PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — 5-time main champion Brooks Koepka will open his fourth PGA Tour occasion of the season at The Gamers this week, however will probably be the primary time he’ll face practically the entire circuit’s prime stars.
Relegated to taking part in in non-varsity occasions as a part of the PGA Tour’s Returning Member Program, the previous LIV Golf League captain has been compelled to look at limited-field tournaments like final week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“So that you wished to come back in final week, however you perceive that it was a results of my determination,” Koepka stated Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass. “I am an grownup and I perceive that. So I simply have to take a seat at dwelling and watch. The reply to all the things is to play good golf and all the things will handle itself.”
Since returning to the PGA Tour on Jan. 12, Koepka has had combined outcomes. He completed tied for 56th at 4 underneath in his first event, the Farmers Insurance coverage Open at Torrey Pines outdoors San Diego on January 29, however missed the next week’s WM Phoenix Open with a card of 76-69.
Koepka, 35, stated he felt he made a breakthrough on the Cognizant Basic in Palm Seashore on March 1, regardless of a weak subject. He switched from a blade putter to a spider mannequin that week and shot a 6-under 65 within the ultimate spherical.
“I believe the primary week I used to be simply making an attempt to determine it out,” Koepka stated. “I felt just like the second week was very disappointing. I simply made some adjustments (with the brand new putter) and labored on some completely different mechanical issues in my placing. (I) felt prefer it began to click on.”
Whereas faraway from the API, Koepka performed as a Seminole Professional member at Seminole Golf Membership in Juno Seashore, Florida. He traveled to Orlando, Florida later that week to proceed practising his placing with caddy Ricky Elliott.
“I believe there have been quite a lot of adjustments made mechanically with that change,” Koepka stated of the putter swap. “I believe the mechanical points are undoubtedly the harder half. However as you may see, the spider face has rather less rotation than the blade. We’re simply searching for slightly extra consistency.”
Koepka stated he appreciates the reception from followers and different PGA Tour gamers since his return.
“I did not know what to anticipate, however the followers had been nice,” he stated. “I nonetheless obtained the ‘welcome again’ as of yesterday, so it feels good. I am completely happy to be again. I am having enjoyable. It is quite a lot of enjoyable and the gamers had been nice.”
Even the few golfers who benefited after his transfer to the LIV Golf League are grateful for the openings within the event subject.
“I really feel like each week somebody was thanking me, which was type of bizarre,” Koepka stated.
Koepka will look to proceed that momentum at The Gamers, the place he has began six video games and by no means completed within the prime 10. He missed the minimize in his most up-to-date begin on the Stadium Course in 2022, when the Playing cards fell 72-81.
One factor Koepka in all probability did not miss was the enduring seventeenth inexperienced at TPC Sawgrass.
That 12 months, unhealthy climate delayed the second spherical, and when play resumed on Saturday, Koepka needed to play the par-3 seventeenth with 35 mph winds in his face. His first try with an 8-iron missed the island inexperienced by a large margin and fell into the water. After hitting a double-bogey 5 within the first spherical, he hit a triple-bogey 6.
“That seventeenth gap has fascinated me for years,” Koepka stated. “I had a superb spherical right here. That is at all times the one nagging factor that bothers me.”
In 20 profession rounds on the Stadium Course, Koepka is 20 over as of the seventeenth. He recorded two bogeys, three doubles, two triples and two quadruple-bogey 7s. He reached the island inexperienced solely 55% of the time, and 10 of his balls ended up within the water.
“I do not give it some thought. I can not get it out of my head,” Koepka stated. “I imply, mates, they inform me quite a lot of crap about it. Buddies have fairly good issues to say about it. So, I imply, it is all enjoyable and video games. And I needed to exit and do it.”
Koepka discovered the seventeenth inexperienced throughout Monday’s follow spherical.
“I used to be fairly enthusiastic about it,” he stated.
