Brooks Koepka overcame a five-bogey back-nine at Bethpage Black with a terrific up and down for par on 18 to claim the 2019 PGA Championship by two strokes over Dustin Johnson.
With the win, Koepka becomes the first player in history to reign as a two-time defending champion in two majors AT THE SAME TIME.
With that noted… Here’s a list of some of the important history Koepka produced by converting his 54-hole lead into victory.
1. As mentioned, Koepka becomes the first player in history to be the reigning back-to-back major champion in two of the four majors. He’s the reigning back-to-back PGA Champion, and reigning back-to-back U.S. Open Champion – through June 16 at the conclusion of the 2019 U.S. Open.
2. Koepka becomes the first player to successfully defend both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open in a career.
3. The 29-year old Floridian becomes just the seventh player in golf history (since 1934) to win four major titles before the age of 30. He joins Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Byron Nelson, Peter Thomson, Rory McIlroy, and Seve Ballesteros.
4.Koepka becomes just the fourth player to win four majors in eight starts, joining Tiger Woods (2000-01, 2005-06), Ben Hogan (1951-53), and Jack Nicklaus (1970-72).
5. The former Florida State star becomes the fifth wire-to-wire winner at the PGA Championship (no ties): Bobby Nichols (1964), Jack Nicklaus (1971), Raymond Floyd (1982) and Hal Sutton (1983).
6. He becomes the seventh player to win multiple PGA Championship (2018-19) and U.S. Open (2017-18) titles, joining Walter Hagen (5 PGA/2 US) Gene Sarazen (3/2), Ben Hogan (2/4), Jack Nicklaus (5/4), Lee Trevino (2/2), Tiger Woods (4/3).
7. And finally, he reclaims the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking, last held in January 2019.
