By Matt Smith
One of Dubai’s own is setting out on a new career path as just-graduated Amelia McKee has taken the decision to turn pro, stating “it is time to try my hand at a professional career, and move into my ‘grown-up’ life.”

The American 22-year-old has said farewell to New Mexico State University after graduating at the weekend, closing a chapter on a golfing journey that took her halfway around the world and back again.

The Houston, Texas, native moved to Dubai as a 10-year-old as her father took a job in the oil industry. She quickly fell in love with the game of golf in the UAE, progressing through the ranks while contending with the male players as there was no young female golf scene to speak of back then.

Amelia caught the attention of Claude Harmon at the Els Club, Dubai and he helped guide her on her journey that led to a scholarship at NMSU.

Three years further on and next up is Q-School in Florida, with the aim being the Epson Tour and — ultimately — the LPGA Tour.

“Today I say goodbye to college golf,” Amelia wrote in a public social media post.

“There are so many things that I have to say, none of which fully capture what I am actually feeling. I am unbelievably grateful for the experience and time I have had here at NMSU. Thinking about where I started, how I got here, and the last three years of my life bring up so many emotions. I could never put into words how much it all means to me.

“To my teammates -— you girls have changed my life in ways that you will never understand. You gave me a family far away from mine. You gave me peace and happiness on my hardest days. You helped me rekindle my love for the game of golf. For those things, I will never be able to repay you. But know that I have loved every moment being here with you.

“You’re going to do amazing things, long after I’m gone. And long after college. You’re the best people I have ever known. I can’t wait to see where this crazy world takes you, I know it will be magic. I love you forever.”

A young Amelia McKee with Sergio Garcia

Amelia also took time out to show appreciation to her coaches.

“Thank you for taking a chance on me,” she wrote. “I’m so proud to have been apart of the programme you created. Over the past three years, you have exceeded any expectation that I had of college golf. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for believing in me, even when it was hard to do myself. Thank you for simply being there when I needed you. Y’all are the best thing that could have happened to me. The 2019 version of myself was so lost and confused, you gave me a purpose and direction when I needed it the most. I am forever grateful.”

She signed off: “New Mexico State University, I will love you until the end of time.”

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The post New direction: Dubai golfer Amelia McKee turns pro after graduation, Q-School in Florida up next appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

On the bigger stage of life, it’s all relative given the seriousness of the growing COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the PGA Tour and other tours around the world are a travelling circus, with many moving parts and people beyond those hitting the shots.

It has been almost two weeks since the Players Championship was cancelled after the first round and subsequent tournaments followed suit. So what happens when the music stops, the big top folds up and no one is certain when the show will go on? Answers vary, depending on who you are and what you do.

Golfers, like athletes in any sport, are creatures of habit. It’s one thing to have that routine disrupted because of injury—there’s generally a definitive timeline for a return—but it’s another when that window of returning to normalcy is more nebulous. So how are PGA Tour players filling their time now? A look at social media suggests in numerous ways.

Anirban Lahiri is cooking.

With @PGATOUR on hold watch my amateur cooking as I fight boredom in isolation. Starting off simple with eggs but things will get serious. Here’s Ep 1 of my first IGTV series #CookingWithTheLahiris #currypower #homecooking #ifIcancookYoucancook #yumsolation pic.twitter.com/T24POCb5J2

— Anirban Lahiri (@anirbangolf) March 24, 2020

Erik van Rooyen is playing guitar (and taking requests).

A day late…. but, Welcome to #MusicMonday all my quarantiners. Send in your requests… #NOTangusyoung #yesiheadbang?? pic.twitter.com/E1pIvGkli7

— Erik van Rooyen (@FredVR_) March 24, 2020

A handful of players have taken to Peloton—Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel have been most furious in their stationary bike duels in a sort of redux of their 2007 Walker Cup match. Unlike 13 years ago when they split a pair of high-octane singles matches, however, McIlroy has been mopping the floor with Horschel this time.

Love what we started/created! Let’s keep it going! @McIlroyRory turn to pick the challenge next. 0-2 against him so far. Maybe 3rd times the charm for me!?‍?? @onepeloton @alextoussaint25 pic.twitter.com/4LllY8NtrY

— Billy Horschel (@BillyHo_Golf) March 21, 2020

Some have been practicing, though even that’s been made more difficult in recent days in South Florida and elsewhere with courses ordered closed by government officials. Of course it helps when you have a simulator in your man cave.

