Jim Herman shoots Sunday 63 to win Wyndham Championship

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak highlights Jim Herman’s 63 at Sedgefield Country Club to win the 2020 Wyndham Championship.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak highlights Jim Herman’s 63 at Sedgefield Country Club to win the 2020 Wyndham Championship.

C.T. Pan makes ace, wins a million Wyndham Reward points for charity

Pan’s ace at the par-3 16th hole with a 7-iron will be a boon for four local charities.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Drinks are on C.T. Pan, who made the second hole-in-one in as many days at Sedgefield Country Club. So are the Wyndham Rewards points, thanks to a special promotion this week at the Wyndham Championship.

Pan was having a mostly forgettable weekend at the PGA Tour’s regular-season finale until he stepped to the tee at the 174-yard par-3 16th hole and struck a 7-iron that was money.

“It was a perfect line, wind was left to right and it landed just a yard short and dropped in,” he said. “I was pumped. It’s been tough out there for me, so it’s good to finish with a hole-in-one, for sure.”


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All aces are great, but some are better than others. Pan’s was the first hole-in-one of the week at the 16th hole, and it earned 1 million Wyndham Rewards points for four different local charities.

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Pan said. “I want to thank Wyndham Rewards for supporting the charities.”

Pan shot a final-round 1-under 69 and finished in a tie for 69th place.

Si Woo Kim made an ace on Saturday at the third hole, but the Wyndham promotion specified that the hole-in-one had to occur at the 16th to win the prize.

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Si Woo Kim grabs pole position with ace in what looks to be sprint to the finish at Wyndham

Kim made a hole-in-one and nearly another to take the lead heading into the final round of the Wyndham Championship.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Si Woo Kim was dialed in with his irons at Sedgefield Country Club on Saturday. He made an ace at the par-3 third hole to assume the lead and nearly made a second hole-in-one at the 12th, settling for a tap-in birdie to regain the lead en route to a two-stroke advantage heading into the final round of the Wyndham Championship.

Kim, 25, signed for an 8-under 62 and is in the pole position at a course where he has fond memories of winning his first PGA Tour title in 2016.

“I feel like pretty similar this year,” he said. “Driving, every shot fairway, and then every shot close to pin, every putt, make the putt.”


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Kim jumped in front at the third hole when his 8-iron from 161 yards took one hop and disappeared in the hole for an ace. From the tee, Kim could only tell that it was close and his reaction was noticeably subdued.

“If number’s good, that would be good. I (did) not expect that ace, but some guys yelling (at) me and I feel like just tap-in, really close, and some TV guys told me that’s ace and I was so excited,” said Kim, who is making his 10th straight start since the resumption of the Tour season in June.

At the 196-yard 12th hole, Kim’s 5-iron pitched a foot in front of the hole and lipped out, stopping 14 inches away. This time, he reacted, throwing up his arms as if to say, “C’mon, man.”

“Just little missed right, but that was a really tough hole and really thankful made that birdie,” he said.

Kim, whose other victory was at the 2017 Players Championship, had 11 birdie putts inside 10 feet on the day and tacked on three birdies in a row beginning at 15 to improve to 18-under 192 and move two clear of Rob Oppenheim and Doc Redman.

But playing in this Nascar-crazed state, the South Korean is going to have to keep his foot on the pedal in what is setting up to be a sprint to the finish at the regular season finale of the 2019-20 season. For the third straight day, preferred lies were utilized due to wet conditions. Ball-in hand combined with receptive greens, accessible hole locations and slower green speeds left Sedgefield CC vulnerable and the pros took advantage. Zach Johnson and Jim Herman shot 61s, Kim and Oppenheim had 62 and Redman had a 63.

Oppenheim and Redman, who practiced together earlier this week at Old Chatham in nearby Raleigh, are both bidding for their first wins. Oppenheim, 40, turned professional 18 years ago, didn’t earn his PGA Tour card until five years ago, and has played in every Tour event that he’s been eligible for.

“You can’t do this as long as I have without loving it,” he said after bettering his career low by two strokes despite a bogey at 18.

