Koepka compliments DJ: 'We all knew' he'd win more than one major

Brooks Koepka's opinion of Dustin Johnson's ability to close big tournaments appears to have changed following the latter's dominant Masters victory in November.

"I don’t think anybody was going to catch DJ," Koepka told Golf.com's Dylan Dethier on Wednesday, reflecting on the Masters. "DJ played pretty good. It was kind of coming, I think we all knew that he was going to win more than one major, and the run he had from Travelers until Augusta was pretty impressive.

"That stretch of golf will probably go down as one of the best maybe six months we’ve seen in a long time."

Johnson won the Masters by five strokes at 20-under, setting a new tournament scoring record.

Four months ago when Koepka trailed Johnson by two shots entering the final round of the PGA Championship, Brooks' tone was vastly different - he said he "likes his chances" and added DJ's "only won one major title."

Even Rory McIlroy came to Johnson's defense, pointing out DJ has three times as many wins on Tour as Koepka.

Koepka ended up shooting a 4-over 74 in the final round of the PGA Championship to finish T29, while DJ fired a 2-under 68 to finish T2. The two have gone in vastly different directions since then, as DJ has won three times and Koepka has battled injuries.

Koepka appeared to regain his form at the Houston Open and the Masters but was blunt when asked to provide an overall assessment of his year.

"I don’t know if I could say that without getting fined," he said. "Pretty bad."

It appears the 30-year-old is heavily motivated heading into 2021.

"It will be a little bit longer offseason for me because I haven’t won, so I’m not going to be in Hawaii."

Koepka will have a chance to finish on a high note at this week's Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico.