For those of you who lost money on squares last night, consider picking an up-and-coming golfer in next season’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. The biggest party in golf also happens to identify the best talent in golf: J.B. Holmes, Mark Wilson, Kyle Stanley and Kevin Stadler made Scottsdale a coming-out party for wins.

Add the name Brooks Koepka to the list.

A 51-feet bomb for eagle on Sunday’s 15th hole propelled the former Florida State golfer to his second major victory in three months. In November, Koepka won the Turkish Airlines Open on the European Tour. Koepka eschewed the U.S. minor circuits for a continent-trotting time on the European tours.

[quote_box_center]“I didn’t think I would work my way up this quickly, but playing the Challenge and European tours led to this,” Koepka said. “And especially the failures I have had. I look at Frys two years ago. I can’t tell you how much I learned from that. The failures I think are what really held me.”[/quote_box_center]

After winning four times on the Challenge Tour, Koepka graduated to the main tour, where he triumphed in Turkey last Thanksgiving.

A stroke off the 15-under total of the victor were Hideki Matsuyama, Bubba Watson and Ryan Palmer. Each had their chances, but none of the three was able to match Koepka’s 3-under final nine.

Jon Rahm, a Spanish amateur by way of Arizona State’s varsity squad, made an effort at repeating Phil Mickelson’s 1991 victory on tour. With four back-nine birdies, Rahm reached 12-under and a tie for fifth.

Story of the Week: Let’s be candid. No one thought Tiger would challenge. Did we think he would shoot 82? No, but that’s not the story of the week. Brooks Koepka was the worst-kept secret in professional golf last year. All Europe knew how well he was playing, yet it was a challenge to procure a stateside sponsor’s exemption. Despite this being his first PGA Tour victory, Koepka was far from a long shot in Scottsdale.

NYCe, but not for Lydia (LPGA Tour)

For 70 holes of the inaugural Coates Golf Championship, Lydia Ko had victory and the world No. 1 ranking in her newly contact-lensed sights. Also awaiting her was the pithy cheer of her father, that she revealed on Friday.

[quote_box_center]”Dad, the only crowd voice I can hear is you saying like, ‘Nice, Lydia,”’ she said. “I can always spot it. It’s a voice I always hear.”[/quote_box_center]

One of them was not to be. An untimely double-bogey on the penultimate hole dropped her a stroke behind Na Yeon Choi (known on tour as NYC) into a tie for second. Victory No. 1 of the year, unlike Ko’s new No. 1 world ranking, will have to wait until next week.

Na Yeon played marvelous weekend golf, playing the final 36 holes in 10-under. Coates was her first triumph since her breakout season in 2012. For Na Yeon Choi, the win means she can keep her 4G.

[quote_box_center]“I was thinking [of getting my] cell phone changed to a 2G so I can’t check all my email, can’t check any internet,” she said. [/quote_box_center]

Evidently, the pressure put on her to win after a 2013 U.S. Open victory had increased to a breaking point. NYC will arrive on Paradise Island in the Bahammas in a much more relaxed state of mind for this week’s Pure Silk Classic.

Story of the Week: Despite Ko’s ascent to the top ranking, it is Choi’s admission that the pressures of her homeland nearly wore her down. Top 10? Not good enough. Second place? Not good enough. First or bust.

Breaking the Runner’s-Up Duck (European Tour)

Rory McIlroy hadn’t won a golf tournament since the 2014 PGA Championship, and he hadn’t ever played a sub-70, final round at Dubai. McIlroy couldn’t ensure the latter, but he did stop the quacking he had heard since the 2014 PGA Championship.

[quote_box_center]”I’d definitely like to break the runner’s up duck the right way than the wrong way,” McIlroy said. “We’ll see.”[/quote_box_center]

Par-saving putts on Nos. 12 and 17 moved the momentum forward and the world’s top-ranked golfer played conservative golf into the house to earn a three-stroke win over Alex Noren. Unfortunately for the lad from Northern Ireland, while the rest of the tour moves on to Malaysia for its National Open, the fun is over for a while for Rory, as he travels next week to Dublin to testify in his case against former manager Horizon Sports Management.

Let’s see, where would he rather be?Dublin…Malaysia…Dublin…definitely Malaysia.

Story of the Week: Alexander Noren’s return from injury to earn a second-place finish. 

Goggin Clears Field in Panama Claro (Web.Com Tour)

Matthew Goggin didn’t fret when Harold Varner III took a one-stroke lead after nine holes of the final round in Panama. The Aussie knew what awaited the field, as evidenced by four previous Web.com victories and two on the equivalent circuit in Europe, the Challenge Tour.

While Varner gave the lead away with four bogeys on the inward nine, ultimately finishing in second place, Goggin played steady golf over the final nine holes, with one birdie enough for a four-stroke victory in the first event of the 2015 Web.com season.

Goggin began the day four shots back of Hao tong Li, the overnight leader. Li had earned a tour card with his first-place finish on last year’s PGA Tour China circuit. The young man from Hunan was unable to birdie a single hole on Sunday and his six bogeys dropped him from first to eleventh place.

The tour moves one country south, onto mainland South America, for this week’s Pacific Rubiales Colombia Championship, also presented by Claro (which, incidentally, means “clear” in Spanish.)

Story of the Week: Tie between Varne, an African-American golfer and Li, a legitimate golfing talent from China.

Kel Nagle Passes

Kel Nagle died last week at the age of 94. Nagle served five years in the Australian military, thus coming to professional golf a bit later than most. In 1960, Nagle stunned the golfing world by defeating Arnold Palmer at the British Open championship at St. Andrews.

Palmer had won the first two major titles of the year and was expected to head to the PGA Championship with a chance to win the Grand Slam.

Kel Nagle won three PGA Seniors championships and two World Cup (then called the Canada Cup) titles in partnership with countryman Peter Thompson. He counted the 1964 Canadian Open as his only other PGA Tour title.

In 2007, Nagle was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, one of only five Aussies to receive that recognition.