Sawt Falasteen - Koepka keen to build major title tally

"Double digits, that's what I'm trying to get to," the 33-year-old American said Tuesday as he prepared for the 123rd US Open at Los Angeles Country Club.

"I don't think it's out of the question for me. I think the way I've prepared, the way I've kind of suited my game for these things is going to help me.

"I'm only 33, so I've definitely got quite a bit of time," Koepka added. "I've just got to stay healthy and keep doing what I'm doing."

Koepka's bullish assessment of his chances of winning 10 major titles -- something Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Walter Hagen are the only men to do -- is a far cry from his state of mind at last year's US Open, when he was still struggling in the wake of 2021 knee surgery that he thought should have been behind him.

"I feel like a new person, right?" Koepka said, adding that he's since realized he tried to come back too soon from injury "never let my body heal, and then from there I just created some bad habits.

"By the time you actually figure out that you're starting to get healthy, you've got to get rid of those bad habits and it's a whole new process," he said. "It takes a long time."

Sidelined for much of two years, Koepka also shook things up with a move to the LIV Golf circuit, and his victory at Oak Hill made him the first player from the breakaway league to capture a major title.

The signs were there even earlier, with Koepka leading the Masters by two strokes on Sunday before finishing tied for second behind Spain's Jon Rahm.

Koepka has said he knows just what went wrong at Augusta National -- and won't be making the same mistakes again.

Nor will he be sidetracked by the questions raised last week when the US PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced they would join forces with LIV's backers, the Saudi Public Investment Fund to unify the global game.

The stunning announcement has roiled the golf world almost as much as LIV's launch, with pros from every circuit wondering what the future holds.

Instead he's locked in on adding a third US Open title to go with those he won in 2017 and 2018, two of the four majors he won in the space of two years.

"There's four weeks a year I really care about and this is one of them, and I want to play well," Koepka said.

"I'm not going to go into the future. I don't have a crystal ball with me. I'm just worried about the US Open.

"If I can get to number six pretty quick, that would be nice."

H.Darwish--SF-PST