Whether Sunday's two-stroke victory over Woods changes the way Koepka, 28, is perceived is an open question.
Koepka, the first player since Woods in 2000 to win the US Open and PGA Championship in the same year, has also had to overcome a setback ahead of his triumphant run.
"It's tough to beat when the guy hits it 340 down the middle", Woods said. The event, broadcast on CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) saw its highest ratings since 2009, when Woods lost his chance for a 15th major to unknown Y.E. Yang.
As it stands, Italy's Francesco Molinari, victor of The Open, now tops the Team Europe Ryder Cup points list, followed by English trio Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood.
Drama? That was Woods's domain. "Those are the type of players you want in a Ryder Cup". That one went in.
Woods was two shots clear heading into the Sunday at Hazeltine, but he laboured around the final 18 as Yang Yong-eun stormed to victory.
But he did not quit.
I hesitated posting this, but this is the 5th Tee box on Sunday.
Roars echoed through the trees at Bellerive.
"Everybody on the golf course heard", Koepka said. "It's pretty obvious when Tiger makes a birdie".
He had a 20-foot putt on No. 16 to capture a share of the lead, but pushed it barely off line.
Turkey crisis deepens at lira hits new low
Turkey contributes about one percent to the world's total economic output, slightly less than the Netherlands. He said Sunday the lira's fall was the result of a plot and did not reflect Turkey's economic fundamentals.
Remarkably, there were also joint easiest holes, with the par-five eighth playing to an average of 4.650 thanks to 32 birdies and just four bogeys and the par-four 11th playing to an average of 3.650 after two eagles and 29 birdies.
Thousands of fans crammed themselves around the fairways and greens to get a glimpse of Tiger final round and they weren't shy to let him know they were backing him. "I played hard", Woods said. "To do this (winning the title) is truly incredible", Koepka said after putting the last hole.
It wasn't going to happen.
"I really wanted to see kind of how Tiger was playing, and I only got to see".
"I wanted guys who really enjoy that atmosphere, and these eight guys, when I look at them, they're guys that enjoy that challenge".
Woods, 14-times major champion, is on the team as a vice-captain, a role he filled at the 2016 Ryder Cup and 2017 Presidents Cup while he was out with a potentially career-ending back injury.
The season will be condensed, meaning more key tournaments earlier on, but Woods can prioritize the majors in hopes of peaking at the right time - as opposed to his approach this year, when he was still adjusting to his new swing late in the season.
Since it was established in 1916 it has been played in nine different months and for two lengthy stretches from 1959-70 and 1972-2018 rounded off the major season. "I don't know, like every shot he hit for the rest of the day", Furyk said Monday with a laugh.
While Woods has never been one to celebrate a loss, he couldn't help but feel good about the road he's taken over the past year - one that ended with a tantalizingly close call at Bellerive.
"I don't care what anybody else says".
"I'm sure most people think that is very un-entertaining, and very blah on the golf course", he said. And I'm just very pleased at what I've done so far and now to be part of the Ryder Cup conversation, going from where I've come from to now in the past year, it's been pretty cool.
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