Brimming with confidence of a champion, Brooks Koepka aims to continue U.S. Open dominance at Brookline

BROOKLINE, Mass. -- The best golfer over the last half-decade at the U.S. Open is not among the favorites entering the 122nd running of the national championship. In fact, he's not even close. Brooks Koepka enters the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club with 40-1 odds to win and 19 golfers shorter than that.

That's astounding to see when one considers that Koepka has lost to just four golfers in his last four U.S. Opens, winning two titles outright in that span.

Koepka has beaten or tied 99.4% of the 620 golfers he's teed it up against in his nation's championship dating back to the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, which he won. He won again the following year at Shinnecock in a classic U.S. Open that featured runs from Tommy Fleetwood and Dustin Johnson. Then he finished second to Gary Woodland in 2019 at Pebble Beach as his bid for a three-peat fell short by four shots. After missing 2020 at Winged Foot, Koepka returned to Torrey Pines in 2021 and finished tied for fourth behind Jon Rahm, Louis Oosthuizen and Harris English.

"My buddies were talking to me the other day," said Koepka of his recent record at the USGA's crown jewel event. "The last four U.S. Opens I've played, I've lost to four people, which is pretty cool. That's pretty special, but yeah, I love this event. This event has always been good to me, so hopefully [I will] play well this week."

As for how he'll play well this week, Koepka keyed on the singular factor that has always made him a menace at this tournament. In addition to his insane five-year run, every U.S. Open appearance he's made dating back to 2014 at Pinehurst has resulted in a top-20 finish. That consistency stems from his unwillingness to be baited into bad decisions and tournament-ending shots.

"[It takes] a lot of discipline," said Koepka of his strategy. "Whether that means laying up off tees, just to hit fairways, missing in the correct spots, not being suckered into any pin locations -- even though it might be a go yardage for you -- or anything like that. You've just got to be disciplined, stay kind of always in that moment."

Koepka has not made a double bogey at a U.S. Open since the first round in 2018 when he made two and still went on to win. That's emblematic of his underrated ability to keep the ball in front of him at all times and not play his way out of the tournament with silly choices.

"You know you're going to make a bunch of bogeys, try not to make a double bogey," said Koepka. "That's always been my big goal in majors: [If] you never make a double bogey out here, you're doing all right. You get out of trouble, then get back in position. That's the key to U.S. Opens."

The USGA setup also fits his perception of himself. Koepka's view of Koepka is as golf's foremost athlete and resident tough guy, playing through pain and injuries like a more modern, broader-shouldered Tiger Woods. Whether this is true is up for debate. Whether it works, however, is not.

"I love it, man. It's a tough test," said Koepka. "I don't like these 25-under [tournaments] where you have to shoot 60 every round just to compete. I like it when it's a battle. That's kind of more my style."

Don't let his current form scare you away, either. Since the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March, Koepka has made just two starts, a missed cut at the Masters and a T55 at the PGA Championship last month. However, going into last year's U.S. Open, he had missed three of his four prior cuts. He's the rarest of all players who can seemingly flip the switch at the toughest tests in the sport on the hardest courses in the world.

Surely, Koepka has seen how many golfers are ahead of him on the odds board. Players who have fewer top 10s at majors than he has wins. Surely, he will be thinking about that Thursday morning. Why? Because that's what gets him going in weeks like this one.

When he was asked about what he thought about losing to just four players since 2017, he gave a very Koepka-ian response.

"I wish it was less."

There are a million reasons to doubt that Koepka can win his third U.S. Open and fifth major championship, but perhaps the two most important indicators of all -- past performance at the hardest championship in the world and confidence level compared to the field -- are certainly not among them.