He entered the week No. 145 in the FedEx Cup standings, but is now one of three players projected to leap into the top 125 (along with Johnson and Peter Malnati; Russell Knox, Charl Schwartzel and Fabian Gomez would drop out). He’s never qualified for the Playoffs, which begin next week at TPC Boston, not far from where he grew in Andover, Massachusetts, and where he made his Tour debut in 2006. He called earning a spot in the Northern Trust field, which is limited to the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings after this week, his main goal at the beginning of the season. This is old hat for Oppenheim – Bubble Boy has got to be his nickname,” declared PGA Tour XM Radio’s John Rollins.

“It’s what we play for, to kind of put ourselves in these situations and see how you handle it. I haven’t been in this situation, I’ve never been in one of the last two or three groups on Sunday, but I’ve been in plenty of situations where I’ve been fighting to keep my job or trying to get out here,” said Oppenheim, whose best career finish in 76 Tour starts is T-8 at the 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Redman, 22, won the 2017 U.S. Amateur and is a native Tarheel, who was state 4A champion as a high school senior, and is looking to become the third North Carolinian to win the Wyndham Championship in the last six years. He made his only bogey of the tournament at the first hole of the third round before carding four birdies on each side and equaling his career low on Tour.

With so many young, talented players on Tour, including last week’s major champion Collin Morikawa, Redman’s name can get lost in the shuffle in the discussion of young guns. He offered a simple game plan to follow Sunday in order to hoist his first Tour trophy.

“I think just allowing myself to play great, not letting myself get ahead of myself,” he said. “Just kind of trust myself and see what happens.”

Kim also has a couple of savvy veterans who know a thing or two about swooping in from behind to steal a title on payday. Five-time Tour winner Billy Horschel posted a 65, his 22nd consecutive round of par or better here, and trails by three. Seeking his third win of the season, Webb Simpson, the 2011 Wyndham champion and runner-up a year ago, matched Horschel’s 65, but they lost ground as five of the top eight players on the leaderboard either set or tied their career low rounds on the Tour.

“It’s probably the best I’ve played in a long time,” said Simpson, who enters the final round five back in a tie for seventh. “I just didn’t capitalize when I needed to.”

With overnight showers expected, Sedgefield Country Club should be there for taking again during the final round. When asked how low he would need to go on Sunday, Kim said, “Maybe a lot, but I don’t want to think about the score because if I think (that) I have to shoot 6 under, 7 under, that’s too much pressure. Just keep my playing and then hopefully, yeah, go low.”

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Watch this: Si Woo Kim takes lead with ace on 3rd hole at Wyndham Championship

Here’s an interesting way to take the lead of a golf tournament – a hole-in-one. On Saturday morning, with inclement weather conditions getting players out on the course early, Kim jumped in front of the pack with an ace on No. 3. The hole was in a …

Here’s an interesting way to take the lead of a golf tournament — a hole-in-one.

On Saturday morning, with inclement weather conditions getting players out on the course early, Kim jumped in front of the pack with an ace on No. 3.

The hole was in a front right pin location, making it a bit more accessible.

Third-round tee times at the Wyndham Championship were moved up to 7 a.m. and golfers went off in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10 on Saturday as the tournament continues to maneuver around the weather.

Kim did this just over a year ago at the Valero Open, dropping an ace on the 16th hole in San Antonio.

This marks the 33rd ace made on Tour this year. Here’s a look at all of them leading up to Kim’s.

It’s Groundhog Day for perennial ‘bubble boy’ Rob Oppenheim at the Wyndham Championship

Oppenheim is golf’s perennial bubble boy, always scratching and clawing for playing privileges.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Rob Oppenheim is golf’s perennial bubble boy.

“I don’t think you ever get used to it. But I embrace it; it’s why we play,” he said.

Ah, but just imagine the rollercoaster ride the 40-year-old journeyman pro has endured over the years. In 2014, Oppenheim had a hole-in-one in the final round of Q-School to earn full status on the Korn Ferry Tour by a shot. A year later, he grabbed hold of the last PGA Tour card by $101. He’s also seen his bubble burst: In 2016, he finished 26th on the Korn Ferry Tour money list by $392 after Hurricane Matthew canceled the final event. Last year, he was on the right side of the line, playing well enough on the final day of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship to finish 20th overall in the three-tournament qualifying and secure his PGA Tour privileges for the 2019-20 season.

