Brooks Koepka, arguably one of the greatest golfers of all time, has just upset the golf world by securing the 2023 PGA Championship – becoming the first LIV Golf signed golfer to win a major golf championship. And, just like with many big firsts in sports, he did it with a Rolex on his wrist…
Rolex, the world’s biggest watch brand and a byword for luxury, success and achievement, has always been intimately connected with big moments in sports. An early Oyster was on Mercedes Gleitze’s wrist when she became the first British woman to swim the English Channel. Sir Jackie Stewart got a King Midas when he won his first Formula 1 World Championship. The list goes on.
Perhaps, then, it’s no surprise that a Rolex has become part of a big moment in golf history, as Brooks Koepka won the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club over the weekend – a paradigm shift in the golf world – with a new Rolex Cosmograph Daytona ‘Panda’ on his wrist.
Koepka’s defection to the Saudi-backed, Greg Norman-led LIV Golf league – despite the 33-year-old initially deriding players for “selling out” and joining the controversial tour – led many commentators to say that his career was over. His win on Sunday, Rolex on his wrist, proves otherwise.
Thankfully, we doubt anyone would’ve got their knickers in a twist about what watch Brooksie was wearing when he lifted the Wanamaker Trophy (a trophy that now has his name on it five times, by the way).
The Daytona that Koepka was wearing looks like the updated ref. 126500LN, which was introduced at Watches & Wonders Geneva earlier this year. It’s easy to distinguish the new reference from the previous-generation ref. 116500LN thanks to the new model’s metal ‘lip’ around its ceramic bezel.
RELATED: Rolex Drop ‘John Player Special’ GMT Master-II, New Daytona & Titanium Yacht-Master
The updated Daytona features a new movement, the calibre 4131, which incorporates a number of the major innovations that Rolex has brought to its latest movements, including a Chronergy escapement.
WATCH Rolex’s reveal of the new Daytona below.
Koepka isn’t the only golfer to hoist some silverware while wearing a Rolex recently.
Jon Rahm, the Spanish golfing phenom whose unlikely rise to stardom continues to captivate sports fans, wore a blue-dialled Rolex Sky-Dweller (ref. 336934-0005) when he won the US Masters earlier this year.
UPDATE 26/5/23: our good friend @niccoloy pointed out that Koepka was actually wearing a previous-generation ref. 116500LN and not the new ref. 126500. Can’t win ’em all, we guess.