ATLANTA — Brooks Koepka thinks he looks better naked than all those who criticize him. Like other athletes who are among the best in their respective sports, Koepka wanted to pose in the ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue this year, so he did. And he's proud of that accomplishment. "It's one of those things where all these people that talk crap and whatever on social media, they don't have the balls to do it, and they wouldn't look that good," he said Thursday after shooting 3-under 67 to take a share of the lead at the season-ending Tour Championship. One of Koepka's photos for the annual issue, which hits newsstands Sept. 4, went viral after he posted the photo on Instagram late Wednesday. The photo Koepka released shows the back-to-back PGA Championship winner weighing about 187 pounds. "It was something I enjoyed," Koepka said of the shoot. "I was looking forward to it for months. It's something I definitely don't regret doing. It's been enjoyable to see the pictures over the last couple of months and see, I guess, all the hard work I put into it and see the results." Koepka said he weighs about 210 pounds at the Tour Championship and has "a great dad bod right now," but after the season, he'd like to lose 5-10 pounds. He said he lost the weight for the photo shoot this spring by meal prepping, counting calories, going to the gym regularly and doing cardio. The four-time major champion faced criticism about his nearly 20-pound weight loss, most notably from Golf Channel's Brandel Chamblee , when he acknowledged in March he lost the weight. "For him to change his body and his body chemistry for vanity reasons for a vanity shoot is the most reckless self-sabotage that I have ever seen of an athlete in his prime. ... But to do something that takes you out of your game, to change your game completely," Chamblee said in April. "To see someone whose body has changed drastically, it's never worked out very well. It's led to deterioration." In 2019, Koepka has seven top-10 finishes, including wins at the PGA Championship and WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, a second-place finish at the U.S. Open and tie for second at the Honda Classic and the Masters. But a round the time of his weight loss announcement, he missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational tied for 56th in both the Players Championship and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. Koepka said he felt sick during those three events in March. He had some blood work done and discovered his testosterone was down, but he doesn't use that to justify a month of poor play. "At the time, I wasn't playing good golf either," Koepka said. "That's not an excuse. I've lost a bunch of weight before, and I've gained a bunch of weight. Phil (Mickelson's) done it, and everybody's happy that Phil did it, and then I did it, and I get criticized. I don't know what the deal is. I mean, all I'm concerned about is making myself happy. I'm going to do what I want to do. I think everybody out here knows that by now. I'm going to do it my way and enjoy the ride." TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP: Friday tee times | Photos | Scores | Standings | Purse Among the top conversations at East Lake for the opening round of the Tour Championship, Rickie Fowler said he admired Koepka accepting the challenge of the Body Issue . "I think it takes some balls to do it, literally," Fowler said. "I mean, I couldn't, I wouldn't want to stand there naked and take pictures." Fowler said he'd been asked to pose for the issue before, but rejected the offer because it's not something that interests him. And also for the anticipated jokes from other players. "I figured there would be some sort of hazing in the locker room afterwards," Fowler said. "That's not the reason I didn't do it by any means or anything like that. It's all personal preference, personal choice on whether you do it or not." So did Fowler tease Koepka? "I haven't, no, but he's bigger than me," Fowler said. Koepka said he didn't receive any comments from fellow players on Thursday because he arrived at East Lake about an hour and 10 minutes before his tee time at 1:55 p.m. ET and didn't spend too much time in the locker room. "They've all known for a while," he said of fellow golfers. "So to see the picture, it's all good. I mean, I've walked around naked in the locker room before." While Koepka wasn't embarrassed about dropping his robe in front of 30 or 40 people to capture the images for the magazine, one thing did strike him as humorous during the shoot at Floridian National Golf Club this spring. "There were people playing the golf course, so they saw," Koepka said. "I did it at Floridian, Jim Crane's place, and (Claude Harmon III) was giving a lesson. They were trying to — I'll never forget this one shot. They were trying to get this shot, and I'm up on the tee box. They had all their camera stuff set up in front of me, like face on, but around the corner, I see Claude teaching this maybe 12-year-old kid, and his mom is just over here. I'm like, 'This is awkward,' and Claude's peeking around the corner laughing. ... I'm pretty sure everybody that was at the golf course saw me that day, but whatever." When asked if he was self-conscious having so many bystanders present for his shoot, Koepka responded with another characteristically brazen answer. "I don't think so. I never really thought about it," he said. "It was fun. I enjoyed it. I've got nothing to be ashamed of." The magazine's new star tees off his second round at the Tour Championship at 2:20 p.m. ET on Friday alongside Xander Schauffele.