Brooks Koepka is the Ryder Cup rookie that every USA fan should know and love

The TV networks are still in the process of figuring this out, so I'm not judging if you're not aware of this yet. But Brooks Koepka is going to be a stalwart on American Ryder Cup teams for many years to come, and he held court on Friday afternoon at Hazeltine. His opening statement may not have been on display in your living room, but the patrons strolling the grounds off of Chaska, Minnesota saw a show, and they let him hear their appreciation.

Raised in Lake Worth, Florida, Brooks is the son of Bob and Sherry Koepka, and is an older brother to Chase. Bob himself is quite the stick, and once won seven straight club championships at Sherbrooke Country Club in Lake Worth. His successor? His son, Brooks, who won two straight club championships at the ages of 13 and 14. The club champion parking spot had to be turned into a bike rack.

Chase is also player, and is currently spending some of his time playing the Challenge Tour in Europe, and will be going to the Web.com Tour Qualifying school this fall. Trying to avoid a repeat of the Koepka boys dominating the Sherbrooke club championships, the club decided not to let Chase play in the events when his time came around. The Koepkas broke the Sherbrooke Club championship. 

Koepka has  always been known among his peers as a bomber, but with a new driver in the bag this week following Nike's announcement that they will no longer be making golf equipment, he was cutting corners off of fairways that were not designed to be cut. When he wasn't taking the ball on a line that the other three in his group (partner Brandt Snedeker, and opponents Danny Willett and Martin Kaymer) couldn't even picture, he was running the ball through the fairway and into the friendly rough, leaving just short irons into the greens. His stock carry distance with his Nike driver was 289 yards, but with the new M2, his test data shows that he's now carrying 307, a pickup of 18 yards for a guy that really didn't even need it.

Brooks hit last into every par-four or par-five with the exception of two holes (the funky par four 5th where he was slightly off line, and the long par four 12th, where he hit a bit of a sky ball that made me feel a bit better about my game). The third hole plays to the tune of 633 yards. No problem. Another monster drive, and a blasted three wood later, and he's two-putting for his team's third birdie in the first three holes, giving them a 2-up lead in a match that they never trailed.

His strategy is simple, evident, and haunting. He has a bachelor's degree in the Dustin Johnson school of thought, and is currently working towards getting his masters. 

"Pretty much I guess our mentality right now is just hit it as far as you can off that tee," said Koepka on Wednesday. True to form, he grabbed driver on every single par four and five today. In the 14 holes he played today, I did not see him look at yardage book once. He's going to get the ball as close the hole as possible, and figure out the rest from there. A few times, he put himself in some questionable positions, but managed to recover with enough bravado that made you wonder whether or not it was a great recovery, or if it was actually apart of his plan all along. 

The similarities to Dustin Johnson don't end with their prowess off the tee. Koepka can also roll it on the greens. He ranked 20th on tour this year in strokes gained putting, which is third on the US team behind just Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickelson. Golf Digest's Jim Moriarty once described DJ as having the "oily gait of a jungle cat", and Koepka's strut is not dissimilar. He's got a confidence that borders on cocky, and fits the blueprint of a guy that American fans have been pining to see on these national teams for quite some time.

Koepka and Snedeker were the lone bright spots on the American side in the afternoon fourball session, and the crowd rewarded them with the recognition they deserved. Similar to the guy in your charity scramble group that doesn't hit it too far, Snedeker went first on every hole, typically putting one out in the fairway to give Koepka's ball something to look at as it made its way past for a landing. On more than one occasion, his drives were met with laughter from the crowd, as the ball just continued to rise just when it appeared that it had reached its apex. Once the ball returned from the stratosphere, the ovations and cheers he received lasted much longer than even your typical Ryder Cup reaction. Everyone knows that DJ and Rory bomb it, but for many this was their first Koepka experience.

And it will not be their last.