Brooks Koepka feels major-beating game is back. But 1 goal remains

Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour with a quiet T56 at the Farmers Insurance Open, but there was more to that performance under the surface. If you looked past the fanfare of his triumphant return, you could see it.

That week at Torrey Pines, Koepka lost over seven shots on the greens while finishing positive in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Approach and Around the Greens. He made a putter switch after the missed cut at the WM Phoenix Open, and his game has started to round into form ever since, with Koepka going T9-T13-T18 through the Florida Swing. He ranked third in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach last week at the Valspar and is ranked first in that category on the PGA Tour on the season, gaining 1.089 strokes on approach per round.

Koepka said he diagnosed a problem with his driver ahead of this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open that likely “cost him six or seven shots” last week. (He finished seven shots behind eventual winner Matt Fitzpatrick.)

That subtle I could’ve won reference is reminiscent of the Brooks Koepka who once said he believed majors are easier to win than normal PGA Tour events. (He won that week.)

Koepka arrives at Memorial Park Golf Course this week with the look and feel of the Koepka of old, the one who crushed major fields with exacting, boring golf. That Koepka is starting to show with the Masters on the horizon because the game that won him five majors, the one that has been missing since his 2023 PGA Championship win, well, Koepka feels it has finally returned.

“I do feel like it is ready,” Koepka said Wednesday when asked if his game was in condition for Augusta National. “Everything’s trending in a nice direction. Ball-striking feels really, really good. Pete [Cowen’s] done a phenomenal job just getting everything where it needs to be. Yeah, the putting was a huge thing. I feel like it’s been so different because I was putting so terribly, I felt like I had to birdie the hole almost from the fairway or from the tee box.

“Where now I can sit back and kind of play golf how I used to play in ’17, ’19, kind of in that run when I was playing very good where I can be very patient and just kind of wait my time. … I used to just kind of — it felt very boring, just hit the center of the greens and occasionally you push and pull one kind of right on the flag. I always think — I said it was like conservatively aggressive.”

The arrow has been trending up for Koepka ever since he made his return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf at the end of January, but there’s one thing that’s missing as he looks to peak at Augusta National in two weeks: Koepka hasn’t been in the cauldron on the weekend yet during his PGA Tour rebirth.

He believes his game is back to the level that saw him suffocate major championship fields with ease, but he won’t know that for sure until he tests it under pressure. That’s the goal this week in Houston as Koepka starts to fully shift his focus to the Masters and his hunt for major No. 6.

“The only thing is I really haven’t put myself in contention with nine holes to go,” Koepka said. “That’s really the last missing piece that I feel like I need to accomplish here before Augusta. I just need to get the juices flowing of having a chance to win a golf tournament. It’s been a while. Didn’t win last year. I just need to be able to put myself and get those feelings again. And especially out here, competing against unbelievable players on a difficult golf course would be what I need to do for the final prep for Augusta.”

A few weeks ago at the Players Championship, Koepka acknowledged that TPC Sawgrass serves as a barometer for where your game is at heading into the start of the major season. It’s a difficult test on a course where carnage lurks around every bend. Solve it, and you head toward the Masters feeling confident in your prospects. But fail the PGA Tour’s flagship test, and you have very little time to find answers before you drive down Magnolia Lane.

“This is kind of right where I feel like you needed to know where your game was at,” Koepka said at TPC Sawgrass. “Every time you come to the Players, you get a good idea of, hey, you’ve got a couple more weeks right before Augusta; if you’ve got to make any changes, this is where it needs to happen. This is kind of, in my eyes, the kickoff of the real heat of the golf season. And it’s a lot of fun, it’s exciting, and just need to be on top of things.”

He finished in a tie for 13th, picked up almost seven shots on approach, which ranked fourth in the field and would have been a real weekend factor if not for a three-hole blowup during Friday’s second round. Koepka followed that with another solid week at the Valspar that an overly spinny driver apparently derailed, and now arrives at his final Masters tune-up finally sounding like the swaggering, major-beating Koepka of old.

All that’s left is four rounds at a course he helped redesign and a final Masters prep box Koepka hopes to check.

“I love the way I’m playing,” Koepka said. “Just want to put myself in contention here for the first time before Augusta. My game is rounding into form. I can see it. I don’t know if maybe results-wise, it probably hasn’t looked that way, but I can see it as a whole, it’s really all starting to come together.”

That’s something no one hoping to add a green jacket to their closet in two weeks wants to hear.