Koepka chases down RAK lead to match brother

Chase Koepka took a share of the Ras Al Khaimah 2017 Golf Challenge lead just hours after his Major-winning brother Brooks sealed a one-shot advantage of his own at the WGC-HSBC Champions.

On another perfect day at Al Hamra GC, Chase – the younger of the two Koepkas – made five birdies in a four under par second round of 68 to move to ten under par, sharing the halfway lead with overnight leader Jurrian van der Vaart.

Brooks’ golfing journey also began on the Challenge Tour, with the American winning four times before graduating to the European Tour in 2013 – a feat that Chase is already certain to match, currently sitting in sixth place in the Road to Oman Rankings with just one tournament remaining after this week.

The one thing missing from Chase’s burgeoning CV at this early stage of his career is a victory – he lost in a play-off at last month’s Kazakhstan Open – but a maiden win in Ras Al Khaimah would also give him a chance of eclipsing his illustrious sibling by topping the Rankings, a feat that eluded Brooks.

“I’d love to top the Rankings, I think in order to do that I’ll need to win one of these last two events so that’s my goal. It’s been a great year anyway but if I can hopefully play well this weekend, I might be able to get that first win.

I heard about Brooks’ round in China so I just wanted to make sure I made a birdie on the last hole to make sure I’m on top of the leaderboard as well!

“It’s a good day to be a golfer called Koepka, but there’s not too many bad days to be a Koepka! Certainly not this year anyway.”

This is Chase’s first full season on the Challenge Tour and though 2017 was the year Brooks, with victory at the U.S. Open, truly became a Major player on the world golf scene, the younger Koepka has been highly impressive in his own right, securing five top five finishes already on the Road to Oman.

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