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The Next Tiger Woods? Brooks Koepka Is the ‘Only One’ Per Jon Rahm to Crack the ‘Major’ Code

Published 02/07/2024, 4:30 AM EST

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Tiger Woods is dubbed a legend for a reason. It would be extremely hard, if not impossible, for another athlete to reach his level owing to the accolades he has garnered in the sport of golf. However, Jon Rahm disagrees! Wait, what did he say? Interestingly, the Spaniard was all praise for none other than Brooks Koepka during an interview.

In a talk with Golf.com, the 29-year-old decided to compare the American pro to Mr. T, all the while alluding to the wins he has managed to clinch throughout his career. Moreover, while doing so, he went ahead to dub the athlete as nothing short of “incredible!”

Jon Rahm dishes out praise for Brooks Koepka

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“You have to respect the guy!” exclaimed Rahm when talking about Koepka and the number of majors, numbering five, that he had raked in since 2017, when he won his first championship at the U.S. Open. Adding on, he said, “What he’s done is absolutely incredible,” before continuing, “This is the only one that you can think, maybe in this stretch, is approaching somewhat Tiger numbers,” as he drew a parallel between the LIV Golf Pro and the legend.

Continuing with his acclaim, the Spanish athlete also pointed out how such an achievement is “not easy to come by.” Moreover, he once again emphasized the need to respect the 2023 PGA Championship winner for doing “what he’s done,” i.e., emerging victorious a total of nine times on the circuit, including the five major wins.

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Woods, throughout the 27 years of his professional career, has managed to win a total of 15 major championships. Although 53-year-old Phil Mickelson is the next active golfer to have the most major wins at 6, he achieved the same from 2004 to 2021, as opposed to the Smash GC skipper, who won it from 2017 to 2023.

Interestingly, Rahm is not the only person who was full of acclaim for the golfer. Two of the most famous coaches in the game of golf, both of whom had once instructed Koepka, had dished out praise for the athlete.

Legendary coaches express their admiration for Koepka

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Pete Cowen and Claude Harmon III once shared their views of the LIV Golf Pro in an interview. “He can come across as nonchalant,” said Harmon while referring to Koepka before continuing, “but I have never met anybody quite as competitive.” Adding on, he mentioned how the 9X PGA Tour champ likes to be under pressure during a battle, saying, “He has an appreciation that in order to win a major, it’s going to get dirty and messy, and you either like that or you don’t.”

On another note, Cowen, the golfer’s current instructor, couldn’t hold back his disbelief at how “he doesn’t win every tournament” owing to how “there are very few better than him at any part of the game.” Continuing on with his compliments, the English coach expressed his faith in the professional’s ability to reach “double digits” in majors, all the while pointing out that “he’s halfway there.”

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Not a lot of players get showered with praise like Koepka has been over the past few years. Even so, it was all thanks to the amount of hard work he was able to put into his game. Well, in the case of reaching Woods’s records, one can only wait and see whether the athlete manages to achieve the same.

Watch This Story | Brooks Koepka Has a Bold Reason For Shifting to LIV Golf: ‘I Was Going to Go One Way or Another’

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Written by:

Allan Abe

1,162Articles

One take at a time

My search for happiness eventually led me, Allan Abe, to the hallways of ES after dabbling in different fields. Following my childhood passion for the sport and coupling it with my passion for writing, the role of a golf writer was the perfect career path and has been more than a fruitful one. Through the live coverage and in-depth analysis of the lives of big stars like Tiger Woods and Jon Rahm, I have put to use all my journalistic-accolade-winning experience, from state-wide events to college competitions, to give the reader a great story with every piece.
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Edited by:

Sheldon Pereira

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