.
He's definitely unassuming and that limits the talk about him. But if he runs through this tourney, for his 4th major won in less than 3 years, he'll get an abundance of credit.
 

dcmissle

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He is destroying this course and this field. Incandescent.
 

mostman

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I know you were saying this is jest, but I've heard this a bunch today and it misunderstands the 10 shot rule.

The 10 shot rule doesn't eliminate players - it keeps them in. Meaning, if the rule was in force here, the cut would be top 70 and ties or 10 shots from the lead, depending on whichever includes more players. (At least that's the only way I've heard it.)
Huh. I just looked up how the Masters cut works and you are exactly right. It’s top 50, plus anyone within 10. I honestly never knew this. Maybe because edges cases like this hardly come up.
 

Zomp

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As someone who wasn’t a fan of Brooks (didn’t dislike him, just found him bleh) I listened to him in the Fore Golf podcast (the guys from Barstool) and found him likeable.

Agreed with the above though, this is Tiger in his peak good.
 

Marciano490

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Is Brooks the dude that everyone was kinda anti a couple years ago when he won because he got kicked off his college team and had some weird brouhaha with his family?
 

( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)

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A serious question: are there any Brooks Koepka fans as such? I'm in awe of the way he's playing at the moment - this is Tiger-at-his-best crazy good - but he seems a bit personality-free and rather difficult to love.
He was on Pardon My Take this week and it was a great interview. It’s hard to articulate this but I find that instead of just being a guy that has no personality that his personality is that he actually doesn’t have a personality. I’m well aware that statement makes no sense but it also kind of fits him. I like the guy a lot after that interview.
 

steveluck7

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Isn’t the big thing with Brooks that he really doesn’t love golf? He’s just crazy good at it so it’s what he does. I caught a snippet of the PMT podcast referenced above and he was talking about how he kind of “blacks out” between the 5th and 12th holes or so because the rounds are so long and he just doesn’t really ever remember what happened when and what shot he hit.
 

( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)

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I actually really like that he doesn’t like golf. I think it’s hysterical. I also think that is something that will bother a lot of people for reasons that I don’t understand which makes it funnier.
 

grsharky7

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I actually really like that he doesn’t like golf. I think it’s hysterical. I also think that is something that will bother a lot of people for reasons that I don’t understand which makes it funnier.
Isn't that how Keith Foulke was with baseball? His true love was hockey but he was just good at baseball?

I have a 2.5 year old and his name is Brooks. I've had a few people ask me if we named him after Koepka. I just chuckle and tell them that he was born a year before Koepka won a major, so no. Koepka's great uncle is Dick Groat who was a great athlete in his time (Duke basketball and pro baseball player for the Pirates). Groat owns a course not far from me called Champion Lakes. Brooks' dad played there a lot growing up and I think he did as well when he was young. It is a brutally hard course, the record there is -5 and that was done by Rocco Mediate.
 
I wouldn't pay that question any mind.
One of the main reasons I asked the question is that Koepka is playing so well - so much like Tiger when he was destroying fields at Augusta and Pebble and elsewhere - and yet instead of exulting in the greatness that Koepka is displaying, some idiot fans at Bethpage seem to be cheering his mistakes, and I think the average fan is probably hoping he comes back to the pack somehow rather than hoping he wins by 12 and sets records. That's interesting at some level, isn't it?

(My own thoughts about Tiger are immaterial to the question I asked.)
 

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One of the main reasons I asked the question is that Koepka is playing so well - so much like Tiger when he was destroying fields at Augusta and Pebble and elsewhere - and yet instead of exulting in the greatness that Koepka is displaying, some idiot fans at Bethpage seem to be cheering his mistakes, and I think the average fan is probably hoping he comes back to the pack somehow rather than hoping he wins by 12 and sets records. That's interesting at some level, isn't it?

(My own thoughts about Tiger are immaterial to the question I asked.)
I think the fans were rooting against him mostly because he was playing with Tiger. And destroying him.
And I'm rooting for him to come back to the pack because while greatness can be admired, it doesn't make for a compelling weekend watch. At least not for me.
 
And I'm rooting for him to come back to the pack because while greatness can be admired, it doesn't make for a compelling weekend watch. At least not for me.
That's almost always my attitude as well. But this is my point in asking the question: when Tiger destroyed the field at Augusta in 1997 or at Pebble in 2000, everyone went crazy and thought it *was* that compelling. (The final round at the Masters in 1997 got a 15.8 Nielsen rating and a 32 share.) And now Koepka is playing Tiger-like golf and almost certainly establishing himself as the best, most talented and most consistent golfer in the world...and there's no chance in hell CBS wants him to carry a huge lead into the final round.

