SO THE Major-winning machine is at it again – although sadly for Tiger Woods’ army of fans, it was not him bringing the Bethpage beast to its knees in the first round of the USPGA.
Defending champion Brooks Koepka, playing alongside Masters winner Woods and Claret Jug-holder Francesco Molinari, made the fearsome New York course look more like a pitch and putt track.
Koepka really did make it look ridiculously easy as he opened with a bogey-free 63, while his playing partners were both grinding out messy 72s – the same score as Rory McIlroy, who had to wait until the 18th hole for his only birdie.
New Zealander Danny Lee was the only player to threaten Koepka after a six-under 64 late on.
In addition to making six birdies he missed three more chances from inside 12 feet. Otherwise we would have witnessed the lowest round in championship history.
Koepka, 29, could not complain too much about the ones that got away.
He set the ball rolling by draining a forty footer from just off the green to birdie his opening hole, the tenth, and rounded things off by sinking another birdie effort from almost 35 feet on the ninth.
The stuff in between was not too bad either, and you get the impression they might as well start inscribing his name on the giant Wanamaker Trophy, just below the spot where they put his name last year.
That gave Koepka his third major victory in his last six starts, after back-to-back US Open victories. He almost made it four from seven at the Masters, only for Woods to clinch a one shot victory even his fellow American could not begrudge him.
That is likely to prove only a temporary blip, and suddenly Koepka’s reply after being asked how many Majors he might end up with – “I can’t see any any reason why I shouldn’t make it to double digits” – does not look like wishful thinking.
Ten Majors? That is twice as many as Seve Ballesteros won, and only three other men have made it to double figures – Woods, with 16, Jack Nicklaus on 18, and Walter Hagen, who won 11.
Woods, 43, could still add to his Major tally. But not this week.
SICK AS A BIRDIE
After looking like the Tiger of old when he won at Augusta, Woods looked more like an old Tiger this time.
The alarm bells were ringing when he missed a scheduled practice round on Wednesday.
That meant he had played just nine holes this week, and his agent issued a statement saying there was nothing wrong with Woods – he had just decided to rest after getting re-acquainted with the course by playing 36 hole last week.
That turned out to be a pack of lies. After his round Woods commented: “I wasn’t feeling that good yesterday. I felt a little sick, and stayed home. But I felt OK today – I just made too many mistakes.
“It’s not easy to make birdies on this course, but it is easy to make bogeys. I had a good run to get it back under par, and let it slip. Brooks played great – he probably left a few out there. It could easily have been a couple better.”
Woods had predicted the key to repeating his 2002 US Open victory here was to “avoid the doubles – take your medicine and move on”.
But that mantra was in tatters after just one hole. A bad drive forced a lay-up, and a shocking wedge shot from 85 yards flew the green and led to a double bogey six.
He had another double on the par three 17th after a poor tee shot ended in an horrendous lie in a greenside bunker, and was followed by an ugly three-putt.
The front nine at Bethpage usually yields lower scores, and Woods suddenly went into overdrive, with birdies at one and two, followed by a brilliant eagle at the fourth, where he sank a curling thirty footer.
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That propelled him to one under par, and incredibly he was up to a share of fifth place. But his touch on the greens deserted him after that.
Two more three-putts at five and seven and another clumsy bogey at the par three eighth sent him plummeting back down the leaderboard.
He will know that making up nine shots on a rampant Koepka IS wishful thinking.
