World Golf Championship Recap: Koepka Domination Continues

If Brooks Koepka is going to add WGCs to the tournaments he cares about, well, everybody else surely will be playing for second place. Of course, they already were, as Koepka is nearing completion on a second straight year of world golf domination.

Koepka won a World Golf Championship event for the first time on Sunday, turning an anticipated slugfest with Rory McIlroy at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational into a slow but steady technical knockout. Koepka finished six shots clear of McIlroy, who was reduced to a tie for fourth in another final-group implosion. Koepka wound up winning comfortably by three, but it was over fast-charging Webb Simpson.

Koepka, 29, and McIlroy, 30, were born almost exactly one year apart and both have four majors. But the distance between the world's Nos. 1 and 3 golfers is akin to a 400-yard drive at Kapalua. Even No. 2 Dustin Johnson, surely now regretting all he shared with Koepka over the past few years, is far behind his workout buddy. (Are they still working out together? Hard to envision that's still going on.)

Koepka now has a whopping 12.6824 world ranking points. He leads Johnson (9.4337) by 3.2487 points, McIlroy (8.4800) by 4.2024 and No. 5 Tiger Woods (6.9333) by 5.7491. By comparison, the gap between Koepka and Woods is almost the same as between Woods and No. 129-ranked Brendan Jones (1.1858).

The wins for Koepka are now coming with such great ease; it's as if he's almost toying with everyone else. He still wasn't at TPC Southwind an hour before his tee time and Nick Faldo was beside himself (he surely wasn't beside Koepka). Thankfully, golfer/broadcaster Colt Knost cracked the case, putting everyone at ease (except maybe McIlroy).
 

Koepka won only one major in 2019, but he was also second twice and fourth once. Let's not forget that any season with a major win, regardless of the rest of the results, is a huge success. This also was Koepka's third win of 2018-19, including the CJ Cup back in October and the PGA. Last season, he won only twice, though they were both majors.

Koepka will now look to win one of the few things he hasn't: the FedEx Cup. He'll begin the three-event playoffs in a couple weeks as the No. 1 seed.

Even if Koepka doesn't capture the FedEx Cup championship and the $10 million that goes with it, we all know and – more importantly – all the other golfers know that Koepka stands alone at the top of the golf world.

But a little perspective to finish with: Koepka has the most world ranking points since Johnson in June 2017 – yes, Johnson had more just two years ago – and the gulf between him and then-No. 2 McIlroy was significantly greater at almost five points. But only 11 months later, in May 2018, Johnson had lost his No. 1 ranking to Justin Thomas.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Rory McIlroy
Another final group on Sunday, another walk of shame. McIlroy was once again in position to make a huge statement about his place atop the golf universe, and he meekly limped home with a tie for fourth. On the other hand, and we are dead serious about this, we are incredibly impressed with what McIlroy was able to do one week after what had to be the worst moment of his golf life. If we would've gone out and shot 80 and then missed the cut at the Open Championship in our home country, when that entire country was rooting for us like it had never rooted for anything before, we wouldn't have been able to get out of bed for a week. Maybe five. Huge kudos to McIlroy for getting off the mat (only to find himself back on it come Sunday night).

Webb Simpson
Simpson virtually locked up a spot in the Tour Championship, moving from 26th to 13th in the point standings with his solo second at TPC Southwind. His putting has been slightly off from last year's incredible turnaround on the greens, but he showed what he can do when the putter is going. Simpson was third in the Memphis field in strokes gained: putting, and he now heads to the Wyndham, where he is a former champ and has finished top-six in four of the past five years.

Marc Leishman
It has not been a great spring and summer for the big Aussie, who had had only one top-10 since February (T5 at Memorial). He was awful in the majors, with two missed cuts and nothing even inside the top-30. But he was solo third at Memphis, maybe finding his game just in time for the playoffs.

Matthew Fitzpatrick
The still-only-24-year-old Englishman made a gallant effort for his first Tour win, which would've gotten him into the FedEx Cup playoffs and a PGA Tour card for the first time. Fitzpatrick is a shorter hitter, averaging around 290 off the tee, which makes it really hard for him to contend on longer courses such as Southwind. But he tied for fourth, moving to a career-best 27th in the world rankings. Fitzpatrick also tied for second earlier this year at Bay Hill, so it seems he's figuring out how to play on the longer U.S. tracks.

Tommy Fleetwood
It was very impressive for the Englishman to do so well – he tied for fourth – a week after being runner-up at the Open Championship. After a sub-par season, Fleetwood has come on with consecutive top-fives, which followed two consecutive top-25s. He is definitely someone to watch in the playoffs.

Cameron Smith
Smith is another guy coming around of late, after a horrible spring/summer. He tied for 29th at Detroit, then 20th at the Open Championship and now 12th at Memphis. He's up to 75th in the point standings, which means he still has work to do to get into the second playoff event (top-70 get in).

Aaron Rai
The 24-year-old Englishman was someone we said to keep an eye on at Memphis, and he delivered with a tie for 12th. He began the week at 179th OWGR but moved to 149th. Rai has been in some big-time golf situations over the past year and he didn't cower. He won the Hong Kong Open last year to qualify for this WGC, beating a field that included Fitzpatrick, Fleetwood, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Rafa Cabrera Bello, among others. Then Rai tied for 51st at the WGC-Mexico, so his deer-in-the-headlights phase is over. Rai is someone to stick in your back pocket and consider for either European DraftKings play or some of the U.S. tournaments next season.

Alex Noren
This had been a brutal season for the veteran Swede, and he was well outside the top-125 in the point standings. But he tied for 11th at the Open Championship, then for 12th at the WGC, moving to exactly 125th. That is far from secure, and Noren is playing the Wyndham.

Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff
Continuing to follow the Class of '19, Morikawa extended the incredible start to his professional career with a win at the opposite-field Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev. It didn't get him into the Masters, but he did secure his card after only six Tour events. He's even ahead of Wolff in the FedEx Cup point standings, now 46th. Wolff is 72nd after trying for 24th at the WGC. He's just outside the cutoff to make the second playoff event, though first we'll see him, and Viktor Hovland, this week at the Wyndham. Morikawa was originally in the field but pulled out after he won.

Sebastian Munoz
The 26-year-old is getting pretty close to keeping his card by tying for 11th at Reno, moving from 130th to 123rd in the point standings. He'll also be at the Wyndham.

Martin Kaymer
Probably not to many people knew that Kaymer was in the field at the Barracuda. Not only did he miss qualifying for the Open Championship last week, he missed the WGC. He entered the week 149th in the point standings, and his tie for 31st moved him up only three spots. He's also in the Wyndham, but moving from 146th in points to inside the top-125 is almost unheard of.

Richy Werenski
Werenski tied for 41st at the Barracuda, which likely will cause some sleepless nights in advance of the Wyndham. You see, he dropped from 125th to 127th in the point standings heading into the Wyndham.

Daniel Berger
Berger has played a full season after a wrist injury derailed him last season. But he hasn't come close to regaining his former top-20 OWGR success. While the top guys were playing TPC Southwind – a course at which Berger has won twice – he was on the undercard in Reno. He could manage only a solo 58th in the weak field, dropping from 127th to 131st in the point standings. He'll be in the Wyndham, seeking to move up at least five spots. His last win was in 2017 at Memphis, so he is not exempt; he'd have to go to the Korn Ferry playoffs.