Monday Finish: Koepka, Morikawa finish strong

FedExCup and world No. 1 Brooks Koepka leaves no doubt as he fires a final-round 65 to pass Rory McIlroy and become the season’s first three-time winner at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Meanwhile, 22-year-old phenom Collin Morikawa notches his first career victory at the Barracuda Championship. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Koepka not only won his first WGC, he also clinched first place and $2 million in the season-long Wyndham Rewards race, and all but wrapped up the $1 million Aon Risk Reward Challenge, for a total payday of $4.75 million. Cal product Morikawa, meanwhile, won in just his sixth start as a pro. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. There was a sense of inevitability in Memphis. Although he went into the last round behind by a shot, Koepka felt like the favorite to win, given his recent form. Not to knock McIlroy; it’s just that this was Koepka’s sixth PGA TOUR victory in the last two-plus years, and four of those have been majors. “Incredible,� he said more than once. That adjective held true for his consistency this season and his total take after winning the tournament, the Wyndham Rewards and, almost certainly, the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. “The year’s not done,� he said. “I’ve still got a few things to finish off and hopefully it will go my way.� For more on Koepka’s big win, click here. 2. Beware the sick golfer. Yeah, you’ve probably heard that one, but it bears repeating after the WGC-FedEx St. Jude. Koepka picked up a bug somewhere between Portrush and TPC Southwind, but it sure didn’t negatively affect his play. In fact, after his bogey-free 65 sent him straight to the top with room to spare, you could argue the sniffles somehow helped him. “Just get on with it,� Koepka said of his credo for the week. “People go to work sick all the time.� As it has throughout this season, his game looked terrifically healthy. In the next month, he’ll see if he can improve on his FedExCup finishes in 2018 (ninth) and ’17 (10th). It looks, ahem, rather likely. 3. Simpson had a funny highlight. What was the highlight for the runner-up, Webb Simpson (64, 13 under, three back)? His eagle at the par-5 third hole? His four back-nine birdies? The fact that this was his best result since his runaway victory at THE PLAYERS Championship last year? Nah. The highlight, Simpson said, was not making a complete mess of the first round, which began on the back nine and resulted in a very scratchy, 1-under 69. “I played so poorly the first round,� he said. “… Any normal first round for me, that would have been three or four shots higher, but I hung in there. I hit it terribly, but made some big par putts and birdied the last hole, No. 9, out of the rough. So, that for me was the key to the tournament, because if you go out and shoot three or four over, you kind of knock yourself out of it.� 4. Barracuda champ off to flying start. When Matthew Wolff won the 3M Open earlier this summer, he had broken through in just three starts after leaving college. Collin Morikawa, who finished T2 at the 3M, did it in six starts. Summer on TOUR has been a game of Name That Prodigy. “This proves that I’m ready,� Morikawa said after making birdies on four of the last five holes to overtake 54-hole leader Troy Merritt in the Modified Stableford format. Morikawa, who shot up to 46th in the FedExCup, finished with 47 points, three ahead of Merritt, who himself is up to 68th in the FedExCup. For more on Morikawa, click here.  5. Morikawa showed closing speed. Just as Koepka did not make a bogey in his closing 65 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, Morikawa saved his best for last at the Barracuda. He said he got mad-decisive after failing to birdie the reachable, par-5 13th hole, the kick in the backside he needed to birdie four of his last five. “I just wasn’t trusting myself,� said Morikawa, who, unlike Koepka, is only 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds. “I wasn’t taking my usual tempo; just a little out of rhythm.� Burying a seven-foot birdie putt on 14 got him right back in it, and he kept his foot on the gas pedal all the way home. Scored conventionally, he would have shot a final-round 65, like Koepka, and tallied 22-under-par. Morikawa has shot 15 of his last 17 rounds in the 60s. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. After struggling on the greens while finishing tied for fourth at The Open Championship the previous week, Koepka led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting for the week (+9.346) at TPC Southwind. 2. Koepka becomes the first player to win on TOUR after entering the week No. 1 in the FedExCup standings since Bryson DeChambeau at the 2018 Dell Technologies Championship. He also becomes the fifth player to win a WGC event and a major in the same season, joining Tiger Woods (1999-2002, 2005-2008), Geoff Ogilvy (2006), McIlroy (2014), and Dustin Johnson (2016). 3. The solo second finish for Webb Simpson (64, 13 under, three back) marked his best finish since winning THE PLAYERS Championship last year. He was seeking his sixth career TOUR title and notched his fifth top-10 finish this season. 4. Rory McIlroy (71, T4), the overnight leader, was one of only three players in the top 20 to post an over-par score in the final round. He leads the TOUR with 12 top-10 finishes in 16 starts this season. 5. As per my colleague Sean Martin, Morikawa, had he played enough, would lead the TOUR in scoring (67.9), greens (74.1 percent), birdies per round (4.9), and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (+1.42). He would be second in SG: Total (+2.29) and just 100th in SG: Putting (+0.19). WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is in its first season and adds another layer of excitement to the FedExCup Regular Season. The top 10 players at the end of the FedExCup Regular Season will earn bonus payouts from the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. Brooks Koepka locked up the top spot after the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, while Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar swapped places and have secured the second and third spots, respectively. But there’s a lot to play for at this week’s Wyndham Championship, which ends the regular season. Paul Casey stands to make the biggest move, from eighth all the way to fourth in the final standings, with a Wyndham win.

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