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BMW CHAMPIONSHIP

August 14, 2019

Brooks Koepka

Carmel, Indiana

Q. Let's just talk about being here at the BMW Championship and the penultimate event of the 2019 FedExCup Playoffs.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Oh, it's good to be here. Obviously I've never played this golf course, so it's cool to see everything we've seen with the Ryder Cup and all the history behind it, and it's a special place. It's a tough golf course. Playing a little soft. But the course is in great shape, so it's going to be a good week.

Q. What's your plan of attack here?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Try and put the ball in the fairway. You put it in the rough, it's so thick, you're going to have problems controlling your distances and hitting the greens. The greens are very undulating -- well, not undulating, just slopey, a lot of back to front, and if you miss it on the wrong side of some of these holes, you're going to be in for a long time.

Q. Does "Bo Know" golf? What was that like?
BROOKS KOEPKA: "Bo Knows." It was fun to play with him. It was cool. Obviously he's probably the greatest athlete ever, and it's cool to get to meet him, obviously watching so much of what he was doing when I was a little kid, it's still cool to see. He's so athletic, and just talking to him, he's such a nice guy, and I enjoyed it today. I hope he did as much as I did.

Q. Are you looking at the new format next week, at the TOUR Championship and how they've changed it? Have you thought about it much?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I haven't really thought about it, but it's fine with me. I guess they did the statistics on it, and it pretty much showed that every winner except I think one it would work out the same way. That's fine with me.

I'd love a two-shot lead.

Q. I was curious along those lines, when was the last time that you got strokes on a golf course?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Today hopefully. I was playing in a pro-am, so hopefully I got some shots.

Q. It's only been a few years, like four or five years, but does your record in the Playoffs annoy you?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, it's just been frustrating a little bit. But I mean, I've been so burned out, I've done a better job of being in shape and focusing a little bit more, focusing a little bit harder and trying to gear the schedule for around this. The way the schedule worked out this year, the last four months, just really haven't had too many weeks off. I would have liked to have played better, but I'll be all right.

Q. Still be a pretty good career?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I'll be all right. It's fine.

Q. What do you remember from Sunday at the Masters this year? Obviously you played well enough to win and maybe had a couple things go against you.
BROOKS KOEPKA: I remember No. 12 pretty well. I remember hitting it in the water there. That was pretty clear.

Q. You hit a good shot, right?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I hit a good shot. Four out of six guys just don't hit it in the water because of pressure. The wind switched completely on us. I actually backed off at the -- I walked in the ball and backed off because the wind kind of went down, and I should have hit it because it would have gone in the middle of the green, and then it just kind of went into off the right and went in the water. But I played good. It was a good week.

Q. If you had one shot over on the back nine, would that be the one?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I'd say yeah. Taking a double isn't very good on the back nine of Augusta.

Q. Bo has a rep for being super long. Is that well earned?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, look at the size of him. He's going to hit the ball if he connects with it, and he did quite a few times. It was impressive to watch him play. Once he got going, yeah, the first four, five holes he didn't play that great, but then once he got going, it was pretty good.

Q. Are these shoes going to make a return this week?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, yeah. I'll be wearing them this week. It'll be fun, give a little tribute to him and hopefully can play well in them.

Q. Steve Stricker is about eight months into his Ryder Cup captaincy. What do you remember of him from that '17 Presidents Cup as a captain?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Strick is good. I mean, he's very energetic. It was incredible just to be on his team. But I think we all know he's a very emotional guy, very passionate. It'll be fun, especially having the Ryder Cup back here in the States. It'll be quite fun for him. It'll be special for him. So we're looking forward to hopefully making that team and finally coming out with a W.

Q. Is there anything in particular that you mentioned -- I know he's a competitor, too. Is it just communication-wise or how he reads you guys?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I think he does a good job of talking to all of us. He was in communication with most of us -- well, just me that I know of, very frequently, and that's something you want in a captain, something you want is people like him. We can relate to him and kind of go to him. He listens to us. He feels like he understands, and he's been out here for so long, so he knows a bunch of these guys, which helps. It's a big thing.

Q. Is your only memory of Medinah sitting in that bar in Spain or wherever you were watching the Ryder Cup?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that's my only memory of it, yeah, Spain I think it was. The restaurant wasn't even open, I was just sitting there because no one in Spain eats until like 9:00, so I was just waiting. Yeah, I was just all by myself just watching it, and everybody was cheering and I was just pretty quiet.

Q. Would you have thought then that you'd be where you are now?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I mean, I thought I was. But thinking it and doing it are two completely different things.

Q. Was there anything that you and Bo talked about workout-wise, because there's not many guys out on the TOUR that are bigger than you --
BROOKS KOEPKA: I'm not that big, though.

Q. You work out as hard.
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, he -- it's incredible, his work. We were talking about his work ethic and what he did when he was playing and had to take care of his body. He just gave up some advice. He's big into biking right now. He's got a couple charity events where they do a bike ride, and it's pretty unique to hear what he even does now just now that he's retired. It's pretty cool.

Q. Of the three majors where you had chances, which one frustrates you the most and why?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Probably the British. That one frustrates me. Augusta I played good. You look back at it as one shot. If I par that hole, then I'm not really in the conversation of even having a chance.

And then the U.S. Open, I played really good. So I had no completes. I just got plain old beat by Gary. And then the British, I just didn't putt worth anything. That was very frustrating. I felt like I was playing good enough to win and just didn't even come close.

Q. There's obviously been another big bump in the money for this thing. At what point does a player at an elite level like yourself, does money become a factor and become a part of your thinking?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, I can always figure out a way to spend an extra $15 million. I can figure that out. I mean, I'm not playing it for the money. I don't tee it up to try to win millions of dollars. I just tee it up because I enjoy the competition, I enjoy playing the game and coming out here and competing. You know, there's so much money in the game already, it's not a factor why we play or why we do anything. I'm just looking to compete and win something else.

Q. If you had a putt for $15 million, that would not be in your mind, it would be the event, not --
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it would be just winning the event, that's it. Same nerves you have on winning any other event. It's obviously tough. If you want to think about $15 million, go for it. It doesn't really -- I don't equate it to dollars, I just equate it to winning.

Q. We're starting to see Olympians now qualify, volleyball, getting ready for basketball. Are you thinking about Japan at all right now?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, I'm not -- no. I've still got, what, four more majors before the Olympics and a FedExCup, so I'll worry about that before.

Q. But is that something you would like to participate in?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I'm worried about everything I've got going on right now. I've got enough with the FedExCup right now to worry about, so I'll worry about winning this week and next week and then go on to Augusta and then from there to the PGA and then the U.S. Open and then the British and then I'll start thinking about the Olympics.

Q. You are obviously very famous for your mindset going into majors. Can you treat this in the same sort of fashion?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I treat everything the way I treat majors. It's all focus. I think everybody thinks I've got different focus, but I think it's the other way around. I think guys just psych themselves out. I don't think it's me being any more focused. It's just guys psyching themselves out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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