Brooks Koepka Seeks a Fix to End What's Ailing Him
Surprised to see Brooks Koepka in the field for the Houston Open on Thursday? Two weeks in a row? This time or year?
Don’t be. It makes total sense.
After all, Koepka was involved in the $34 million redesign of Memorial Park Golf Course, the revitalized residence of the championship. Along with Houston Astros owner and chairman Jim Crane, Koepka worked with estimable golf architect Tom Doak as a consultant in the makeover that turned the tired old dog into a PGA-certified greyhound.
Koepka’s proud of his contribution, to be sure. And he played at Memorial’s Houston Open unveiling last season, tying for fifth in the pack behind winner Carlos Ortiz.
And there’s more to it than that. See, there’s this little old “match” coming up later in the month. You know, Capital One’s "The Match," the one where Koepka squares off with PGA Tour adversary Bryson DeChambeau at Wynn Golf Club near Las Vegas. The one where they play contentious 12 holes, raise money for worthy causes, trade barbs with Charles Barkley and settle their social media-sized differences … not to mention carve out big pieces of the $40 million PGA Tour Player Impact Program.
And with that in mind, there’s a truly compelling reason for Koepka to be carding this week: he’s not playing well. If “The Match” were tomorrow, it might be the “Mop The Floor With Him” for DeChambeau. To put it in legal terms, nolo contendere.
“I've been playing so bad for so long, so I'm just trying to play my way out of this thing and figure it out,” said Koepka last week. “You know, hopefully we come out the other side soon.”
The other side was not visible at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Koepka shot identical rounds of 71-71 on Thursday and Friday before taking the weekend off. Even par is not bad, mind you, but not good enough — he missed the cut.
The undistinguished days added to a series of vanilla performances that have been substandard for a guy who was the No. 1 ranked player in captivity a short while back.
Since a T-6 at the British Open in July, Koepka’s best finish in seven events and some four months is a T-22 at the BMW Championship. That includes his 2-2 Ryder Cup performance which, again, is not bad, but not Koepka-like.
So, the 31-year old will head to Houston, currently No. 13 in the OWGR rankings, continuing to search.
“I've just been grinding, man,” he said. “You go through periods where you just feel like you've got no control of the club, you don't know exactly where your swing is and what you're doing. It's just frustrating.
“I don't think I'm playing as bad as probably I've let on, but the consistency's just not there. There’s certain shots that just aren't there. Not what I'm used to seeing I guess is a good way to put it.”
Koepka often has indicated major championships are his focus. He has stated on more than one occasion that he only works on his game before the big dances. But mending injuries has been part of that practice, or lack thereof. His withdrawal from the Tour Championship with a wrist injury in early September is a case in point.
But he is reasonably healthy now and, as back-to-back starts suggest, he is working at it. Koepka — Brooks Koepka — even refers to himself as a “range rat.”
“Look at it, it's been tough,” said Koepka, who came into last week 142nd in overall strokes gained, then hit only 50 percent of the fairways at Mayakoba. “I mean, injuries for two years. I've got surgery on the right knee. Left knee's, I mean, better now, but it wasn't good for a while. You start making compensations because you can’t …
“I mean, like I still, when my knee bends a little bit, I still don't know how far it's bending. If everybody's ever had surgery, you still don't know kind of where you're at for a bit and maybe hesitant to get on the left side when the left knee was hurting. Right knee, you're kind of playing this yo-yo game and trying to find a balance.”
Therefore, Koepka will be in Houston, hoping his missed cut at Mayakoba wasn’t a waste of time, looking for something before he heads to Las Vegas, and hoping he’s he found it.
“I'm not going to get any better sitting at home,” he said. “I'd rather come out here and, not saying I'm trying to miss the cut, but if I miss the cut, at least I've put in work and maybe found something.
“That's all you're looking for — that one feeling and you almost seem like you're on your way and just going on the right track. You never know, you could rattle off a good year, a good couple months, whatever it might be just from that one swing.”