Former roommates Peter Uihlein and Brooks Koepka enjoy strong start at Honda

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Peter Uihlein hasn’t been playing that poorly, even though he came into this week’s Honda Classic having missed five consecutive cuts. With the PGA TOUR shifting to the East Coast, he knows it’s time to start making hay, and on Thursday at PGA National, Uihlein started nicely, opening with a 3-under 67.

A shot behind him on the board was Brooks Koepka, who played solidly if not spectacularly at PGA National’s penalizing Champion Course. Koepka opened with 68, four shots off the low score (Kurt Katayama) from the morning wave. Uihlein was first off on the 10th tee at 6:50 a.m., the sun just awaking, and Koepka played about an hour behind him. It was sort of old times for the two, who used to room together just down the road from PGA National in a residential community when they were fresh out of college, taking a breather from the European Challenge Tour, and both dreaming big.

“It’s cool. When we were playing overseas and we would be in town for Honda week, just based on the schedule, we would be around and hang out with some guys,” Uihlein said. “Obviously, BK has had a tremendous career and it’s still only going to get better. It’s been awesome to see.”

Uihlein, 32, who won the 2010 U.S. Amateur on his 21st birthday, earned his way back onto the PGA TOUR through playing the Korn Ferry Tour a year ago, winning once (MGM Resort Championship at Paiute) and finishing runner-up twice. Koepka, 31, doesn’t have to worry quite as much about his playing opportunities. As a four-time major champion ranked 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking, he plays when and where he wants.

He, like Uihlein, seemed to enjoy the challenge as the winds kicked up around the demanding PGA National layout, where trouble lurks just about everywhere.

“The wind got up there probably a little bit earlier than I thought it would,” Koepka said. “I just kind of ho-hummed it around. … Didn’t deserve anything worse, didn’t deserve anything better.”

Koepka is a four-time major winner. Meanwhile Uihlein, once the world’s top-ranked amateur, has played five years on the European Tour, and is in his fifth season on the PGA TOUR, with a year on the Korn Ferry mixed in. He got a chuckle on Thursday when a reporter asked if he considered himself to be a journeyman.

“Golf’s hard. Everybody is good,” Uihlein said. He currently is ranked 306th in the world, but four years ago was inside the top 50. “I saw somebody posted a statistic showing the guy who finished 130th and the guy who finished 10th on the FedExCup ... (the differences are) minute. Very, very small.”

There has been a silver lining to having a few extra weekends off during the West Coast Swing for Uihlein. Five weeks ago, Uihlein’s wife, Chelsea, gave birth to a boy named Tucker, the Uihleins’ first child. They took young Tucker for a trial run to Bradenton last week for the Korn Ferry’s LECOM Suncoast Classic; when his newborn showed up, Peter birdied his last two holes to make the cut. When Tucker made an appearance on Thursday at PGA National, his pops came through with a nice par at the sixth hole (his 15th) followed by chip-in birdies at Nos. 7 and 8.

“So far, he’s been good luck,” Uihlein said. “He’s been fun. It’s different. In Europe, you’d play and maybe go downtown and eat, do whatever. Now it’s like play, practice, go home. I bottle-fed him when I got home last night. So you do things like that. Life is different than what it was.”

He and Koepka have fun memories of their time living under the same roof in Jupiter. Koepka followed Uihlein’s post-college path by turning pro, getting his passport, and heading to Europe, first learning to win on the Challenge Tour before eventually graduating to winning on what is now the DP World Tour.

A South Florida native who was familiar with Palm Beach County, Koepka was looking for his own place to settle into when he wasn’t traveling in Europe. Uihlein, who traveled with Koepka some overseas, decided to move from Orlando to the east coast of Florida, and he and Koepka and Matt Broome (now Uihlein’s manager) moved in together into a community called Evergreen. When Uihlein bought a house in Jupiter a short time later, they moved in there, too.

“Four or five years, maybe?” Uihlein said, recounting the rooming arrangement. “We just played golf and hung out every day and had a good time.”

Added Koepka, “It’s nice to see him play well, and hopefully he plays well the next three days.”