Talking Golf With The Golf Guy Season 8-Episode 9
in Archives, Blog, PGA Championship, Podcasts, Shows by Jeff Waters

Talking Golf With The Golf Guy Season 8-Episode 9

With 2023 PGA Champion Brooks Koepka

Pain is the scourge and complaint for many athletes, primarily when the suffering exists in the knees, feet, and joints that restrict their movements and range of motion.

Injuries compounded and more problematic for Professional Golfers who must forcefully swing a golf club and walk when they ply their trade on the PGA Tours.

When the Professional Golfer is a Multiple Major Champion winner and former No. 1 player in the world with a shattered kneecap, sagging confidence, contemplating retirement from the sport he once ruled, and wondering if he will play competitive golf again, you know his concern and anguish are severe.

When that player regains his inner strength, health, resolve, and competitive fire and then claims the 2023 PGA Golf Championship at the demanding Oak Hill Country Club, you you might say his comeback and recovery from his injury and self-doubts was successful.

The passage to rehabilitation appears considerably more laborious and noteworthy when the player in question, Brooks Koepka, is also the standard bearer for LIV Golf, the upstart alternative Professional Golf Tour, funded and promoted by Saudi Arabia, in direct competition with the more established PGA Tour.

Whose members’ participation in PGA Tournament events has been curtailed, restricted and is the subject of aggressive and multiple legal actions by both parties of the dispute in question.

Koepka’s injuries prevented him from competing in the 2022 Masters and the Presidents Cup two years ago in Australia, precipitating his move to the LIV Golf Tour in June of last year.

Feeling his way back into competition, he challenged at this year’s Master’s only to fall back and finish second to the eventual winner, Jon Rahm.

His comeback was not to be denied in this year’s second Major Championship.

He made consecutive birdies early on the final day, never losing the lead, shot 67, and cruised to victory over Victor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler, who tied for second place.

With this performance, Brooks Koepka, clawed his way back to the top, playing high-caliber golf on the world stage against the best players on the planet, without pain, and for the fifth time in his career and third time at the PGA, Brooks Koepka won a major Championship.

This Major Tournament is Koepka’s first since claiming the 2019 PGA Championship in New York, and he is the twentieth player in the modern era to win at least five majors.

Koepka is also joining Jack Nicklaus, Walter Hagan, Tiger Woods, Gene Sarazen, and Sam Snead to have won at least three or more PGA’s.

Only Tiger Woods and Phil Michelson have won more Majors among active players.

Koepka is the first LIV Golf member to win a major Championship giving additional credibility to the fledgling organization, along with three other members of LIV Golf finishing in the top ten for the second straight major tournament.

The victory also moved Koepka to No. 13 in the world and No. 2 in the American Ryder Cup standings, with the top six automatically qualifying for the team event in September.

California Club Professional, Michael Block, made the loudest noise of the tournament by making the 36-hole cut, and a hole-in-one to finish fifteenth, pocketing almost $300,000 and qualifying to return to next year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla.

The highest finish by a Club Professional since Lonnie Nielsen’s tie for eleventh in 1986.

Giving credence and hope to Club Pros everywhere whose only dream, as working PGA Golf Professionals, is a chance to compete on the world’s biggest and grandest stage and achieve success if only for a fluttering moment in time.

With five major championships, Brooks Koepka has now returned from injury, his self-doubt, and salvaged his ownership as one of Professional Golf’s all-time outstanding players.

The list of Professional Golfers to have won five majors since 1970 is short and explementary and includes Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson, Seve Ballesteros, and now Brooks Koepka.

I had a chance to sit in and listen to Brooks Koepka’s Sunday night Championship interview at the Oak Hill Country Club.

Please Listen Here.

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With over a half-century of engagement in the sport of Golf, Jeff Waters has become one of the most accomplished, experienced, and qualified Golf Professionals in the history of the PGA of America. He is a fully certified and trained Master Professional joining an exceedingly small and elite group of Professionals in the World to have achieved this prestigious title. Jeff holds University Degrees in Political Science, Teaching Minors in Economics and Finance, attended graduate school in Commercial Recreation, taught undergraduate classes at the University of Utah, and earned a master’s in business administration. With more than fifty years of experience and success in the business of Golf, Jeff spent ten years playing and competing in the game at all levels ten years laboring as an Assistant Golf Professional, acquiring the job-related skills, responsibilities, and training required for a career in golf, ten years fulfillment as a PGA Head Professional overseeing all aspects of the total golf course operation, three years’ service as Director of Player Development for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, administering and managing multiple golf course programs and activities, thirty-three years as a Golf Coach and Instructor at The Rocky Mountain Golf Academy, The University of Utah’s College of Health and the Granite Peaks Community College, teaching and tutoring the game. Additionally, Jeff has spent the last twenty-seven years as the Owner, President, and CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises (RMG), a Utah-registered and licensed business offering golf-related services throughout the Western United States utilizing golf as the marketing tool. Finally, Jeff has performed on the national media stage for the past thirty-eight years as an Announcer, Author, Producer, and Talk Radio Host, communicating and sharing the joy, art, and skill that is the Game, Sport, and Challenge of Golf. Jeff, a well-known golf journalist, has been active in print media from an early age. His articles, commentary, and features regularly appear nationwide. He has authored two golf instruction books: “The Ten Commandments of Golf, Proven Principles That Make Your Golf Game Better,” and “The Short Game, the Transition from the Golf Course to the Putting Green.” Both are available as e-book downloads and on Amazon. Jeff penned his first short story while still in his teens and has since published 100’s of commentaries, essays, and instruction pieces in magazines, blogs, internet forums, and other platforms, including Golf Today, Utah Golf Magazine, Utah Golf News, Rocky Mountain Golfer, Fairways Magazine, Jackson Hole Golf News, Talking Golf with the Golf Guy, Voices in the Community.com, and Jeffgolfguy.com. He is the author of multiple books, stories, articles, posts, and evaluations of other writers’ publications. Jeff began his public communications career in High School and has had a constant presence in sports commentary throughout the years, providing play-by-play and color analysis at many diverse levels, including announcing football, baseball, and basketball games, along with local and national golf tournaments, while performing on other media platforms as well. Jeff was an early pioneer in Sports Radio, hosting a weekly talk show, “Talking Golf with the Golf Guy,” broadcasted and aired on various radio stations throughout the regional market, syndicated nationally on The Rocky Mountain Golf Network, and offered on most of the recognized podcast directories and streaming services. Over his extensive announcing career, Jeff has provided the vocal narration for hundreds of voice-overs, commercials, radio programming, sports interviews, tournament updates, blogs, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos, including the original voice work on the best-selling X-Box Links golf game. Jeff also contributed voice and commentary on the Centennial production, “One Hundred Years of the Utah State Amateur,” which is available on iTunes and Apple Music. As a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Jeff has attended and reported on-site more than a hundred golf tournaments, including an assortment of Major Golf Championships, including The United States Open Championship, The Masters, the PGA Championship, and The Ryder Cup, along with other competitions on the PGA Tours annual tournament schedule. Jeff has produced, directed, and distributed numerous film and video projects as stand-alone presentations while incorporating them within his blog, website, syndicated podcasts, and national radio programming. All are available for review on YouTube. Known as “The Voice of Golf” and “The Golf Guy” throughout the Western United States, Jeff is regularly sought for advice and counsel and often speaks to groups on golf-related subjects. You may contact Jeff by email at jeffgolfguy@att.net and on his website at www.jeffgolfguy.com.