Golf

Brooks Koepka is golf’s new world No1 after CJ Cup victory

American displaced his compatriot Dustin Johnson after his four-shot win in Korea

Brooks Koepka of United States celebrates after winning the CJ Cup at the Nine Bridges in Jeju, South Korea. Photo: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Sun Oct 21 2018 - 11:34

Three-time major winner Brooks Koepka closed out victory in the CJ Cup at Jeju Island in South Korea to become world number one for the first time.

The four-shot success over compatriot Gary Woodland, who charged up from five strokes behind to briefly share the lead at the turn, was the American’s third of the year — the others being the US Open and USPGA.

He will displace Ryder Cup team-mate Dustin Johnson, who did not play this week, when the rankings are officially confirmed on Monday.

“To be world number one is something I dreamed of as a kid and I don’t think this one’s going to sink in yet,” he told his post-round press conference.

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“Everything I’ve done this year it’s been working. So I don’t want to change anything. Just keep improving. I’m so excited right now, you have no idea. I can’t wait to go play again.”

Graeme McDowell finished off his week with a level par round of 72 to tie for 41st at four under.

Koepka began the day with a three-shot lead but by the time he had reached the turn one-under for his round with three birdies and two bogeys he had been joined at the top by Woodland.

His fellow American had six birdies in seven holes on the front nine and four birdies in his next seven holes kept pace with Koepka but he bogeyed the par-three 17th and even though he gained that shot back at the last for a nine-under round of 63 his 17-under total did not look enough to keep his rival at bay.

So it proved as Koepka chipped in from 70-feet for birdie at the 16th and holed a 25ft eagle putt at the last to card a round of 64 for a 21-under total.

“I’m not somebody who’s going to panic if things go the wrong way,” added Koepka of his slow start.

“I felt like the one (birdie) at 15 was quite big with Gary making a charge.”

Ryan Palmer also made a late charge as he birdied his last seven holes to shoot a course-record 62 and finish in a tie for third place with Rafa Cabrera Bello four shots off the lead.

Collated final round scores in the The CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, Nine Bridges Country Club, Korea (South) (USA unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):

267 Brooks Koepka 71 65 67 64

271 Gary Woodland 73 67 68 63

273 Ryan Palmer 72 70 69 62, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 70 65 65

276 Jason Day (Aus) 73 71 65 67, Scott Piercy 70 65 72 69

277 Cameron Smith (Aus) 74 67 67 69, Pat Perez 72 68 68 69, Chez Reavie 68 70 70 69

278 Adam Scott (Aus) 75 69 71 63, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 69 68 71, J.J. Spaun 71 70 69 68, Adam Hadwin (Can) 71 71 72 64

279 Brendan Steele 74 71 65 69, Ted Potter, Jr. 77 67 65 70, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 72 73 68 66, Keith Mitchell 75 69 67 68

280 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 71 74 66 69, Alex Noren (Swe) 74 65 73 68, Beau Hossler 75 70 69 66, Marc Leishman (Aus) 75 71 68 66, Paul Casey (Eng) 71 73 66 70

281 J.B. Holmes 73 70 68 70, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 76 69 70 66, Patton Kizzire 71 72 71 67, Danny Willett (Eng) 69 77 70 65, Jamie Lovemark 72 68 68 73, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 69 73 68 71

282 Joel Dahmen 72 70 72 68, Andrew Putnam 73 68 72 69, Sung Kang (Kor) 75 67 70 70, Jimmy Walker 72 69 76 65, Ryan Armour 73 67 69 73, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 71 70 69, Kevin Chappell 76 71 70 65

283 Justin Thomas 73 70 72 68, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 75 70 69 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 71 70 69, Brian Harman 76 64 75 68, Brandt Snedeker 72 72 72 67

284 Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 72 69 72, Dong Seop Maeng (Kor) 71 73 70 70, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 70 77 70 67, Rod Pampling (Aus) 70 73 73 68, Austin Cook 70 75 67 72, Sungjae Imn (Kor) 73 71 71 69, Brice Garnett 73 69 71 71

285 Nick Watney 70 74 71 70, Charley Hoffman 76 71 67 71, Xander Schauffele 76 73 71 65, Branden Grace (Rsa) 75 73 69 68

286 Brian Stuard 77 68 73 68, Kevin Na 73 69 70 74, Kevin Tway 73 72 69 72

287 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 73 75 66 73, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 74 75 64 74, Peter Uihlein 73 71 72 71, Tae Hee Lee (Kor) 72 71 74 70, Jason Dufner 72 72 71 72, James Hahn 76 69 72 70

288 Doyeob Mun (Kor) 72 80 68 68, Brian Gay 74 70 73 71, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 78 73 67 70, Charles Howell III 72 76 71 69, Ryan Moore 72 73 72 71

289 Kyle Stanley 72 72 71 74

290 Jason Kokrak 77 73 72 68, Sang Hyun Park (Kor) 75 73 71 71, Billy Horschel 74 74 71 71

292 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 76 70 71 75, Stewart Cink 77 69 73 73

293 Whee Kim (Kor) 76 75 69 73

294 Hyungjoon Lee (Kor) 74 72 75 73, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 75 71 68 80, Chesson Hadley 75 73 72 74

297 Michael Kim 70 75 80 72

301 Min Chel Choi (Kor) 82 72 73 74, Hyun-woo Ryu (Kor) 77 76 75 73