Brooks Koepka has played some fine golf this week at the Valspar Championship.
However, Koepka’s scores of 71, 67 and 71 should have been so much better, considering the quality of his iron play and putting.
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The 35-year-old is slowly returning to his very best form after his initial struggles following his return to the PGA Tour in January.
Koepka is clearly now very comfortable once again on the PGA Tour and he seems to have his swagger back at the Valspar Championship this week.
Since he returned from LIV Golf, Koepka’s putting has really let him down in almost every PGA Tour event he has played.
However, the five-time major champion showed signs that he was feeling more confident on the greens last week at The Players Championship, and that has continued on into this week at the Valspar.
Brooks Koepka says if he believes he can win the Valspar
Koepka will be desperate to secure his first win since returning to the PGA Tour. Then he will really feel like he’s back where he belongs.
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The 35-year-old spoke to reporters after his third round at the Valspar on Saturday afternoon.
He was asked whether he believes he is close enough to still win the tournament, with Sungjae Im sitting at the top of the leaderboard on 11-under-par.
Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
“No, I’m a long ways away,“ Koepka admitted.
“I felt like I needed to get to at least, it would have been nice to stay at 6, maybe.
“Feel like you really got a chance there. But, yeah, I need a real low one tomorrow.“
Koepka is obviously capable of shooting a low score and pushing Sungjae Im all the way at the Copperhead Course on Sunday.
However, one aspect of his game has really let him down this week, and he will need to address that before the final round.
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Brooks Koepka laments ‘terrible’ part of his game at the Valspar
Koepka spoke about his driving after his third round in Palm Harbor on Saturday.
“I don’t know, I drove it terrible all day,“ Koepka admitted.
“It really cost me. Just put it in the worst places possible. Then from there felt like I was scrambling. But I definitely didn’t hit it that great on the back side.
“But didn’t feel like I deserved it, but at the same time I drove it so poorly.
“I drove it poorly on the front nine, you just got away with it. I’ve been driving it poorly all week. Drove it poorly last week.
Yesterday I felt like I drove it well on the back side and finally started scoring. Yeah, I don’t know exactly what it is, I’ve tried different things that I know that I’m used to doing mechanically wrong, alignment, ball position, different things like that, and I don’t know just can’t quite figure it out.“
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Koepka will have to tidy up his driving if he is to have any chance of winning the Valspar on Sunday.
He will need to shoot a round in the low 60s to give himself a chance and that will not be possible if he’s playing out of the rough all day.
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