At this week’s Wyndham Championship, it’s Groundhog Day for Oppenheim, who entered the week at No. 145 in the FedEx Cup standings. Only the top 125 qualify for the Playoffs, which begin next week at the Northern Trust at TPC Boston.

Oppenheim, who grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, played his first Tour event at TPC Boston in 2006 when the Tour stop there was known as the Deutsche Bank Championship, and would desperately like to get in next week’s field. He’s never qualified for the FedEx Cup, finishing the regular season at No. 158 in 2016 and No. 180 in 2018.

Oppenheim, 40, took care of the first task at hand: He shot a pair 66s to make the weekend at 8-under 132 and is tied for 10th place, just two strokes behind the lead. And yet that still has Oppenheim, who is projected to finish No. 133, on the outside looking in.

“I guess I still have more work to do,” he said.

But there is significantly less pressure this week at the Wyndham Championship, where those who don’t qualify for the FedEx Cup typically are relegated to the three-event Korn Ferry Tour playoff.

This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic that canceled 13 events in the regular season, the Tour announced on April 30 that it is extending its exempt player membership into next season. Oppenheim still has incentive to finish in the top 125 besides the Boston tee time. Those who qualify for the FedEx Cup receive higher status and have more flexibility in making their schedule.

“Every year on Tour, I’ve always been to the point where any event I get in, I’m playing,” Oppenheim said.

Among those players still fighting to keep their season alive are Shane Lowry, Sergio Garcia and Russell Knox, who rallied to shoot 6-under 64 to make the 36-hole cut on the number. He’s currently projected at No. 125.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello (No. 126) and Chesson Hadley (No. 128) also survived the cut, while Wyndham Clark (123), Fabian Gomez (124), and Bronson Burgoon (129) weren’t so lucky. Heading into the week, South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel held that spot, but he missed the cut and is projected to finish No. 127, and will have to sweat out whether his bubble will burst from the sidelines over the weekend.

“Irrelevant of what happens this week for me, I’ve got a full schedule next year,” he said Thursday. “Saying that, I really want to get through and keep playing. I think that eases the pressure, but maybe that’s why I haven’t thought about it too much.”

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Rafa Cabrera-Bello’s putt hung on lip for 27 seconds. Should there have been a penalty?

After further review, the putt stands. It was deemed that Rafa Cabrera-Bello didn’t take too long to fall into the hole at the Wyndham.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – After further review, the putt stands.

Rafa Cabrera-Bello’s 19-foot birdie putt at the par-3 7th hole hung on the right edge of the lip for what seemed like an eternity before it finally dropped. The Spaniard, who entered the week ranked No. 133, went on to shoot 3-under 67 at Sedgewood Country Club.

But the 27 seconds it took from the time Cabrera-Bello hit his putt to the time his Titleist 3 golf ball with his initials on it fell in the hole was brought to the attention of Rules officials, and the Tour’s Mark Russell discussed the matter with Cabrera-Bello after the round.

The question at hand: Did he get to the hole in a reasonable amount of time?

“It was inconclusive,” said Russell, the Tour’s vice president of rules and competition. “We’re talking about a second or two. I didn’t think it was definitive enough. It was splitting hairs.”

Rule 13.3. states that if any part of a player’s ball overhangs the lip of the hole the player is allowed a “reasonable” amount of time to reach the hole. Once a player gets to the hole, he receives 10 more seconds to see if the ball will drop.

According to the Rules of Golf, after 10 seconds, the ball is treated as being at rest. If the putt had fallen in, it would have counted as holed and Cabrera-Bello would get one penalty stroke added to the score for the hole.


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“You’re just like praying for it to go in and you’re kind of waiting. And I’m like, oh, it’s not going to fall,” Cabrera-Bello said. “But then I saw my playing partners walk up to the ball and start staring at it and I thought like they must be seeing it moving.

