He shot a 2-under 69 in Round 1 and splashed his name all over the top of the leaderboard from the beginning of his 18-hole trek on Thursday.
More broadly, he has won four of his last 20 major championships and finished in the top 10 in 13 of them.
It’s not a number that suggests the tournament is over, but given his history at this tournament and at majors in general, it has to feel like a problem for the other 155 golfers in this field to see Koepka’s name anywhere near the lead.
When he won in 2017 at Erin Hills, Koepka opened with 67 and trailed by two strokes to Rickie Fowler.
The first was a bogey save after a “gasp out loud” hooked shot into the par-3 3rd hole where he had to take relief from a penalty area.
His putting was field average, but he hit 13 of 18 greens in regulation, which is often vital to scoring at a U.S.
There is a possibility we get a Koepka-DeChambeau showdown this weekend at Torrey Pines, which would be fabulous.
Despite him not leading and maybe not shooting what he probably thought he could have on Thursday, there is no doubt that the same thing that’s been true for the last his last three U.S.