Others are giving (free!) lessons, like these from Padraig Harrington.

Today’s lesson ,how to stop hitting a slice or a cut. ⁦@EuropeanTour⁩ ⁦@PGATOUR⁩ #golfathome pic.twitter.com/UnwPc1eTxx

— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) March 23, 2020

Bryson DeChambeau has been going on Twitch, playing Fortnite and eating because, well, Bryson goes on Twitch, plays Fortnite and eats.

Going live on #twitch. Come join, ask me questions, help get your mind off of things in this scary time. https://t.co/KK7heaXzt2

— Bryson DeChambeau (@b_dechambeau) March 20, 2020

And someone has to mow the yard. Cameron Smith does it better than most.

 

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A week and a half of isolation, looking good. Stay safe everyone, if anyone’s bored, Look after your lawn, takes a bunch of time and gets your mind off things for a while!

A post shared by Cameron Smith (@cameronsmithgolf) on Mar 24, 2020 at 6:33am PDT

RELATED: 9 high-profile players who have some catching up to do when the PGA Tour resumes

“It took me three or four days to wrap my head around everything and get out of my middle-of-the-season mode and realize I’m going to be home for a while,” Horschel said. “Right now, I’m not even thinking about golf.”

Many still are, though.

A few hours down the road from where Horschel lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.—also home to the tour’s headquarters—is another tour pro hotspot: Jupiter and the surrounding area in South Florida. While golf courses across Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties have been ordered closed in response to the region’s increasing cases of coronavirus—Florida has nearly 1,700 cases so far, including 22 deaths, with more than half of those total cases coming from those three counties—Joey D Golf Sports Training Center, run by its eponymous owner Joey Diovisalvi, is as well, though it has been available to players on a limited basis.

It’s a private facility that also includes simulators, a putting green and club-fitting stations spread out across a 10,000 square foot warehouse. Adjustments have been made to limit occupants per local regulations, but some top players have been able to continue work on their games and their bodies. On Wednesday, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Bud Cauley were among those who stopped by.

“It took me three or four days to wrap my head around everything and get out of my middle-of-the-season mode and realize I’m going to be home for a while.” — Billy Horschel

It’s depressing, Johnson mused to Joey D about the news.

Diovisalvi concurs, adding that he and his staff are taking precautions and following guidelines to stay healthy. But with no definitive end in sight for COVID-19, he and his staff also provide players training regimens that are more fit for the offseason, rather than midseason.

“We’re working on way more things than we do in a tournament week,” Diovisalvi said. “If they’re a little sore, it’s OK.”

A half-hour north of Joey D’s gym is the Floridian Golf Club. It’s closed, like all the other courses in the area, but Claude Harmon III, who teaches out of there and works with a number of players, including Brooks Koepka, is trying to adjust to the new normal, too.

“I’m not giving any lessons at the moment,” Harmon said. “I think everyone is trying to do what they can and limiting interaction is the wisest thing to do.”

Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Harmon says he is talking to Koepka almost daily, as well as several other tour pros he works with.

Still, Harmon is keeping in touch with his players. Sitting still is not something any of them do well, and the same by extension is true for their coach.

“For me, if I’m not on the road at a tour event, I’m teaching six-to-seven hours a day,” he said. “We’re all used to be being on the go. It’s weird.

“I talk to Brooks almost every day. Si Woo Kim sends me videos of his swings from his house in Dallas. Everybody is trying to stay sharp. Golfers are a lot like a course, you can’t just stop maintaining it. We’re trying to find ways to continue to do stuff, but do so without hurting other people. The weather is perfect—it’s 80 degrees and the sun is shining—and you think you should be able to go out and do this stuff, but now everybody has to pitch in.”

Meanwhile, the rest of golf sits and waits like the rest of country for things to play out.

“Business, in general, has slowed dramatically,” said David Winkle, president of Hambric Sports, which represents a number of top players, including Johnson. “There are fewer phone calls and emails. Everyone’s taking this seriously and hunkering down.”

Andrew Redington/Getty Images
Winkle, agent to Dustin Johnson among other tour pros, says things are understandably quiet.

