Koepka not intimidated by pro-Spieth crowd at the Byron Nelson
Brooks Kopeka isn’t expecting a lot of people to be rooting for him on Sunday at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Despite playing impressive golf, including setting a new 54-hole tournament record to earn a two-stroke lead, Koepka is trying to pick up second PGA Tour win at the expense of hometown hero Jordan Spieth. The crowd will be partisan for Spieth, and that’s putting it mildly.
However, Kopeka seems nonplussed by it.
“I really don’t care. Doesn’t really bother me,” Koepka said after Saturday play. “I mean, he’s got a lot of support which is cool to see. He has grown up here, home town. He should. There’s so many people out there cheering him.”
Koepka, who won last year in Phoenix for his first Tour title, got to experience a Spieth crowd in Dallas firsthand on Saturday. They played alongside each other in the final group along with 36-hole leader Ben Crane. On the par-3 17th, Spieth drained a 20-footer for birdie that sent the crowd into a tizzy.
“Probably the loudest roar I think I’ve ever heard on a golf course,” Koepka said.
It’s that kind of energy that Spieth could feed off of to win his first professional title in the Lone Star State.
“A moment that I’ll never forget,” Spieth said. “Even though it’s Saturday (and) may or may not have any impact on this tournament, that was the coolest roar I’ve ever heard.”
While the crowd might not be pulling hard for Koepka on Sunday, but the Florida State product feels locked in — in part, because he said he’s not playing his best all-around golf.
“I think sometimes when you’re not playing your best you’re more mentally there, you’re trying to grind it out a little bit harder,” he said. “You’ve really got to come in with a good game plan, I guess you could say, manage yourself around the golf course. That’s kind of what we’re doing right now even though today wasn’t that good.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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