New phone, who dis?
Brooks Koepka usually changes his digits about every year and a half, though recently he’d gone over two years without getting a new number. Koepka’s latest reset came after last month’s WM Phoenix Open.
“My phone was blowing up,” Koepka said Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass. “So, just wanted to really focus in on preparation and dialing into golf. I thought that was the best way to just kind of come unglued from the world for a half second and where basically it was only my family and anybody that’s golf related really has my number right now, which it’s been kind of nice.”
The phone-number discourse brings back memories from Koepka’s famous quote in a 2020 GQ article: “I just don’t want to be that close with everybody I compete with,” he said. “Like, I don’t even have Rory’s phone number. I didn’t have Tiger’s phone number for the longest time. Like, I just never saved it.… I’ll text guys after they win, you know, but I’m still competitive. I still get mad—I mean, I’m happy for them, but I’m still like, Man, that should’ve been me. Or: That could’ve been me. You know, you still just lost.”
Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour after four seasons on LIV Golf got off to a fuzzy start, especially on the greens. He tied for 56th at the Farmers Insurance Open before missing the cut at TPC Scottsdale. He entered the Cognizant Classic two weeks ago ranked second-to-last on Tour in strokes gained putting (171st).
But Koepka found something with the putter at PGA National, where he tied for ninth, climbing to No 167 in that category.
Now, he’s set for his first Players Championship since 2022.
The Tour has changed a bit since then.
“I don’t know if this is a guess, but 30 percent of this Tour I don’t know right now,” Koepka said. “I mean, I’m knowing more guys just being out here, but it’s going to take me a few more weeks.
“Yeah, it would be kind of hard to get that number.”