Winkle added that he normally gets 100-plus emails and calls a day and that he typically spends 75 percent of his time on the road. Now? He’s in Dallas, working from home, when there is work to do.

Similarly, caddies are also used to being away. The time at home is nice but it comes at a price: It means not being paid.

When a player misses a cut, he doesn’t make money, but there are lucrative equipment and sponsor deals to ease the burden. The guys carrying their bags? Not so much. No tournaments for two months means suddenly no income.

“It’s case by case [whether some guys are still getting paid or on contract],” notes a looper of one top-20 player. “But for us there’s nothing for now.”

In the meantime, he’ll continue to fill the hours playing with his kids, spending time at home and waiting like everyone else to see what’s next.

“I doubt any of us will be getting anything,” the caddie said. “It’s part of the risk of our job.”

The post With golf on hold, tour pros and their support teams are slowly adapting to the new norm appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Just eight months ago, Brooks Koepka hardly missed a shot in finishing T-4 at the Open Championship, his putting holding him back from making a charge. The swing was the least of his problems. Heck, there were hardly any problems at all—it was his fifth straight top-five finish in a major, and he was unquestionably the top men’s player in the world.

Fast forward to now, the week of the 2020 Players Championship, and he’s decided his swing has gotten to the point where it’s time for a new set of eyes.

After shooting a career-worst 81 and finishing T-47 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his fifth straight finish of T-17 or worse since returning from knee surgery last fall, Koepka flew out to Las Vegas on Sunday night to see famed swing instructor Butch Harmon. Koepka stayed there on Monday before flying back to the East Coast a day later, arriving at TPC Sawgrass late Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s one of those things I felt like I just … I had so much going on in my head, so many swing thoughts and needed to clear the slate,” Koepka said.

It wasn’t a drastic change to see Harmon by any measure. In fact, he’s keeping it in the family—Butch’s son Claude Harmon III has been Koepka’s chief swing coach for years, and Koepka said Claude gave him his blessing to go see his father. And it’s not like this was a completely new ordeal—the elder Harmon has seen Koepka swing it plenty of times, at the Floridan and at Ryder Cups in years past. Koepka made a point to stay that Claude is still his coach and will always be his coach, and noted that Pete Cowen remains his short-game consultant.

Still, flying across the country and back to see a guy who has coached Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and doing so between two marquee events on the PGA Tour schedule, is a noteworthy decision from the World No. 3, an admission that there’s something wrong, something that needs addressing.

“Claude was telling me the same things he’s said for five years, the three keys that we have worked on, and for some reason I just couldn’t do it. “That’s on me. It’s not on Claude, it’s not Claude’s fault. It’s not Pete’s fault. It’s not anybody’s fault except my own. And the fact that I couldn’t do it … I just needed a fresh set of eyes just to look at it and see if he saw anything out of the ordinary.”

Koepka is making his fourth start is as many weeks as he continues searching for the form that saw him take the professional game by the throat, winning four majors in nine tries from the 2017 U.S. Open through the 2019 PGA Championship. He’s also scheduled to play at next week’s Valspar Championship and the following week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, then it’s off for one week before the Masters.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Koepka chips to the 16th green as short-game coach Pete Cowan watches during a Wednesday practice round at TPC Sawgrass.

One thing Koepka’s not willing to blame his recent struggles on is his knee.

“My knee’s fine,” he said, despite having been on the record as saying the recovery hadn’t been going the way he’d hoped. “My knee’s exactly where it should be. It’s just a matter of execution, taking care of what I need to take care of. It has nothing to do with my knee.”

Koepka’s history here at Sawgrass is a bit of a mixed bag—his best finish in five Players starts is a tie for 11th, but he also holds a share of the course record with a final-round 63 here in 2018.

He’ll play the first two rounds with the two guys ahead of him in the World Rankings: Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm. Perhaps that bit of motivational fodder, combined with the emergency visit to Brooks, will jump-start Koepka’s year. Just in time for the majors.

“What Butch said, he saw it in four swings and told me a couple things. I had planned on being out there all day Tuesday, except he told me to fly out here get out here and practice, because he felt like everything was on the right track. Now it’s our job to make sure that it progresses and it progresses nicely with Claude.”

