AUGUSTA, Ga. – Brooks Koepka doesn’t usually struggle with the big stick, but during Thursday’s opening round of the Masters, Koepka found himself at odds with his driver.
Koepka missed the fairway with six of his first seven driver swings, all of which faded more off his intended line than normal. He eventually adjusted to the right miss to find seven fairways and shoot even-par 72.
When Koepka got back on the range Thursday evening, that’s when he discovered that the 16-setting SureFit hosel on his Titleist GT3 driver had somehow been switched from its standard A1 to B1, which applies a fade bias. “No one noticed it,” Koepka said. USGA rules allow modifications to clubs between rounds, just not during rounds, so Koepka was able to fix the mistake prior to Friday’s second round.
The results, especially off the tee, were much better, as Koepka posted a 3-under 69 with six birdies to rise into red numbers at 3 under.
“If anything happens you just got to let it roll off your back and go with it and keep fighting,” Koepka said. “I feel like I’ve done a good job of that. Three-putted the first hole twice, so proud of that; proud of the way I’ve bounced back every day.”
Koepka’s resolve spans more than just these past two days. After finding his groove in his return to the PGA Tour from LIV – T-9 at Cognizant, T-13 at The Players, T-18 at Valspar – Koepka missed the cut two weeks ago in Houston. The iron play, which has been exceptional most of the year (he still ranks second on Tour in strokes gained approach), wasn’t statistically great in the two rounds at Memorial Park while the putter continued to misfire for the five-time major winner. Koepka, though, wasn’t totally discouraged, at least with the ball-striking.
“Even after the missed cut, I was hitting it really good,” Koepka said. “Just got overly aggressive. Kind of was hitting it too good, and then you think you can take on everything, and you can’t.”
Koepka missed just four greens in regulation on Friday, and though his short game was, in his words, “iffy,” he did sink some crucial putts, including an 18-foot par save from just off the green at the par-4 17th. Two holes earlier, he clocked a flop shot from right of the green nearly off the back of the green, but ended up making another momentum-saving putt, that time from 8 feet.
“It was a good kind of momentum builder I guess going into tomorrow,” Koepka said of the late saves. “Makes you feel good.”
Koepka was also asked about comments made by Tom Watson on Thursday morning. Koepka didn’t hear what Watson said, though he was given the spark notes.
Watson said, “I thought the LIV players, when they left, they were supposed to be banned for life. If I was commissioner, that’s what I would do. I’d say if you’re finished with your contract with LIV Golf, if you want to play the PGA Tour again, you come back, and you must play the Korn Ferry Tour for a year to qualify for it.” Koepka, who officially rejoined the Tour in late January at the Farmers Insurance Open, was simply told by a reporter, “He doesn’t believe you should be on the PGA Tour this year.”
Koepka responded, “That’s fine if he thinks that. … I’m just grateful to be out here. The people that make those decisions let me out here. If you’re going to get the opportunity to come back out, you’re going to take it.”
Koepka hasn’t won a major since the 2023 PGA Championship. At the Masters, he’s twice finished runner-up, in 2019 and 2023, but he’s also missed two of his past four cuts and tied for 45th last year. After four seasons with LIV, Koepka has talked these past few months about being reinvigorated. Walking a few holes with his dad, Bob, on Friday morning around Augusta National confirmed as much. Bob Koepka recalled some stories of taking Brooks to the Masters as a kid, including when Phil Mickelson declined an 8-year-old Brooks an autograph request. In some ways, that same kid was out there on Friday, flushing shots and rising up the leaderboard.
“I’m just enjoying it a whole lot more,” Koepka, now 35, said. “I think there is a huge difference of I’m excited to come out and play every week. It is just overall, if your happiness is through the roof off the golf course and on the golf course, it’s really tough to beat it. You’re going enjoy every day, everything you’re doing.”