Brooks Koepka Not Sounding Optimistic With PGA Championship Looming: 'Trying to Find Some Answers'

The 2023 PGA Champion cites his putting as the problem so far in '24, where he hasn't won on LIV Golf and was T45 at the Masters.

Round 3: Brooks Koepka walks on the No. 18 green. / Katie Goodale / USA TODAY NETWORK

With his PGA Championship title defense looming, Brooks Koepka is searching for the game that saw him win a fifth major championship last year at Oak Hill Country Club.

He didn’t sound extremely confident during a news conference Thursday in advance of the LIV Golf Singapore event, which begins Friday morning (9:15 p.m. ET Thursday).

“Clearly not very good,” Koepka said when asked how his game was trending in advance of the PGA at Valhalla, which begins May 16. “With Augusta the way that it went, I kind of felt like I wasted all the time from December until then. Just keep grinding away, keep doing the work, and hopefully something will turn around.”

Brooks Koepka shot four over-par rounds at the Masters and finished T45. / Michael Madrid, Michael Madrid / USA

Koepka was referring to the Masters, where he tied for 45th and was never really in the tournament after tying for second last year. He opened with a 73 and added rounds of 73, 76 and 75.

That came after weekend rounds of 78-78 in LIV’s event in Miami the weekend prior.

Koepka lamented his putting, which caused a putter switch a few weeks back. Although he tied for 19th in the putting stats at Augusta National, he believes that’s been the main source of his trouble.

He switched to a mallet putter recently.

“It’s been in the bag two weeks before Augusta, I haven’t even putted with that other putter, the one I’ve putted with for—the button back I’ve probably putted with for 12, 14 years, I haven’t putted with it since then,” he said.

“I can’t find the hole at all, to be honest with you. Something we’ve just been putting some work into, so trying to find some answers.”

Asked what the main issue is, Koepka said: “Ball doesn’t go in the hole, that’s usually one of them. I don’t know how else to simply put it. I feel like I’m hitting good putts, they just keep burning lips. Eventually it starts to wear on you after a while. All you can do is hit a good putt and see where it goes from there. Hopefully they start falling soon.”

In six LIV Golf events so far this year, Koepka has only been on the fringe of contention, with two top 10s, including a tie for 10th on Sunday in Adelaide.