The post Brooks Koepka makes surprise detour to Vegas to see Butch Harmon before arriving at Sawgrass appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Matthew Rudy
Maintaining a PGA Tour entourage is a delicate thing—with its subject-matter experts, employees, spouses, friends and hangers-on all trying to help extract peak performance from the player week in and week out.

It doesn’t take much to throw relationships out of balance, as evidenced by Claude Harmon III’s split with Dustin Johnson over the weekend.

Johnson had worked with Harmon and his father, Butch, for the last five years while also maintaining a relationship with his college coach, Allen Terrell. Butch Harmon decided last season he was done travelling the tour, and passed most of his stable of players—Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker—over to Claude Harmon.

Johnson’s early 2019 returns under the new dynamic seemed to be promising. He won in Saudi Arabia and Mexico in February, and tied for second with Claude Harmon’s longtime student Brooks Koepka at the Masters. But at Bethpage for the PGA, Johnson used Terrell as his set of eyes on the way to a second-place finish—two shots behind Koepka.

The middle of major championship season isn’t a good time for mixed messages or misaligned expectations, so Harmon texted Johnson from Memorial—Johnson was in Florida working with Terrell—to say it was time to move on. Johnson said in a statement the split was mutual, and he’d continue with Terrell, who recruited him to Coastal Carolina in 2004, and also maintain his long-distance relationship with Butch Harmon. “DJ sends me swing videos every week, so it’s easy to keep in touch on how he’s doing,” said Butch Harmon. “Allen has been out there some, and it’s fine with me. He’s known D.J. since he was a junior golfer. The key is making sure everybody is on the same page. I never have a problem when a player wants another set of eyes. D.J. is the boss—however, he wants it to happen is the way it should happen.”

It’s not uncommon for players to have multiple coaches working as a team to collaborate on different parts of the game. Koepka has Harmon work on his full swing, while Pete Cowen handles his short game and Jeff Pierce helps him with his putting. But players using two different full swing coaches at the same time is relatively rare. Johnson started working with Butch Harmon when Terrell wanted to stop travelling the tour in 2010, and Claude Harmon was closely involved in helping Johnson week-to-week for the three seasons before this one. Throughout it all, Johnson still consulted with Terrell, especially when he was home in Jupiter on off weeks.

“I’ve never stopped working with DJ,” said Terrell, who has run Johnson’s branded golf academy in South Carolina since it opened in 2013, and regularly posts on Instagram about the work the two do together. “I felt better used by working with him in the four days leading up to events, so I would travel down to Jupiter for our training. Our schedules didn’t line up for prep for the PGA, so I accompanied him [to Bethpage]. Nothing much is changing now . . . I just might have to travel to a few more events.”

 

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Torques at work

A post shared by Allen Terrell (@allen.terrell) on Jun 1, 2019 at 2:31pm PDT

Tour teaching relationships run their course all the time—for good reasons, bad reasons and no reason. It’s not hard to see why Johnson would feel comfortable getting full-time attention from his college coach and continue to text back and forth with the greatest instructor of all time. It’s also not hard to understand why it probably was never going to work out long term having two of the tour’s alpha competitors working under the same coach—no matter how friendly they are off the course.

Next week at Pebble Beach, the focus will be squarely on the golf—Koepka is the two-time defending U.S. Open champion, and Johnson is a two-time winner of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. They’re both among the top three or four favourites. “There’s nothing else to say about it,” Claude Harmon said. “I’m proud of the work we did, and I’ll let it speak for itself.”

The post Dustin Johnson-Claude Harmon split at least makes things simpler—for player and coach appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

How familiar are you with back-to-back U.S. Open champion, and now PGA Championship winner, Brooks Koepka? Here are a few things you need to know about the 28-year-old:

1. Brooks Koepka didn’t have a great track record at Erin Hills
Though the 27-year-old’s breakthrough major title came at Erin Hills, he competed at the 2011 U.S. Amateur and failed to make it to match play.

Sports Illustrated

2. Koepka’s great uncle, Dick Groat, is a legend
Groat won two World Series as a shortstop with the Pittsburgh Pirates, earned the 1960 National League MVP award and earned a spot on eight National League All-Star teams. A multi-sport athlete, Groat was also drafted third overall in the 1952 NBA Draft by the Fort Wayne Pistons. Grout, who is now 86 years old, is a radio analyst for Pitt basketball.