“And a few seconds later I started walking at the hole and when I was getting – when I was reaching the ball, it dropped. And we reviewed the footage and the referee said that it was so, so close and so tight, but they wanted to know if I have deliberately slowed down my walk to the hole and I told them that I didn’t, I slowed down because I saw my playing partners walking in.

“I didn’t know the 10-second rule, when it actually came in effect. I didn’t know if it was after I had hit the ball or when you reach the ball or exactly – I didn’t know exactly when. I wasn’t trying to gain anything, it was just one of those one-in-a-thousand scenarios that luckily for me I end up with a birdie.”

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Tom Hoge isn’t in Tiger Woods’ shadow this week at Wyndham

Hog has held a place in the footnotes of this event’s history since his weekend pairing with Woods five years ago.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Maybe it’s time for Tom Hoge to shed Tiger Woods’ shadow at the Wyndham Championship.

Hoge, who has held a place in the footnotes of this event’s history since his weekend pairing with Woods five years ago, maintained his footing among the frontrunners Friday at Sedgefield Country Club.

His 2-under-par 68 put him at 10-under for the tournament, and tied for the second-round lead with Si Woo Kim and Talor Gooch by mid-afternoon here.

“I had a few birdie opportunities I kind of let slip by, some close putts on the last few holes that I’d like to have back,” Hoge said, “but all in all a good day. We’re moving forward. Just know I’ve got to make a lot of birdies the next two days.”

He piled up seven birdies and an eagle during Thursday’s opening round that had him flirting with breaking 60, before settling for 62 after finishing par-bogey on Nos. 17 and 18, the dropped stroke on the last hole leaving him muttering as he walked off the green.


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Back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole and first hole Friday – his group played the back side of the course first, then made the turn to the front nine – climbed Hoge to 11-under midway through the second round. He had two bogeys against one birdie the rest of the way.

It marked the second day in a row that Hoge, who was born in Statesville and has yet to win on the PGA Tour, hit 14 greens in regulation. The two rounds, though, became different in composition.

“A little more work for sure,” he said of Friday. “I was in the rough a little more often and a little out of position where I got above the hole on a few of the pins coming in, had some fast putts and a little more work. Hopefully, kind of got that out of my system.

“I was surprised that the golf course was as dry as it was with as much rain as we got overnight. But I was in the rough quite a bit there early on and it was pretty thick and wet this morning, so a lot of shots you’re just trying to get to the front of the green just coming from that thick rough. So just tried to manage it. Fortunate to be a few under.”

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Harris English and reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry were one back of the lead pack at 9-under on Friday afternoon. Roger Sloan, C.T. Pan, Mark Hubbard, Rob Oppenheim and Harold Varner III were knotted together at 8-under for the tournament.

Then a Tour rookie, Hoge played alongside the iconic Woods in the final group of the third round at the 2015 Wyndham tournament.

“Yeah, it was a zoo on Saturday,” Hoge said, recalling the Sedgefield scene from five years ago. “All the people kind of crammed in here, but just a lot of fun. It’s a shame we can’t have the same crowds here this year because the people really support this event well and it’s always fun to come back to.

“But for me, it was a big week trying to get into those FedEx Cup Playoffs that year. Nice to be a little more comfortable this week where I’m not having to worry about that bubble coming into the week.”

Hoge shared the second-round lead with Woods in 2015, one shot ahead of Wyndham fan-favorite Davis Love III. When Woods was asked by reporters that day about his upcoming pairing with Hoge, the answer proved memorable for those in the room.

“Don’t know him, never seen him, don’t know anything about him,” Woods said, smiling then. “There are so many guys out here I don’t know. I’ve been hurt. I haven’t played that much.”

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Shane Lowry’s buddies’ trip for next week in jeopardy after Friday 63 at Wyndham Championship

Shane Lowry needs a good finish to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. He made his move on Friday, which could impact his buddies’ trip.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Shane Lowry gets to keep the Claret Jug for an extra year due to the coronavirus pandemic – he’s the Champion Golfer of the Two Years – but what he’d really like is to get his hands around another trophy on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship. Lowry, 33, took a step in the right direction, shooting 7-under 63 at Sedgewood Country Club, his lowest round of the season, to join the trophy hunt.

