Brooks Koepka will play for the first time since the CJ Cup in South Korea when he tees it up in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this week. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

WORLD No. 1 Brooks Koepka is keen to add a Rolex Series title to his already impressive CV, as he makes his comeback from a knee injury at this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after missing last month’s Presidents Cup.

The four-time Major winner returns to Abu Dhabi Golf Club for the third time – having secured a top-10 finish at the venue two years ago – for the first of eight Rolex Series events on the 2020 Race to Dubai.

The American is competing for the first time in three months, after withdrawing from the Presidents Cup squad to have knee surgery.

Koepka, who claimed his his first US Open at Erin Hills in 2017, said: “These Rolex Series events are where you have more emphasis on winning. It’s what you want to win.

“The players that are playing in this event are obviously really good – some of the best players in the world. That’s why I think everyone’s here.

“You want to play in the best events you can and win them,” added Koepka, who spent three years playing on the Challenge and European Tour before earning his card on the PGA Tour with a fourth place finish in the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst.

“I love this place, it’s always fun to get back to. The golf course is really good. I feel comfortable here and hopefully play well this week, said Koepka, who claimed three wins on the Challenge Tour in 2013.

“I’m just excited to hit balls,” said Brooks, who has had to to miss nearly three months golf after damaging his kneecap at the CJ Cup, in South Korea, in October.

“In Korea I re-tore it, and the kneecap had moved into the fat pad. That’s excruciating. It’s a lot of pain. It’s not fun,” said Koepka, who first injured his knee back in March – but still managed to win his second Wannamaker Trophy at Bethpage Black, less than two months later.

He required stem cell treatment after the Tour Championship at East Lake, in August, before hurting it again on the PGA Tour’s Asian swing.

He pulled out of the trip to Australia for the Presidents Cup three weeks before the biennial event got under way – handing his spot to Rickie Fowler.

“Last year, there wasn’t much practise. I just couldn’t do it with my knee. I couldn’t get on my left side,” said the Florida State University graduate.

“Couldn’t squat down in a bunker. I struggled to get down and read a putt. Thankfully that’s in the past now.

“When you have something taken away from you, I think it makes you appreciate it more,” said Koepka, who has questioned how much respect he was shown after a run that saw him win four majors in just eight tournaments played.

While he admitted his left knee may not be as good as his right for some time still, he is raring to go having only been given the green light to hit balls just before Christmas.

“I mean, I missed competition,” said last year’s WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational winner.

“Even when I got the green light, I just didn’t know whether it was going to feel right – whether you’re going to be the same, how is it going to feel.

“I missed showing up to an event, preparing for something, because I haven’t had anything to prepare for. Having three months off, it’s not fun.”

This week’s event sees the European Tour’s new tougher regulations aimed at tackling slow play come into effect including a key revision to the four-point plan previously announced in August.

Players will be now be given an immediate one-shot penalty for two ‘bad times’ in a tournament rather than for two ‘bad times’ within a round.

Koepka was an outspoken critic of J B Holmes in particular at Riveria, last year, after the pair went head to head in the Sunday shootout, which Holmes won.

“I think it’s a good thing,” he said about the new four-point plan, which will target the “worst offenders” in terms of slow play.

“I think the game’s changing and I think the rules need to kind of change with it.

“It’s got to evolve as we evolve, the courses evolve and technology, everything like that.

“They are trying to make the game a lot simpler. We’re on our way to making it easier to understand for the fans at home, the players.

“It’s very clear-cut what’s going to happen and very clear-cut what you need to do,” said Koepka, whose last win in a regular European Tour event came in the 2014 Turkish Open.

The Florida ace, who won both the US Open and USPGA back-to-back in 2018 and 2019 respectively, is joined in the field by compatriots Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Cantlay.

DeChambeau was also a member of Tiger Woods’ winning Presidents Cup team.

He is also targeting a maiden Rolex Series victory this week, and “The Scientist” has form in the desert after capturing his first European Tour win in Dubai last season.

DeChambeau, who has been criticised for taking too long with his very methodical pre-shot routines, is focusing on adding to his sole European Tour win in Dubai, in 2019.

“For me, having this be a Rolex Series event and having it be this important, it’s fantastic,” said DeChambeau who won four times in the States in 2018, and has recently bulked up his physique.

“Every tournament I play in, I still go in with the mind-set that I’m going to win and do my absolute best to win.

“It’s a great preparation for the rest of the year. It’s going to tell me what’s going right and what’s going wrong, and I’m going to try to bring my ‘A-game’ to every single event that I play.

“Playing globally, being a part of global golf, is definitely on my list. I want to be able to say that I can win worldwide, which I’ve done.

“Now I won last year in Dubai. I want to win multiple times, and I also want to grow the game globally.”

Cantlay determined to become player on the world stage after Fowler’s tips on Abu Dhabi

MEANWHILE, World No. 6 Patrick Cantlay is competing in his first European Tour event outside of the Majors and World Golf Championships.

The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) graduate is also keen to build his reputation as a global player with victory in Abu Dhabi.P

Cantlay, who made his debut in America’s Presidents Cup win against Ernie Els’ International team, at Royal Melbourne, in December said: “I think it’s important to play all over the world, not only just for growing-the-game purposes.

“But I think it’s good as a golfer to see different places and get comfortable playing all over. I think that’s part of it.

“The European Tour and the PGA Tour play more of a global schedule, especially in the last decade,” added the two-time PGA Tour winner.

“I don’t think that’s going to change. I think it will continue to be more of a global game, and we see that with the World Golf Championships,” said Cantlay.

“I think it’s all good, and it’s good to play in different places and experience different cultures and see what the world is like.