3. The love of baseball is in the family
His father, Bob, also played baseball; he was a pitcher at West Virginia Wesleyan. And he passed that passion onto his son, Brooks, who told our Jaime Diaz of his love for baseball: “If I could do it over again, I’d play baseball—100 percent, no doubt.”

Brooks Koepka (middle) seen in high school.

4. At age 10, Koepka fractured his nose and sinus cavity when his babysitter’s car was hit at an intersection
That summer, he couldn’t play any contact sports, so he spent most days at West Palm Beach’s public Okeeheelee Golf Course.

David Cannon
Brooks Koepka with his father (middle) during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, seen here at Carnoustie.

5. Koepka made his high school golf team as a sixth grader
And at age 13, ended his father’s five-year club championship streak at Sherbrooke Golf and Country Club in Lake Worth, Fla., by taking him down in the finals.

Harry How.

6. Before his win at Erin Hills, Koepka had excelled on the big stage
Koepka finished inside the top 25 in the previous seven majors and recording four top-10 finishes since 2014.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY

7. Koepka was a huge component to the winning USA Ryder Cup team
Koepka went 3-1-0 in his Ryder Cup debut last year in the U.S. victory over Europe at Hazeltine National.

Anadolu Agency.

8. Before earning his PGA Tour card, Koepka played a ton of golf in Europe
He won three times on the Challenge Tour before winning in Turkey on the European Tour. He says of his time abroad: “I think it helped me grow up a little bit and really figure out that, ‘Hey, play golf, get it done, and then you can really take this somewhere.’ I built a lot of confidence off that.”

Chris Graythen.

9. Koepka’s younger brother, Chase, is also a professional golfer
The brothers teamed up at this year’s Zurich Classic to tie for fifth in the team event. Chase is taking a similar road to pro golf as his brother, playing the Challenge Tour primarily this year.

Courtesy of Florida State Athletics.

10. Koepka says seeing his mother, Denise Jakows, beat breast cancer while he was in college gave him added perspective on life:
“It made me figure out that life can go pretty quickly, so enjoy it,” he says. “Make people laugh, make the best of things. Maybe not take things as seriously.”

Brooks Koepka (middle) helped lead Florida State to a semifinal run at NCAAs. (Photo courtesy of Florida State Athletics).

11. The Florida State graduate earned ACC Golfer of the Year honors two times, holds the school record for career stroke average (71.85) and single-season stroke average (71.09).

12. Koepka has worked with Claude Harmon III on his swing since 2013.
He credits Harmon, son of legendary instructor Butch Harmon, for making his driver swing more repeatable—instead of favoring a draw and missing both ways, Koepka now hits a power fade. And for the past two seasons, Koepka has improved his short game under European coach Pete Cowen, who also works with Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen and Sergio Garcia.

Andrew Redington.

13. On the bag for Koepka is Ricky Elliott, a former mini-tour player and teaching pro from Northern Ireland.
Elliott caddied for Ben Curtis for three seasons before starting to work with Koepka at the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

14. The newly-crowned U.S. Open champion lives in Jupiter, Fla.
He practices quite a bit at The Floridian with top PGA Tour pros like Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson. Koepka credits pep talk from DJ before the final round at Erin Hills as helping him break through.

Richard Heathcote.

15. Koepka is currently dating Jena Sims, a former Miss Georgia Teen USA winner who has also been in several movies.
Sims made headlines when FOX’s Joe Buck misidentified her as a former girlfriend of Koepka’s.

The post 15 Things You Need To Know About Brooks Koepka appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Golf Digest Middle East columnist Justin Parsons flew into Texas on Sunday to help Peter Uihlein prepare for the Houston Open. The PGA Tour rookie needs victory to punch a late ticket to Augusta National.

I find myself at my fourth PGA Tour event of the year here at the Houston Open in Texas. I flew Sunday from Dubai – it’s amazing what you can do with Emirates, just under 14000km’s in a day and had a bit of rest Sunday night before starting preparations Monday.

We met at The Golf Club of Houston in Humble around 35 minutes from our accommodation. The Harmon family have a long history here in the Lone Star State with Claude Harmon Snr having spent spells as the professional at Lochinvar while Butch attended the University of Houston. The biggest Harmon influence in Houston was Dick Harmon who sadly passed away in 2006. Dick has two learning centres in Houston including one at this week’s venue.

