Brooks Koepka may have taken himself out of contention on Saturday at the RBC Canadian Open, but the five-time major champion is still closing in on one of the greatest putting performances of his career.
Putting has been Koepka’s Achilles heel since his return to the PGA Tour at the start of the year.
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The 36-year-old went into the final event before the US Open in 136th place on the PGA Tour for strokes gained on the greens this season.
However, Koepka has had an outstanding time with the flat stick at TPC Toronto.
Brooks Koepka is producing one of the best putting performances of his career at the Canadian Open
Brooks Koepka goes into the final round of the Canadian Open in 32nd place, having posted a two over par round on Saturday. He is now seven shots off the lead, having got off to a flyer with a 64 on Thursday.
There are still positives for Koepka to take. According to Data Golf, he is first in the field for strokes gained putting.
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Koepka has gained 2.47 strokes on the field per round on the greens alone. He still gained nearly half a stroke with the putter in Saturday’s disappointing round.
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And a look back through Koepka’s record on Data Golf shows that there has only been one tournament across his entire career where he has performed better on the greens.
That was back in 2015 at the Honda Classic, where Koepka – who finished tied for 51st that week – gained 2.63 shots per round putting.
Brooks Koepka is sending a warning to his rivals ahead of the US Open
Obviously, data from some tournaments – particularly those from LIV Golf’s first couple of years – are not available on the website. But it is safe to say that there is a real chance that it will be the best Koepka has ever been in a PGA Tour event.
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Given how poor Koepka’s putting has been this year, that is a huge victory.
It also sends out a real warning ahead of the US Open. Koepka has won the event twice before, including when it was last held at Shinnecock Hills in 2018.
You can never rule Koepka out when a major comes around, particularly if there is evidence that all of the pieces of the puzzle are there.
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