SHANGHAI – The HSBC Champions is the first stop for Brooks Koepka on his four-week Asian adventure that will include two weeks on the beaches of Vietnam and Thailand and a title defense in Japan.
Splotches of mud on his shirt were evidence that it started with a wild ride at Sheshan International.
“Yeah, I had some fun in the water,” he said.
Koepka played so beautifully on Thursday that the U.S. Open champion had reason to believe his 8-under 64 for a one-shot lead could have been much lower. He burned the edge of cup on a few birdie putts, missed one birdie attempt from 4 feet and turned a certain birdie into an aggravating bogey when he three-putted from 4 feet on No. 3.
But he got away with his worst swing of the day.
Wanting to play conservatively on the par-5 eighth, Koepka hit 3-iron off the tee and pulled it so badly that he disappeared down the banks of a winding stream along the entire left side of the fairway. Enough of the golf ball was showing from the shallow stream that he removed his shoes and tried to whack it out. He did well enough to advance it some 50 yards, leaving him 275 yards remaining over a pond that guards the front of the green.
Koepka hammered a 3-wood right at the flag, and the ball settled about 20 feet behind the cup. He made it for birdie and a wry smile.
“It was an interesting hole to say the least,” Koepka said. “I hit an awful 3-iron, hit it in the water and was lucky enough to at least hit it and advance it and hit a great 3-wood in there just past the pin. We were laughing. It was almost kind of destiny to make that putt.”
Along the way, he ticked off another goal for 2017 – the lead to himself after the opening round.
It wasn’t much – just one shot over Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand and Gavin Green of Malaysia – but it was where he wanted to be.
“Any time you can get off to a good start and be close to the lead or have the lead, that’s what you want,” Koepka said.
Kiradech dressed in black out of respect to the five days of funeral ceremonies back home for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died last October. This week ends a year of mourning, and Thais throughout the country were clad in back in honor of the late king.