“I felt like I had a score like that in me yesterday,” Lowry said. “I was quite disappointed to shoot 2 under. It was nice to go out there and shoot a good score today.”

Lowry, who won the British Open at Royal Portrush last July, entered the week at No. 131 in the FedEx Cup point standings and needing a strong finish to improve inside the top 125 to qualify for the Playoffs, which begin next week at the Northern Trust in Boston. But Lowry isn’t stressing it. The Irishman’s wife and daughter flew home three weeks ago and he’s going to be staying in the U.S. through the U.S. Open in September, regardless. Plus, if he doesn’t earn a spot in the Northern Trust field, he’s got a backup plan – Lowry scheduled a buddies’ trip to Rhode Island.


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“Not that that’s a win-win, but at least I have something to look forward to if that doesn’t happen,” he said of the getaway with among others a childhood pal, who joined him in Memphis two weeks ago. When asked if it would be a working vacation, he smiled and said, “We will play some golf, yeah. A little bit, not much.”

Lowry’s second round on Friday, played under preferred lies, got off to an inauspicious start with a bogey at No. 11, his second hole of the day, but it would be his last shot dropped. He canned a 16-foot birdie at 13 to turn the tide and rolled it beautifully on his second nine, draining a 22-foot birdie from the fringe at the second and a 30-footer at the fourth. The highlight of the day was drilling a 4-iron from 242 yards to 7 feet and sinking the eagle putt at the fifth. Lowry finished T-7 here in 2017, when he came up short of qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs by two spots, and expressed a fondness for the Donald Ross layout.

“It’s nice to come to this golf course after the course we played last week,” he said. “I feel like (TPC Harding Park) was just stand on every tee and whip driver out and hit as hard as you can whereas this course you have to kind of think your way around and I like that type of golf.”

Lowry came home in 5-under 30, to improve to 9-under 131 and trail clubhouse leaders Tom Hoge, Si Woo Kim and Talor Gooch by one stroke.

“I know what I need to do, a top 15 would probably be OK but at the end of the day, I feel like I’m on another level than that. I’m here to win a golf tournament,” he said. “I’m not just here to get to next week. It’s hopefully going to be a weekend of good golf and on Sunday I won’t have to worry about getting into next week and I’ll be right there with a chance to win the golf tournament.”

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Harold Varner III shoots sizzling 62 Thursday at Wyndham Championship

Harold Varner III, 29, shot a bogey-free 62 to rocket up the leaderboard in the opening-round as he seeks his first PGA Tour win.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – When Harold Varner III finished a pre-tournament press conference at the Wyndham Championship Wednesday, he told the videographer that he needed to play better so he stopped getting questions about his sparkling personality rather than his sparkling play.

Varner, 29, who is still seeking his first victory on the PGA Tour, made sure on Thursday that the questions would focus on the latter, shooting a career-best 8-under 62 to grab the clubhouse lead at Sedgefield Country Club.

“The first time I came here I couldn’t crack an egg, but slowly but surely getting better,” Varner said.

Indeed, he is. Varner posted 73 in his first round here in 2016, his highest score at the Donald Ross layout, and missed the cut. He shot 63 in the first round in 2017, and finished T-10. Varner carded eight birdies this time, including four in a row beginning at the eighth hole, though he didn’t even realize it until being told by a member of the media.

“I forget a lot of stuff,” he said. “Yeah, I did. That’s pretty cool.”


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After overnight showers led to the first round being played under preferred lies, Varner took advantage of soft conditions and fired darts at the flags. The longest of his eight birdie putts came from 12 feet. His shortest? That was when Varner knocked a short iron from 143 yards to just more than a foot at No. 11. But the putt that meant the most to him was getting down in two from 65 feet to end his round, and “just not giving it away when you’ve worked that hard,” he said. Varner, who ranks No. 158 in Strokes Gained: Putting, ranked eighth in the 156-man field in the first round of the Wyndham Championship.

His stellar ball-striking can be attributed to the work he’s done with instructor Bradley Hughes, who helped resurrect Brendon Todd’s career. Varner initially did a phone lesson at Riveria Country Club on the Monday of the Genesis Invitational in February.