Related: 2018 Houston Open tee times, viewer’s guide

So on to the range on Monday morning with Peter and his team for the week – coach, caddy, manager and trainer. A quick warm up and out on a cart to the back nine with young U.S. player Blayne Barber. Seeing Peter on the range and on course is vital. We were happy that no shots were going to the left, a principal which Peter has built his new approach around and it was good to see him at ease on a course he enjoys.

I believe there is a lot about the way a course appears and plays for players at this level, whether its the distance of the holes, the shape, green complexes or just the way the course appears to them. When you look at the consistent winners and top performers at certain venues, this is more than coincidence.

The other encouraging factor is the time of year. Peter started to play really nicely around this time last year and also won on the European Tour in Madeira in the Spring, It was nice to remind him of this, a further confidence booster after last week’s win over Rory McIlroy in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.

Related: Parsons pleased to see a “more aggressive” Uihlein rewarded with McIlroy scalp

Back to the range after nine holes, we had a quick debrief on the swing.

Peter’s takeaway

This picture (above) captured a beautiful two iron from 263 yards at The Golf Club of Houston’s par-5 13th. We like to see a slightly more open/shallow/rotated look here in the takeaway – some would refer to as ‘textbook’. This works for the way that Peter moves his shoulders and can load his backswing from here on up to the top.

The delivery

We also check the delivery of the club. This is on a nice line, just above his right arm with the club carrying a good amount of loft. We want to stay away from ever seeing the club steeper (more upright) and the face more closed (pointed down) at this point.

Over the course of practice, we have looked at how knockdown shots can be controlled and made some small adjustments to set up for these shots in order for Peter to be able to hold them up to right hand hole locations. We also discussed distance wedge shots and how we can improve these in tournament play. Strategies and how the shots are ‘brought to life’ should help this week.

It’s always a thrill to see the talent that Peter has and I remind myself that I am very fortunate to be sharing his journey on the PGA Tour.

There looks to be a storm moving in for today and my plan is to watch on Thursday (Ed’s note: Uihlein is off at 9.30pm UAE time in the opening round alongside Harris English and Retief Goosen) and Friday before heading to Augusta National on Saturday to get to work with 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Peter needs a win here in Houston to make it to the first major of the year – you never know!

Justin Parsons is the Director of Instruction at The Butch Harmon School of Golf at The Els Club, Dubai. Among his pupils are PGA Tour player Peter Uihlein, former Masters winner Charl Schwartzel and celebrated Dubai-based, Indian amateur No.1 Rayhan Thomas.

Related: Meet PGA Tour rookie Peter Uihlein

The post Justin Parsons: Prepping Peter Uihlein for the Houston Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Sam Weinman

Of the players in contention to win the U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Brooks Koepka is the least likely to be overtaken by the moment. It’s not that he doesn’t care. But perhaps because Koepka didn’t grow up fixated with golf, he doesn’t talk about major championships in reverential tones.

“To be honest, I’m not a big golf nerd,” Koepka told Golf Digest’s Jaime Diaz last year. “Golf is kind of boring, not much action. I come from a baseball family, and it’s in my blood.”

So how does a golfer, always immensely talented but perhaps lacking that obsessive gene, reach a level where he can grab a share of the lead in the national championship? Enter Dustin Johnson, another power-hitting, flat-lining golfer who broke through to win his first major at Oakmont last year. Since both golfers work with the father-son tandem of Butch and Claude Harmon III, they’ve grown closer, working together on the course and in the gym, and Koepka says it’s Johnson who has motivated him to squeeze more out of his game.

“We’re super close,” Koepka told Golf Digest’s Tim Rosaforte. “We train just about every day together, and talk about the mentality of winning. He’s been great mentor and one of my best friends, and being able to watch him over the past year-and-a-half has helped me because I realize the work that needs to be done to be No. 1. It’s a competition in everything we do either in the gym or on the course, so it’s good for me.”

