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Koepka unsure about Olympics as rest of Tour season hangs in balance

Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Brooks Koepka had conflicted feelings about competing for a gold medal in the Olympics. He talked about the crammed summer schedule. He also talked about the satisfaction of being an Olympian.

He was squarely on the fence. That was before golf shut down from the new coronavirus, with no PGA Tour events scheduled through May 17. Eight events have been canceled. Two majors have been postponed.

''This changes a lot of things now with what goes on with the Olympics,'' Koepka said, conceding that he still wasn't even sure - as with everyone else - if the Olympics would be played.

But he mainly was talking about the end of the season.

Koepka was out from October until February due to a knee injury he aggravated during a fall in South Korea. In five starts this season, he has two missed cuts, a withdrawal in South Korea and two finishes outside the top 40.

That puts him at No. 213 in the FedEx Cup.

''It makes it very difficult because of the start I've gotten off to,'' Koepka said. ''Let's say we're out six to eight weeks. I'm so far down in the FedEx Cup because of my play. And the PGA Tour is my job. I want to be right there at the end.''

Koepka said he wasn't officially pulling out, like Dustin Johnson already has (before the cancellations). But it didn't down very promising even if the Olympics are held.

And it probably won't help Tiger Woods if he's still interested.

According to a world ranking expert known only as ''Nosferatu'' on Twitter, the leading four Americans if no golf is played before the June 22 cutoff for the Olympics are Justin Thomas, Koepka, Webb Simpson and Xander Schauffele. They would be followed by Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay.

The Olympics are a long way off on the calendar, suddenly not so far off in terms of qualifying.

But there remains a lot of unknowns along the way.

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