The Open: Brooks Koepka not a big fan of Royal St George's

Four-time major winner Brooks Koepka is not a big fan of Royal St George’s, saying the venue for this week’s 149th Open is not as “exciting” as either St Andrews or Royal Portrush.

Four-time major winner speaks to the media in the build up to the 149th Open at Royal St George's in Kent. Picture: PA

The Sandwich course is hosting golf’s oldest major for the 15th time this week, with Koepka among the big names playing it for the first time in their career.

“It's not my favourite venue that we've played,” said the American in the build up to the eagerly-anticipated Claret Jug event, which was cancelled last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“St Andrews is probably my favourite place in the entire world to play, while Portrush - I love that place and a fun course to play - two years ago was just such a good Open.

“This one, it's just not as exciting. I don't know why, but there are a couple blind tee shots or shots in where you can't really see much. I'm not too big of a fan of that.”

He also described the rough for the season’s final major as “thickest” he’d seen in the event, having made his debut at Muirfield in 2013.

Despite his thoughts on the Kent course, Koepka reckons he can still improve on his best effort in the event so far when finishing fourth behind Shane Lowry at Portrush two years ago.

“I've won on golf courses that I'm not a big fan of before, so that doesn’t bug me,” he insisted. “I don't care whether I like the place, don't like it. You've still got to play good and go hit the shots.”

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