Mayakoba Classic Recap: Hoffman's Win Takes Backseat

While the PGA Tour was wrapping up the 2014 portion of the 2014-15 season on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Sunday's biggest development in golf took place a half a world away.

Brooks Koepka won the European Tour's Turkish Airlines Open, signaling an arrival predicted by a large portion of the golf community. When the PGA season ended not too long ago, and prognosticators began to look ahead, the name repeatedly attached to "Next Big Thing" was Koepka's. (For those who were hoping to draft the 24-year-old Floridian on the sly, sorry but, "Yok oluyor!" That's Turkish for "Not happening!")

So with apologies to the Hoffman family of Las Vegas -- Charley Hoffman won the OHL Classic at Mayakoba for this third career title -- Koepka is who moved the golf needle.

Koepka played in Europe this year, which is one reason why he was in the golfing hotbed of Antalya, Turkey (full name of the tournament: Turkish Airlines Open by the Ministry of Youth and Sport). It was the third event in the four-tourney Final Series on the European Tour (sort of like the FedEx Cup playoffs). Koepka's one-stroke win over Ian Poulter and other elite golfers also secured the Race to Dubai title for idle Rory McIlroy -- a week before the Euros actually get to Dubai for the year-ending DP World Tour Championship. Besides having his European card, Koepka had also secured U.S. playing privileges with a special temporary membership during 2013-14, then accepted his full Tour card for '14-15, as his non-member points would've been enough to land him inside the top 125.

The Florida State product shot a 7-under 65 in the final round to best Poulter, who missed a five-foot birdie try on 18 that would've forced a playoff. That moved Koepka all the way to sixth in the Race to Dubai standings, and from 61st to 35th in the latest OWGR. It means he'll play in the Masters and probably all the majors and WGCs; Koepka already finished T4 in this year's U.S. Open and T15 in the PGA Championship. It also means he may be exorbitantly costly in auction drafts -- costly as in overpriced.

So you've got to ask yourself a question: How high do you think Koepka can soar in 2015?

MONDAY TAKEAWAY

Ian Poulter

The Englishman is putting some nice finishing touches on his worst season in years. Not only did Poulter plummet from No. 12 to 44 in the world -- in large part because of shoulder, wrist and back injuries -- he was ordinary in the Ryder Cup. But he recently switched his equipment to Titleist clubs and balls and, surprisingly, the results have been immediate. Poulter finished T6 at the WGC event two weeks ago before his second-place standing in Turkey. Granted, he was disappointed in the moment for coming up short on Sunday, but signs point to better times ahead. He's already back to No. 26 in the new OWGR.

Charley Hoffman

Hoffman was the best Hoffman on tour last season, but that's only because Morgan Hoffmann spells his name with two Ns. He had a wobbly finish on Sunday, but so did Shawn Stefani -- they both bogeyed 18 -- allowing Hoffman to come away with his third career win, first since 2010 and first since cutting his mullet. Back in 2010, he was fourth in the point standings, but since then he's been in the 40-70 range. This win will probably lift him closer to 40 than 70 this season, but this likely will be the high mark of Hoffman's entire year.

Shawn Stefani

Now in his third season on Tour, Stefani continues to show signs that he's a comer. He lost in a Quicken Loans playoff to Justin Rose back in July; now, a bogey on the 72nd hole cost him another chance at this first career victory. Stefani was limited to 17 events last season because of injury, yet still was 83rd in points. He should do better than that this time around, and it's just a matter of time before he wins. Stefani has climbed from the mid-300s in the world earlier this year to No. 110.

Jason Bohn

Hoffman edged Stefani, but it was Bohn who owned the 54-hole lead. After three rounds in the 60s, Bohn ballooned to a three-over 74, falling to a tie for seventh. That follows his runner-up showing last week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, which follows a second, third and fourth from last season. Bohn has danced around his first win since 2010, but for some reason has not been able to close the deal. For someone with so many recent top fives, he's also missed a lot of cuts in the past couple of years. Hard to figure.

Harris English

Right around this time last year, after English won the OHL Classic for his second title in five months, he looked like the next Georgia product headed for super-stardom. But English has had only one top five since then, missing the cut in three of the four majors, with T48 at the U.S. Open. He tied for 37th in Mexico, and made only two of four cuts in the fall campaign. English surely looks like he has too much talent for this meandering play, but he's not even in the top 65 in the world.

Patrick Rodgers

Rodgers had a rude entry to the PGA Tour over the summer after leaving Stanford as the No. 1 college golfer. He could do no better than T39 in seven starts, leaving him without a Tour card, and then missed his first two cuts this season. At Mayakoba, where he played thanks to a sponsor exemption, he tied for 37th. That qualifies as his best career finish. It's a start, right? Maybe?

Michael Putnam

After blazing to s 66-64 and the lead at the midway point in Mexico, Putnam tumbled to a 77-74. This is his second season on the PGA Tour after a banner 2013 on the Web.com Tour. He made it through two events in the FedEx Cup playoffs, but had only one top 10 all season. So this looked like a potential breakthrough for Putnam. But he wound up T51. One bright spot: He finished as the top Putnam, edging younger brother Andrew by two strokes.

Angel Cabrera and Camilo Villegas

Even though Cabrera and Villegas are not what they once were, they were important draws, perhaps the top two, at the annual Mexico event. The Argentine Cabrera missed the cut a year after withdrawing from the event with an injury. The Colombian Villegas also had a trunk-slam. Two Mexicans did finish in the top 10: Carlos Ortiz and Oscar Fraustro tied for ninth. Ortiz is his country's top-ranked golfer, at 136th in the OWGR.

Padraig Harrington

Harrington has tried to get a jump on 2014-15, with the relatively weak fall fields. But after four events, the three-time major champion is not even in the top 200 in the point standings, having missed two cuts, including at the OHL Classic. Harrington is looking at a third straight year outside the playoffs and, at 43, has a long way to go before the Champions Tour beckons. Astonishingly, the Irishman is ranked 371st in the world.