With two weeks until Augusta, Brooks Koepka has one item left on his prep list.
For how much was made about his return from LIV Golf, Koepka has quietly put together a string of solid starts over the past month, including a T-13 at the Players and T-18 last weekend at the Valspar Championship, and enters this week’s Houston Open leading the PGA Tour in strokes gained: approach. More importantly, Koepka—a longtime blade user—made the switch to a mallet putter in hopes of fixing a shaky short game, and the change has produced immediate dividends.
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“I feel like it’s been so different because I was putting so terribly,” Koepka said Wednesday at the Houston Open. “I felt like I had to birdie the hole almost from the fairway or from the tee box, where now I can sit back and kind of play golf how I used to play in ’17, ’19, kind of in that run when I was playing very good where I can be very patient and just kind of wait my time. I know I’m going to have five good chances on whatever hole it might be and then just take advantage from there.”
Given that stretch produced some of the best major championship golf of this century, that’s not a comment his competitors want to hear.
But Koepka isn’t looking past Houston. Before he can think seriously about a green jacket, he says he needs to feel the heat on a Sunday.
“I really haven’t put myself in contention with nine holes to go. That’s really the last missing piece that I feel like I need to accomplish here before Augusta,” he said. “But the game feels good. Everything’s trending in a nice direction.”
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Since winning the 2023 PGA Championship, Koepka has been a non-factor at the majors, making 10 straight starts without a top-10 finish, a drought that clearly gnaws at him.
“I just need to get the juices flowing of having a chance to win a golf tournament,” he said. “It’s been a while. Didn’t win last year. I just need to be able to put myself in position and get those feelings again — especially out here, competing against unbelievable players on a difficult golf course. That’s what I need for the final prep.”
Houston is a fitting stage. Koepka served as a player consultant when Tom Doak redesigned Memorial Park, and he sees obvious parallels to Augusta.
“The way this place is set up with the rough length and the way it’s mowed back into you, it feels very similar to Augusta,” he said. “Around the greens, there are quite a few undulations. You can be in some weird spots. But the rough length and the fairway length around the greens — it’s quite similar.”
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His record at Augusta backs the threat. Koepka has two runner-up finishes at the Masters, the most recent a marathon Sunday duel with Jon Rahm in 2023. The struggle since then is real, but so is the history.
He tees off Thursday in Houston at 1:53 p.m. alongside Jake Knapp and Michael Thorbjornsen.
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