For Brooks Koepka, 2018 simply keeps getting better.
The 28-year-old Koepka, already the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year, moved to No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings by winning the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges by four strokes over Gary Woodland at Nine Bridges Golf Club http://www.ninebridges.co.kr/eng/ in Jeju Island, South Korea.
Koepka shot 8-under-par 64 to hold off Woodland, who carded a 63 and was in the chase until making a bogey on the 17th hole about the time Koepka chipped in for a birdie one hole behind.
“I don’t think I ever thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be the best golfer in the world,” said Koepka, who has won three of his last 11 starts, including the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. “I can’t even put it into words.
“I just need to keep winning. I feel like to win a few more regular Tour events and then keep adding majors. I feel like my game’s set up for that. I’ve gotten so much confidence off winning those majors, where it’s incredible every time I tee it up I feel like I really have a good chance to win whether I have my A-game or not.
“I’m so excited right now, you have no idea. I just can’t wait to go play again.”
Koepka punctuated his fifth PGA Tour victory with a 20-foot eagle putt on the final hole to record a score of 21-under 267.
Ryan Palmer raced up the leaderboard with a bogey-free 62 that included birdies on the last seven holes to finish six strokes back in a tie for third with Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain, who eagled the 12th hole in a 65, while Jason Day of Australia totaled 67 and was nine down in a tie for fifth with Scott Piercy, who closed with a 69.
Pat Perez of San Diego, Cameron Smith of Australia and Chez Reavie also finished with 69s to wind up one more back in a tie for seventh, while Adam Scott of Australia shot 63 with an eagle on the 18th hole to end up 11 behind in a tie for 10th with J.J. Spaun (68) of Los Angeles and San Diego State, Adam Hadwin (64) of Canada, and Ian Poulter (71) of England.
Fourth-ranked Justin Thomas, the defending champion, tied for 38th after a 68.
For complete results, https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2019/the-cj-cup-at-nine-bridges/leaderboard.html
