Brooks Koepka, along with his trainer, strength coach, sushi chef, vitamin supplier, organic cook, and accountant, are tied for the lead with Bryson DeChambeau after the opening round of Thursday’s 2019 Masters Tournament. All of those guys shot a 6-under 66, Koepka and Company with no bogeys, DeChambeau with three bogeys and nine birdies, six on the back nine.

DeChambeau caught fire on the back and was so fired up he was on the range after his round, hitting irons and enjoying the feel of what it’s like to be tied for the lead in a major and hitting it pure the last nine holes.

Keopka probably went to work out.

Here’s the weird part: some of the Golf Channel gang – and I love the Golf Channel and am mesmerized by Live at the Masters and don’t even try to stop watching it – say he was hurting himself by losing 25 pounds during the past few months. A bulked up Koepka had, after all, won two of the last three majors he’s played in. He missed last year’s Masters with a bum wrist.

Dude’s pretty good.

The general thought is that he was asked to do a photo shoot for the Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine, so he wanted to look his best. Koepka has neither confirmed nor denied. He’s just basically said, “What’s the big deal?” He lost 25 pounds. Says he feels good. And he looks in better shape than when he won his two majors. Less bulk. Still cut.

The guy loves lifting weights and eating right. And whatever he’s doing, the first round of the 83^rd Masters suggests that he needs to keep doing it. And that he’s instinctively a good golfer. And that he loves the challenge of majors since he doesn’t get the airtime of other, less worthy stars. And that he knows his body.

“I’ll have what he’s having.”

Koepka was steady all day, starting with his tee shot on 1. He was the final player in the first round to tee off and hit it 375—I know because I was there—35 yards past Jordan Spieth and Paul Casey, just a wedge and 70 yards to a pin on the back right shelf.

His approach was to 12 feet, on the top shelf back right of the green, the first of several tough pin placements that gave the course and its accepting soft-because-of-rain greens a fighting chance to challenge the players. He missed the birdie putt, but with his tap in set the tone.

Speith, a Masters champion, and Casey, a respected lurker from England playing well coming into the Masters, shot 75 and 81 respectively. Koepka must have felt as if he were playing with the me’s of the world.

One stoke behind the leaders, by the way, is the 48-year-old Phil Mickelson, who at 48 years old is trailing a couple of 20-somethings leaders. His body would suggest that he hasn’t seen a weight in a while.

Golf is a funny game. If you can play—for four days straight—you win, no matter how you look.

If you’re weak, you’re exposed. Naked. Koepka hasn’t been so far.

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