“I talked to Rickie Fowler. He said he enjoyed his time here. Obviously he won – he told me how great a list of champions this place had, kind of needling me a little bit.

“I’ve heard a lot of great things about the event,” added the 27-year-old, who was on the losing USA team against Great Britain and Ireland in the 2011 Walker Cup.

Cantlay lost both his singles matches to Scotland’s Michael Stewart and Ireland’s Paul Cutler but beat Wentworth’s Steve Brown, the recent winner of the Portugal Masters, in the Saturday foursomes at Royal Aberdeen.

But his Presidents Cup debut will be more memorable after the rookie claimed three points in his five matches as the USA won 16-14 after a fightback in the Sunday singles.

•For first round tee times in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship click here.

The post After missing Presidents Cup with knee injury, Koepka’s keen to play in Abu Dhabi appeared first on Golf North.

Cameron Smith is bidding to become the first player to win the Joe Kirkwood Cup Australian PGA three years in a row since Dan Soutar, who claimed the first three national PGA championships held Down Under. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

TWO-TIME defending champion Cameron Smith is bidding to create history this week as he seeks a third consecutive Australian PGA Championship title.

The Australian defeated Jordan Zunic in a play-off in 2017, and finished two strokes ahead of Marc Leishman last year.

That back-to-back win set up an historic second title defence at RACV Royal Pines Resort as he bids for a third victory at his national PGA Championship, starting on Thursday.

Not since Dan Soutar won the first three editions of the historic championship, from 1905-1907, has a player won three consecutive Joe Kirkwood Cups.

Twenty-six-year-old Smith is hoping to back up his strong performance for Ernie Els’ International team at last week’s Presidents Cup match against America, with another successful defence on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The Australian earned one-and-a-half points for the International’s cause, including a victory over Major champion Justin Thomas in the Sunday singles, at Royal Melbourne.

Smith, who hails from Brisbane, some 50 miles north, said: “It’s a little bit more stressful. Last week was a big week on-and-off the golf course, I’m still a little bit tired.

“But I’m sure tomorrow will hype me up and I will be ready to go. I feel pretty confident in my game – it’s probably the best I’ve felt with my iron play all year.

“To do it on such a challenging layout last week, against some of the best players in the world, was good. I can’t wait for this week and I’m feeling good.

“I like the golf course. I play well around here. It’s just such a good week for me off the golf course – lots of family and friends.

“The support is really good throughout the week,” said Smith, who lost a play-off in the Emirates Austrlian Open won by Jordan Spieth, three yearsa go, at Royal Sydney GC.

“Last week was very team orientated, which was great. I love being around a team,” added Smith who played for Australia as an amateur in the 2012 Eisenhower Trophy.

Smith also represented his country at last year’s World Cup, at Melbourne’s Metropolitan Golf Club.

“The team embraced the underdog mentality, but I’ve got a good record around here,” said Smith, who finished fourth at the 2015 US Open, at Chambers Bay.

“I’m feeling really confident with where my game is at.

“As soon as we were done (at the Presidents Cup), Adam (Scott) said he was coming for me this week,” added Smith, whose only win in three seasons on the PGA Tour, came playing alongside Jonas Blixt at the 2017 Zurich Classic of New Orleans pairs event.

“There’s 150 guys this week all wanting the same thing, so it’s going to be tough to get that trophy on Sunday,”

Cameron Smith with the Joe Lockwood Trophy after his victory at RACV Royal Pines Resort at last year’s Australian PGA Championship

The last player to successfully win a European Tour event in three successive years was Tiger Woods.

The 15-time Major winner won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational from 2005-07, while Ernie Els was the last player to win a non-Major or WGC event three years running at the Heineken Classic from 2002-4.

Seeking to put a stop to the dominance of Cameron Smith, at the event over the last two years, is his Presidents Cup teammate and compatriot Adam Scott, who won the title in 2013 – the same year as his Masters triumph.

Scott said: “My goal is to bring a similar kind of focus that I had going last week to the golf course and try and get my name on that trophy again.

“I’m feeling good, I started playing nicely last week in Melbourne. When you get those good feelings it’s nice to have another event to play in and I’d like to make the most of that this week.

“Things were starting to fall into a good spot, so I’ll see if I can carry that on over here and put some good rounds in.

“I’m really pleased with where my golf is from leaving Melbourne, if I can bring some of that out here this week then I think I’ve got a good chance of getting myself in for a chance to win, that sounds fun to me.

“I’d like to try and take some good momentum into next year.”

Scott returned to the top 20 on the Official World Golf Ranking this year for the first time since 2017.

But the Aussie legend has not won since the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship. The 39-year-old earned two-and-a-half points from five matches at last week’s Presidents Cup.

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox – the longest driver on the European Tour in 2019 – has a chance to wrap up the ISPS Handa PGA of Australasia Order of Merit with a strong finish this week, having won the World Super 6 in Perth, in February.

Nicolai Hjøgaard leads off field at Royal Pines

QUEENSLAND is 10 hours ahead of GMT with the first players teeing off at 8pm UK time, on Wednesday evening.

First off the first is Denmark’s Nicolai Hjøgaard, who is looking to emulate twin brother Rasmus by winning on his first European Tour start of the 2020 season – after his twin brother claimed victory in the AfrAsia Mauritius Open, at the end of last month.

Cameron Smith tees off in the first group off the 10th tee at 6am local time, playing with big-hitters Cameron Champ and Ryan Fox, while Scott plays from the first at 11am, with young Australian talent Min Woo Lee, and the 2009 Open Champion Stewart Cink.

•For lives scores from the first round of the Australian PGA click here.

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