Brooks Koepka Looking to Unlock Code to Major Success Again

The 32-year-old has gone back to the tape to study the putting that helped rack up four major titles in an 11-major stretch from 2017-19.

TULSA, Okla. — There was a time not too long ago that Brooks Koepka was not only one of the favorites coming into a major week, but the chosen one.

It came quickly in a first major win in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, as the brashness of the 27-year-old was revealed for the whole world to see. It was a refreshing look at the new breed that were starting to fill the void of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

The following year, Koepka successfully defended his U.S. Open title at Shinnecock Hills and then followed that up with the 2018 PGA Championship win at Bellerive Country Club, which he would successfully defend the following year at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage State Park.

With a success rate over an 11-major stretch that included four wins and eight top 10s, the Florida State product was en fuego.

And then the successes stopped. After that run, Koepka would win just twice and only once since the calendar turned to 2020, a victory at the 2021 Waste Management Phoenix Open.

The lack of success has not changed the brash attitude that Koepka possessed during his run, but has shown him as human on the golf course.

“Feel like I've proven myself,” Koepka said in a pre-tournament interview at Pebble Beach at the 2019 U.S. Open when asked about his intimidation factor. “I think if I was one of those guys and I saw my name on the leaderboard in a major championship, I'd think, 'Really? Not again,' maybe. But you'd have to ask those guys, I don't know. I don't feel like I'm intimidating. I feel like I'm a nice guy and will talk to just about anybody on the range or when we're playing. You've got to ask them."

On the eve of the 104th PGA Championship, Koepka’s struggles started not on the course, instead it was locking his keys in the courtesy car, with it still running and his clubs in the trunk.

Eventually assistance arrived, Koepka got into the car and arrived on site for a pre-tournament interview (an hour later than planned), focused to turn around a game that has shown little life as of late.

“This game goes up and down,” Koepka said, “Sometimes you can feel like you're playing great and not score, and sometimes you can score and feel like you're not really playing that great. It's just a balance. You just go out, go play as many events as you can, be ready and play as well as you can, and everything will take care of itself.”

Since missing the cut at the Masters with two pedestrian 3-over 75s, Koepka has not played on Tour since, deciding to withdraw from the AT&T Byron Nelson last week and instead to work on his game back home in Jupiter.

Like most in professional golf, the work focused on his short game, which is where the strokes are lost or gained — and for Koepka they have been lost.

This season Koepka is 80th in the strokes-gained putting stat.

For comparison, in 2017, he was ranked 8th.

While the 32-year-old sounds more concerned than desperate about his putting, Koepka went to a familiar source after the Masters for assistance, himself, to learn about his putting stroke and what needed tweaking.

For the first time, Koepka went back to the videotape to look at when he was playing well.

“I went back and watched tape or video on YouTube of every major championship I've ever won and what I was doing when I was putting and picked up on a few different things,” Koepka said. “A couple things setup-wise, a couple things stroke-wise, just to figure out where the touch was — the touch was a little bit off. Everything just didn't quite feel right. But it's getting back to what I feel it was, and it looks quite similar to what it was in years past.”

During the Masters, Koepka let his poor putting seep into other parts of his game, so the three weeks off, which included wedding planning and chilling out, left the last two weeks to get prepared for this week, his 31st major championship and 10th PGA Championship.

Koepka was unfazed by the 40-1 odds on him by one of the major betting shops and instead took a more pragmatic approach, suggesting that the more people bet on a player the lower the odds and obviously not that many people are betting on him.

“It doesn't matter to me,” Koepka said. “I'm going to go out and go play. I like the golf course. It's a tough test. It's usually where I play well. I don't really play well when it's 30 under every week winning. I think the golf courses have been set up a little too easy where I know that the PGA makes a difficult test, so I'll be ready.”

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