Brooks Koepka Is Finding His Groove at Cognizant Classic

Despite hitting it "worse" than Round 1, Koepka went low in Round 2 to make the cut in his home tournament. He also had strong words about making the cut.

Brooks Koepka fought to make the cut at the Cognizant Classic. | Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Brooks Koepka is still figuring it out. 

It appears he’s closer to finding a solution, though.

On Thursday at the Cognizant Classic, his third start since leaving LIV Golf and being reinstated by the PGA Tour, Koepka shot 74. The five-time major champion needed to go low on Friday if he wanted to secure a weekend tee time at his home tournament. 

And Koepka did just that. 

A second-round 5-under 66 moved him nearly 70 spots up the leaderboard to 2 under, seven strokes off the lead when he signed his scorecard Friday afternoon. 

Ironically, he doesn’t feel he improved from Day 1. 

“I hit it a lot worse today,” Koepka said afterward. “Didn’t drive it nearly as good. Iron play wasn’t as good.”

So how did he get himself back in contention? 

“The putter was better,” the 35-year-old said. “Made a few adjustments after the round yesterday. We were just kind of running over there. We spent probably about 15 minutes talking about it and then probably 30 minutes worth of work.” 

Birdies for Brooks 🔥

4-under start to the day for @BKoepka pic.twitter.com/iks89ssDZu

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 27, 2026

Specifically, Koepka tweaked his hand position on the greens

“Changed the stroke a little bit,” he said. “I’m not getting as handsy and I was cheating it by getting my hands back, and it just was creating an inconsistent feel, or where I thought it was taking off, it wasn’t.”

In Round 1, Koepka ranked 111th in the field in strokes-gained putting, losing 2.16 strokes. A day later, he gained four shots on the field with the flatstick, the second-best of the morning wave. 

Frustrations brewed on the par-4 8th, his second-to-last hole of the day. He flew the green with his second shot and was visibly frustrated afterward. And after a tough up-and-down behind the putting surface, he eventually made his lone bogey of the round. 

“It wasn't a good lie,” he said. “It was almost impossible to keep that close. Second shot just jumped on me. It hasn’t jumped all week, which was kind of weird. You could see in the ball flight, it was just going through the wind and cutting, and the wind was into and off the right. Not a good place to miss it. But you’ve just got to take your medicine and get out.”

Still, Koepka has a chance at victory. Last year, for example, Joe Highsmith made the cut on the number—and won. 

Ultimately, hoisting the trophy is the goal—not just playing the weekend. 

“If I’m out here to try to make cuts, I’m probably done,” he said.

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