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A rivalry between Brooks Koepka and Tiger Woods? Not so fast.

Koepka defeated Woods by two strokes at last year's PGA Championship, and Woods returned the favor with a victory over Koepka at the Masters. But Koepka says, "I don't see it as a rivalry, although it is fun to play against him."

Brooks Koepka is at Bethpage Black trying to hold on to his Wanamaker Trophy with a resurgent Tiger Woods in the field.
Brooks Koepka is at Bethpage Black trying to hold on to his Wanamaker Trophy with a resurgent Tiger Woods in the field.Read moreJeff Roberson / AP

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- The last two major championships have come down to a final-day duel between Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka, with Koepka getting the better of Woods in last year’s PGA Championship, and Woods outlasting Koepka at the Masters last month.

So, Koepka, 29, was asked Tuesday, is there a growing rivalry between the two?

“There’s a little bit of an age difference there,” he said of the 43-year-old Woods. “He’s a little bit older. But I don't see it as a rivalry. I mean, it's just golf. It’s not like it's been … like football, you've got a rivalry that's been over 20, 30 years. I mean, it's just really been the last couple years.

“So I don’t see it as a rivalry, although it is fun to play against him, best player to ever play the game. You [reporters] want to talk about rivalry, I think that’s pretty cool to hear. It’s exciting for me. But I’m just looking forward to this week, to playing with him.”

The PGA groups the winners of the last three majors for the first two rounds, so Koepka, Woods and 2018 British Open champion Francesco Molinari will play together on Thursday and Friday at Bethpage Black.

Although Koepka was second by one stroke at the Masters, he still has won three of the last seven majors in which he has competed. He appears to be brimming with confidence in majors, and the approach that he described Tuesday seems to bear that out.

“There are 156 in the field, so you figure at least 80 of them I'm just going to beat,” he said. “From there, you figure about half of them won't play well, so you're down to about maybe 35. And then from 35 … pressure is going to get to them. It only leaves you with a few more, and you've just got to beat those guys.

“I think one of the big things that I've learned over the last few years is you don't need to win it, you don't have to try to go win it. Just hang around. If you hang around, good things are going to happen.”

Koepka also said he doesn’t feel as overlooked as he used to believe he was.

“I think at the U.S. Open, yeah, I was more of that, and now, not really,” he said. “I'm just trying to go out and go play golf. Everything seems to kind of take on a story of its own. That's kind of helped out a little bit, I think, sometimes.

“I’m just trying to be me. I think I’m doing a better job of that, letting you [reporters] kind of into my life or not viewing you guys as the enemy, which I kind of did maybe earlier on in my career. Now it’s, ‘Listen, this is who I am, and I’m not going to change for anybody, I’m just going to show you guys who I really am.’”

Koepka, the world’s No. 3 ranked player, is coming off a fourth-place finish in last weekend’s Byron Nelson Invitational near Dallas, where he closed with a 65.