I know why this is the case, of course - it's Tiger's charisma, and his life story, and his transcendence as a sportsman from an early age, and so on. Koepka has none of this. But still, Koepka deserves to have *some* fans, playing golf this good. And yet, I don't know of anyone who self-identifies as a Brooks Koepka fan...which is why I started this tangent in the first place.
 

Warning Track Speed

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I want to see Koepka run away with it. What he's doing right now is awesome and I hope he keeps it up. I wouldn't say he or anyone else is my "favorite" player, but right now this is the kind of performance you don't see too often. He's toying with these guys, both physically and mentally, the way he blasted through that shitshow that followed his partner around the course yesterday.

I'll turn on him soon enough if he does this at Pebble and beyond. But for this weekend I hope he finishes what he has started.
 

The Needler

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And now Koepka is playing Tiger-like golf and almost certainly establishing himself as the best, most talented and most consistent golfer in the world...and there's no chance in hell CBS wants him to carry a huge lead into the final round.
Well, the most consistent Major Championship player in the world. There’s a reason why he’s not ranked #1, and it’s because at age 29, he still only has 5 PGA tour wins. And up until now, he’s probably not had one of the best 7 or 8 seasons on tour.

If he keeps this up, and he probably will, because he’s certainly one of the 2 or 3 most talented players out there, he’ll get plenty of fans. He just hasn’t been doing it for as long or as frequently as the other top guys, so the fans haven’t has any reason or opportunity to build that affinity for him.
 

Comfortably Lomb

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I was listening on PGA radio earlier. Brooks was on 4. Second shot 7i 210 into the green. That’s just incredible.
Eh, it's not really, anymore. The current generation of long hitters are all max effort swing guys.

A serious question: are there any Brooks Koepka fans as such? I'm in awe of the way he's playing at the moment - this is Tiger-at-his-best crazy good - but he seems a bit personality-free and rather difficult to love.
There don't seem to be many. He's a bit boring on the course. Hitting the ball a mile is great and all but if you see one long drive you've seen them all. I don't think people dislike him, just they don't really care about him. I'll take him over DJ in the long hitter division, fwiw.
 
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johnmd20

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There don't seem to be many. He's a bit boring on the course. Hitting the ball a mile is great and all but if you see one long drive you've seen them all. I don't think people dislike him, just they don't really care about him. I'll take him over DJ in the long hitter division, fwiw.
Needler hit the nail on the head, too. Koepka has come out of nowhere to win a few majors. He was basically unknown in 2017, so building up the reputation takes some time. And he has a way about him that isn't that compelling when he's on the course. He's just looks like an aloof robot. I am not saying he is aloof, but that's the way it looks.

I am certainly hoping for a more compelling Sunday, but something crazy has to happen with Brooks for that to happen. Right now, he's just too good.
 

johnmd20

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Kelly Kraft is in the rough, horrible lie and he's like, "You mind if I use a foot wedge?" The official says, "Ok, no problem with me."
 

BigMike

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Not the great start for my boys. Wallace with a bogie on 1. Berger hits 2 absolutely perfect shots, the second hits the flag near the bottom and ends up more than 60 feet away.
 

Byrdbrain

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I think "top tracer" tracked Koepka's divot on his approach to two.
If showed him hitting an awful slice and then they switch views and the ball settled nicely on the green.
 

BigMike

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Brooks botches a pretty easy birdie putt at 1, so he sticks it even closer on 2
 

FL4WL3SS

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Well, the most consistent Major Championship player in the world. There’s a reason why he’s not ranked #1, and it’s because at age 29, he still only has 5 PGA tour wins. And up until now, he’s probably not had one of the best 7 or 8 seasons on tour.

If he keeps this up, and he probably will, because he’s certainly one of the 2 or 3 most talented players out there, he’ll get plenty of fans. He just hasn’t been doing it for as long or as frequently as the other top guys, so the fans haven’t has any reason or opportunity to build that affinity for him.
I don't think folks understand how good 5 wins before 30 is -- 10 wins and a major is a HoF career. Brooks is already a HoF player with his multiple majors.
 

Comfortably Lomb

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I don't think folks understand how good 5 wins before 30 is -- 10 wins and a major is a HoF career. Brooks is already a HoF player with his multiple majors.
It’s not really that. I think people understand how great his run has been... it’s that they don’t care much and are trying to understand why that’s the case.
 

BigMike

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Do we expect this to stay on CBS the rest of the day? I would assume so, I can't imagine it ending by 6 though. I have to run out to coach in a few and want to tape the rest to watch later
 

johnmd20

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Do we expect this to stay on CBS the rest of the day? I would assume so, I can't imagine it ending by 6 though. I have to run out to coach in a few and want to tape the rest to watch later
It's hard to imagine they will move away from CBS. But it's scheduled to finish at 7pm, no?

edit - the leaders teed off at almost 3pm. Couldn't ever come close to finishing at 6pm.