Rory McIlroy downplays talk of rivalry with Brooks Koepka

Rory McIlroy will start his 2019-20 season at this week’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP at 7,041-yard, par-70 Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. His FedExCup points go back to zero after winning the season-long race for the second time in August, and anticipation is running high as Japan hosts its first official PGA TOUR event.

One thing, though, remained constant as McIlroy addressed the media Wednesday: Talk of a potential rivalry with Brooks Koepka. But while Koepka said there’s no rivalry because it’s just him, McIlroy said there’s no rivalry because there are too many other great players.

“Five people could put their hand up and say they’re the best player in the world right now,” he said. “… It doesn’t have to be between me and Brooks.”

Talk of rivalries is unavoidable in sports like golf and tennis, where the same players can run into each other repeatedly. It happened again at the end of last season. First, McIlroy went into the final round of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational one up on Koepka, but lost to Koepka by six. Four weeks later, Koepka went into the final round of the TOUR Championship one up on McIlroy but lost to McIlroy by six.

Then it was time to take stock of their accomplishments for PGA TOUR Player of the Year.

McIlroy won the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup, for the second time, but also notched big victories at THE PLAYERS Championship and, in a runaway, the RBC Canadian Open.

He turned heads, too, with his consistency. His seven-consecutive top-10 finishes from the Sentry Tournament of Champions to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play made him the first to record seven straight since Luke Donald in 2011. (Donald was voted Player of the Year.)

Much flashier still, McIlroy hit a TOUR-leading 58.6 percent of his drives over 300 yards, and 57 drives 320-plus in the FedExCup Playoffs alone.

“It’s really impressive to watch,” said Koepka after he’d shot 72 to finish T3 at East Lake. “Like I’ve said multiple times, he’s the most fun to watch when he’s playing well. He hits it so good, he putts it really well, and when he’s on, man, he’s tough to beat.”

So is Koepka, who reinjured his knee and pulled out of last week’s THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. He also won three times last season, at THE CJ CUP, PGA Championship, and WGC-FedEx St. Jude. He was the presumed favorite for PGA TOUR Player of the Year after finishing in the top five in all four majors, including his successful title defense at the PGA.

It didn’t work out that way.

Instead, McIlroy won the award for his three wins, plus a TOUR-leading Strokes Gained: Total of +2.55, the number of strokes by which he beat the field average each day. That was his career high and the highest SG: Total of this decade. Oh, and he also racked up 14 top-10 finishes in 19 starts.

Still, despite their gaudy accomplishments, McIlroy on Wednesday said there are a handful of players who could claim to be the best player in the world. Chief among them would be Justin Thomas, who won THE CJ CUP last week for the second time in the last three years.

Thomas has 10 victories since the start of the 2016-17 season, two more than anyone else. He has 11 total, and is still only 26. In the last 60 years, only Jack Nicklaus (20) and Tiger Woods (34) won more before turning 27, while Jordan Spieth and McIlroy also each reached 11 wins.

“I would never want to make it just about two players,” McIlroy said. “I think that’s a little disrespectful of all the other players that are trying to play well and trying to win tournaments. You look at what Justin Thomas has done … I think to make it just about two people is, you know, not the – not the right thing to do or the right thing to say.”

As for non-Koepka questions, he said one of the lessons from last season was that he plays better with less travel, which he will keep in mind this season. He hasn’t played in Japan in 11 years, and has been pleasantly surprised by Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. In fact, after playing the MGM Resorts The Challenge: Japan Skins (with Tiger Woods, Hideki Matsuyama, and Jason Day), and practice rounds, he likened the course to Club de Golf Chapultepec.

“Just sort of the tree-lined (aspect),” McIlroy said, “and the doglegs and having to sort of cut off corners and stuff, but I like it.”

Chapultepec, of course, hosts the WGC-Mexico Championship, where he shot 16 under and finished second to Dustin Johnson in Mexico last season.

A good omen? Perhaps, but McIlroy has long since proven that he can win anywhere, against Koepka or anyone else. When he captured the TOUR Championship last season, he became the only player besides Woods to win the FedExCup twice. No one has ever won it three times.

Rivalries come and go, depending on the week. More than anything, the greats seem to be playing against history.