U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka is low-key and high-powered

ST. LOUIS — Brooks Koepka is making it tough on himself. He thrives on hearing people say he is not or will not be all that great and is having a harder time finding such people after he left Shinnecock Hills in June with a second consecutive U.S. Open title.

Still, there he was at the PGA Championship Tuesday, remembering the flak he took for winning at unchallenging Erin Hills in 2017, recalling people once assuring him he would be working at McDonald’s rather than playing on tour and insisting he is out to “prove everybody wrong.”

But who is everybody?

“I mean, what am I supposed to say, `I’m satisfied with that?’ You want to keep adding to the list and keep progressing,” he said. “As long as at every tournament, every year, you’re getting better and better, that’s all that matters. I think that I’ve done a good job of that so far and I just need to continue that.”

Apologies in advance if this offends him, but he sure is one interesting dude, along with being one of the greatest golfers on Earth.

He stands out in an era that has seen numerous players appear ready to open the floodgates by winning their respective first majors, then fail to win a second. Plus, he totally saved the Open at Shinnecock.

Looking back on it, I’d have to say it was “fine” or “OK,” not as great as the site deserved. The U.S. Golf Association made the course too difficult on Saturday and too easy on Sunday. Phil Mickelson’s act of hitting a rolling ball briefly turned it into a circus (had Mickelson been disqualified, that would have overwhelmed everything else that happened all week).

Koepka salvaged the tournament with a gutsy, classy finish and a repeat performance that was a good story line.

Critics said his win at Shinnecock validated his victory at first-time venue Erin Hills, noting that the latter was like a newborn baby in that it had no teeth. “We can only play what they give us. It’s not like we get to choose what golf course we want to play in every week,” he said. “I mean, I can’t do anything (about the fact) the wind didn’t blow. I finished off 16-under, whatever I shot. What am I supposed to do? To come back the next year and validate that with a win was special.”

He has learned how to stay hungry after you win and stay balanced after you lose. He has been giving the latter advice to his younger brother Chase, who is following Brooks’ footsteps by playing the European Tour. “He’s not playing his best right now. He knows that. I know that. Everybody knows that,” the elder Koepka said. “You can’t let it bleed over into your life. How you do one week shouldn’t affect your happiness.”

At times during his career, Koepka has projected the impression that he wasn’t all that crazy about golf. That changed when he missed three months this season with a hand injury so severe that he questioned whether he would ever bounce back.  Sitting on the couch, he said, he fell in love with the game again.

Also at times, Koepka comes off like a curmudgeon. But that’s just not so. Just ask the folks who live near the East End house he rented during the U.S. Open. He obliged the kids that came to the door seeking autographs. The neighbors liked him so much that the sent him off for the final round with a shrine of homemade supportive placards. After he won, he signed every one of them.

But there is hope for a guy who loves to have people rooting against him. Koepka, a baseball fanatic, was asked Tuesday about his feelings on the Cardinals — for whom his great-uncle Dick Groat was a title-winning shortstop.

“I know he played for the Cardinals, won a World Series with them,” he said. Then with a mischievous smile, he added, “Other than that, I’m not a big Cardinals fan, to be honest. So, I’ll leave it at that.”