The evidence of that influence can be found in this video of Johnson and Koepka toiling away, alongside their shared trainer Joey Diovisalvi, and Johnson’s brother, Austin, in the game after Thursday’s opening round. In part because Koepka values competition away from the golf course, those workouts can engage him just as much as tournament play.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVaphyrA2pZ/

“BK is very much a non-golfer,” Claude Harmon, his primary instructor, says. “So I think being around DJ has stoked the athletic fire in him. The workouts all together feel like a team for him. And working out with DJ motivates him big time.”

The post What’s pushing Brooks Koepka into contention at the U.S. Open? Start with Dustin Johnson appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

This is the first U.S. Open I’ve attended and after we practiced for the first time on Monday afternoon, I’ve got to say Erin Hills really wasn’t what I expected to find.

Certainly off the tee, the golf course is big and it’s pretty wide to be honest. It’s right out in front of you so I spent Monday looking for different strategies off the tees to ensure we avoid the really penal areas.

I think some of the players have made more of this whole fescue thing than they’ve probably needed to. I think Rory’s comments are probably correct in that you really shouldn’t be missing a fairway that’s 60 yards wide. That said, if you do find the rough, you are going to get punished.

The one thing I would say is the fescue is very, very heavy right off the fairway whereas if you do actually end up missing by 15 or 20 yards, you will invariably get a better lie which does seem a little unfair.

They’ve taken the rough in by three to five feet on most holes so it presents pretty well off the tee although there are two or three blind tee shots to be negotiated.

I think the golf course from a second shot point of view, that’s really where we going to see the men separated from the boys. Look for some good iron players to do well, providing they can drive it far enough because I don’t think its going to favour a shot hitter.

Crazy golf it’s not
The pin locations I’ve seen for this morning are pretty well tucked in the green complexes. It’s a new courses and the designers have done well not to make it too crazy, but the green completes are challenging with a lot of little shoulders and shelfs and places where they can hide the flags.

The first round pin positions

Certainly on reviewing the pin placements for Thursday, there’s a lot of flags that are tight to the front edges and tight to the edges of greens.

We’ve been looking at ways, certainly on the half dozen holes you can get in with a mid to short iron, particularly the three or four short iron holes, of making sure we understand the angles that we are going in at. We’ve also paid close attention to some of the pin locations that will be both helped and hindered by some little shelfs and little shoulders that you can get access to.

The greens are quick, The surfaces don’t look that good but that’s just the fescue. They seem to be running very well. Some are very, very fast and there are a lot of run offs on either side so again look for good chippers to do well this week.

@ch3golf @djohnsonpga prepping @usopengolf #erinhills #golf #golfing #golfswing

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Jun 14, 2017 at 10:34am PDT

If you think of the 9th at The Els Club in Dubai, maybe not quite as severe as that, but the ball running down to a little gathering area. So don’t be surprised if somebody with a good chipping game, whose able to negotiate that fairly well, challenges. In true US Open style, the winner will obviously need to putt well too.

We had a weather warning last night [Wednesday], kind of like a tornado warning at one stage, but the weather seems settled this morning, light winds, maybe 20 degrees already at 7am and I know they’re away already in the first round.

So you looking for players that are solid off the tee, hit it far enough, guys in what I call the mid to upper echelon, you know, the likes of Westwood, Stenson, Rose, all the way up to DJ and Bubba Watson. You definitely need to hit it far enough to contend.
I think we’ll also be talking about a good iron player come Sunday, somebody who can really control the trajectory and the shape of the ball coming into the green. So again, guys like Molinari, guys like Rose are possibly going to do well.

I watched DJ practice yesterday and he looked a little bit rusty. But Claude [Harmon] and he did some good work and by the end of the session he looked in pretty good spirits.

@peteruihlein 2nd at 3 #erinhills 171 9 iron @usopengolf #golfswing #golfing #golf #teamtitleist

A post shared by Justin Parsons (@jparsonsgolf) on Jun 14, 2017 at 1:07pm PDT

And my guy? Well I’m pleased to say Peter warmed up and practiced really well so he looks good this week. He’s feeling great and he’s nice and relaxed ready for his professional U.S. Open. It’s certainly going to be a fascinating battle. Enjoy! — With Kent Gray.

Justin Parsons is the Director of Instruction at The Butch Harmon School of Golf at The Els Club, Dubai. Among his pupils is celebrated Dubai-based Indian amateur No.1 Rayhan Thomas.

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