Brooks Koepka found something he’s been missing — just in time for the PGA

Brooks Koepka has been looking for something since he triumphed at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. That week in Rochester, Koepka was back to his big-kill ways. He was fully healthy, his game firing on all cylinders, his confidence high.

However, since that fifth major win, Brooks Koepka has seen his game decline while at LIV Golf. His key performances in 2024 and 2025 were well below his elite standard. His putting difficulties became a source of frustration and Brooks Koepka was unhappy. He was playing poorly and spending a lot of time away from his family due to LIV’s global tour, and he and his wife, Jena Sims, tragically suffered a miscarriage last year. The desire to spend more time with his family was the driving force Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour in January.

“Just my family. It’s been a lot in the last five, six months with my family. That played a big part in coming back,” Koepka said at Torrey Pines in January. The Sims and their son, Crew, have been able to be on the road more with Koepka back on the PGA Tour and Brooks Koepka has quietly been playing good golf. They are not all joined. Putter has one handicap left. He has yet to play his way into Signature Events, but he’s been close.

Brooks Koepka is getting back to his old self. Slowly, piece by piece. Finally, on Saturday, in a tournament that Koepka probably didn’t have on his radar to start the season, it finally all came together when the five-time major champion shot 9 29 to enter the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. It was the first 29 Koepka has shot on the PGA Tour since the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in 2019. And, more importantly, it gave Brooks Koepka what he’s been missing.

“This is the most excited I’ve been playing golf in a long time,” Koepka said after his round. “I can tell you this much. I’d say again until ’23, PGA. That’s the most — it’s been a long time since I’ve had fun playing golf. I was very frustrated last year. I just wasn’t in a good place, but I think a lot of times when you — it’s like anybody, right? If they’re happy off the golf course, they think they’re going to a great golf course.’ part of it, and I’ve found that.

“Restore my happiness, my love for the game. All the pieces are connected. I just have to go out and play now.”

Koepka finished T12 at the Masters as Rory McIlroy continued to defend his title and eclipse Koepka with his sixth major title. The next week saw Koepka sit next to RBC Heritage as the first option, hoping to get a tee time. It didn’t come. He and Shane Lowry missed the cut in the team event at the Zurich Classic, and then Koepka failed to make the alternate list at the Cadillac Championship.

But with the PGA Championship next week at Aronimink, Koepka took the field in Myrtle Beach to ensure he had a short time to fine-tune his game. He has been waiting to feel until the end. His iron game has been excellent for the past two months. But he dealt with a driver issue that he corrected at the Masters and hasn’t found consistent success with the flat club.

Koepka has said that “good golf” will take care of everything. This will lead him to the Signature Event and put him in the right place to earn more degrees. The type of golf Koepka has been hunting arrived in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, and it may foreshadow something bigger on the horizon. Things are finally looking up for Brooks Koepka ahead of his second major golf tournament – one he’s won three times and which will be staged on a tough, northeastern course that should suit his eye and game.

After his 65 Saturday, Koepka stood at the microphone in Myrtle Beach, a scene that seemed incomprehensible six months ago, and smiled as he talked about a much-needed round in an unexpected place. Confidence oozed from golf’s great hunter as he looked ahead to the future – Sunday and next week at Aronimink.

“I’m very excited. It’s going to be something I’ve been looking forward to for a while,” Koepka said. “I feel like I’ve knocked on the door. It’s so close. It’s part here, part there.”

In a week where golf’s best are battling it out in Charlotte, Brooks Koepka went to Myrtle Beach in need of something, and he may have discovered the final piece needed to bring the happy-go-lucky, swashbuckling big killer of old back to life.