The RBC Canadian Open isn't supposed to be the main event in mid-June — that's U.S. Open week looming at Shinnecock — but Round 1 in Canada decided to steal the show anyway. Brooks Koepka, who has been more rumor than golfer for stretches of the last two years, suddenly looks like a guy who remembers he has 5 majors in the trophy case.
Koepka, mint polo and all, flagged a 75-yard approach out of heavy rough on 15 to roars from the gallery.
Then he stepped on 17 and went full late-career Brooks: 362 off the tee, a dart to a few feet, putt in the heart. That's not a guy grinding through the round to make a check, that's a guy who has seen the leaderboard and decided to plant a flag on it.
The full 362-bomb, stuffed approach, made putt sequence on 17.
He posted 64 and finished the day tied for the lead — a number that does not appear on Brooks Koepka's recent résumé very often. Whether this holds up over 3 more rounds is a different question, but for one Thursday in Canada the swagger is back, the body language is back, and the gallery is reacting like it's 2019 again.
Round 1 highlight package with Koepka tied at the top of the board alongside Theegala, Cole and Grillo.
And he wasn't even the only headline. Christiaan Bezuidenhout dropped an ace from 214 yards — 84-foot apex, 133 ball speed, straight in the cup — which is the kind of shot that normally wins the day on its own. Pair that with John Daly II making birdie on the very first hole of his professional career on the Korn Ferry Tour, and you've got a tour week that's doing a lot more than waiting around for the U.S. Open to start.
Bezuidenhout's ace at the Canadian Open with the broadcast tracer data.
Shinnecock is up next and the merch tents are already open. But if Brooks keeps this up into the weekend, the conversation heading into the year's third major might not be about the favorites — it might be about whether the scariest closer in golf just showed up to the party 7 days early.