“I played unbelievable,” said Varner, who is a relatively short drive away from Hughes, who is based in Greenville, South Carolina. “I went one time and just started hitting it really well.”

Varner, who grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina, graduated from East Carolina University and makes his residence in Charlotte, would like nothing more than to make Greensboro the site of his maiden victory.

Varner opened with 63 in the first round of the Charles Schwab Championship in June and held the 36-hole lead, his first solo lead after any round on Tour. But he stumbled on the weekend and finished T-19.

“Colonial stung a little bit because I keep getting there about every month or so, but I just know that my time’s coming eventually,” he said.

Varner is one of the most likeable players and exudes a positive attitude. When asked if it is difficult to maintain his enthusiasm in his pursuit of victory, he said, “It’s not hard at all. Life’s really hard. What people are going through right now, yeah, this is easy. I don’t care if I don’t ever win. I want to win, but it is what it is.”

Among those players who believe Varner is on the verge of a breakthrough is five-time Tour winner Billy Horschel, who opened with 4-under 66 on Thursday.

“I’ve told him since Day One when he got out here on the PGA Tour he’s got a lot of talent, he could be a top-30 player in the world for a long time,” Horschel said. “I think it’s just a matter of time until he puts it all together.”

Varner, one of four Black players on the Tour, also made headlines for speaking out quite eloquently on racial unrest in the country after the death of George Floyd.

It was important for me because I believe there’s a lot of good,” he said of his Instagram post. “It turned out great.”

But he’d much rather make headlines for his play, especially when it’s as sparkling as his personality.

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‘Pretty flat:’ Brooks Koepka rides struggle bus again through first round of Wydham Championship

Brooks Koepka details a “pretty flat” opening round on Thursday at the Wydham Championship.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Brooks Koepka’s first round since faltering in Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship was another trip on the struggle bus.

On an overcast morning with intermittent sprinkles, Sedgefield Country Club played soft. With preferred lies in play, the course seemed there for the taking, but Koepka made four bogeys against two birdies during a 2-over round of 72 at the Wyndham Championship.

“Pretty flat,” Koepka said. “You know, being in contention the last two weeks playing, what, maybe sixth week in a row. A bit tired, to be honest with you.”

It doesn’t help that Koepka’s left knee continues to give him trouble, making it hard for him to get on his left side. He shot 4-over 74 on Sunday at TPC Harding Park and only beat one player in the field.

“Felt like the first time I haven’t had it in a while at a major,” Koepka said.

Wyndham Championship: Leaderboard

The quandary for Koepka is that while he’s improved from No. 155 in the FedEx Cup to No. 92 entering this week, he knows that if he doesn’t improve into the top 70 after next week’s Northern Trust, he’ll have time off. So, he’s playing for the sixth straight week, something he says he’s never done before.

“Even if I gain one spot in the FedEx, it makes it that much easier for next week, so you’ve got to play,” Koepka said. “My body’s nowhere near 100 percent, but at the same time it would be nice to have a couple weeks off to kind of get ready for the U.S. Open [in September].”

Koepka also addressed his comments that he made heading into the final round at the PGA Championship when he took shots at 54-hole leader Dustin Johnson and those in contention who lacked the major-championship success that he did.

Having already addressed the subject in a Golfweek exclusive, Koepka reiterated his apology to “the other guys,” in the hunt, but not to Johnson.

“I really didn’t look at the leaderboard. I saw Dustin was at 9, I was at 5 at that point and then made two coming in, so I really didn’t even know where I kind of stood,” Koepka said. “Didn’t really look coming off 18 and then went right to the interview, so I didn’t — I had no idea who was 8, who was 7. But I never really look at guys who are tied with me, I always kind of look ahead, so I had no idea. I get it, I get how it came across and I apologize for that.”

When asked if the media has made too much of the Koepka-Johnson friendship, of being workout buddies, Koepka didn’t sugarcoat it.

“We worked out for – I worked with Joey (Diovisalvi) for two years. Yeah, I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know what you guys – you guys make your own stories, so I have no idea what you all do, but I think even the Jordan (Spieth) and Justin (Thomas) thing gets blown out too much. I think you guys overplay – you guys overplay a lot of things.”

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