Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour was ’emotional’. Now comes the hard part

Things were a lot different the last time it was Brooks Koepka players championship. His hair was bleached blonde, the state and future of his game uncertain – and a few months later he went to LIV Golf. At that point, it appeared that Koepka’s final round in the TPC Sawgrass it would be the second-round 81 he shot in murky conditions before walking off the property in early 2022.

Four years have passed since then. For many in the pro golf world, it has felt longer. Koepka got healthy while at LIV, won the 2023 PGA Championship and then battled back issues before returning to the PGA Tour in January as part of the one-time returning members program that gave him a path back.

Koepka, who left for the breakaway league backed by Saudi Arabia, was famous for his bravado and hardened exterior. A big game hunter with unlimited confidence. of Koepka who returned to Torrey Pines it was softer. He talked about the nerves surrounding his return. Uncertainty about how his return would be received kept Koepka up at night. Koepka embraced the unknown. He looked forward to any tough talk he might have and was vulnerable about what it meant to be welcomed with open arms. The famously stoic Koepka let his emotions seep through as fans cheered his return along the San Diego shoreline like a conquering hero. It hit him in a way he hadn’t anticipated.

“I didn’t think it was going to be maybe that emotional for me, but it was,” Koepka said Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass. “It was awesome. It was honestly a great feeling. Sometimes I can be really good at burying my emotions and just look at it like it’s a job; just be robotic and go about your process. I’m pretty sure everybody sees that when I’m on the golf course. … I was just taking the moment and taking stock of where I was. I think it was something I did, and I could have been professional.”

Koepka later added, “I didn’t know what the reception was going to be like. Obviously, you can sit in bed and just lay there and think about a million different things about how it’s going to go. I mean, right? You have all these scenarios that play out, but it never quite comes to fruition. I think that’s been the big, exciting thing. to be there.”

At Torrey Pines, Koepka said he “fell back in love” with golf. He wants his son to see him at his best and understand everything the game has given him. The reigning champion holds his son after completing his second round illustrate how time has changed things for Brooks Koepka. Priorities shift, armor softens. And yet, the sands of time can only shift so much.

Brooks Koepka it is still what it always was. At least, he’s still trying to be.

A notorious “slow starter,” Koepka arrives at TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 2022 after going T56-MC-T9 in his first three starts on the PGA Tour. Fifth main claims aside, since its move in March, the identity of the Players Championship is that it is an important mile marker in the golf season. It’s the unofficial gateway to the main season, a time when the world’s best can really measure the state of their game on a big track. Play well and you’ll leave Ponte Vedra Beach safe and sound with the Masters waiting. Get out on the water and you’ll have some precious time to sharpen up before you step foot on the property at Augusta National and the prime season has you covered.

“That’s kind of where I feel like you had to know where your game was,” Koepka said Tuesday. “Every time you come to the Players, you have a good idea that, hey, you’ve got a few more weeks before Augusta; if you have to make a change, this is where it has to happen. This is kind of, in my eyes, the start of the real heat of the golf season. And it’s a lot of fun, it’s exciting, and you just have to be on top of things.”

Koepka understands the TPC Sawgrass challengeand how it highlights the true state of your game, very well. In six starts at TPC Sawgrass, he finished no better than T11 while playing the famous 17th hole in a cumulative 20 over, including a triple and a double in his final two rounds in 2022. He spent that week with a mix of bad luck and poor play. The knee injury he was battling was also a factor, but still, a poor showing at the Players foreshadowed what was to come that year. He went MC-T55-55-MC in four majors after leaving Sawgrass while defecting to LIV. Koepka’s two best player finishes, T16 and T11, came in 2017 and 2018, respectively, when he won three of his five championships.

It’s not a foolproof indicator, but Players often have a way of predicting what’s coming. Three of the last four Players winners have won a major later that year. Scottie Scheffler didn’t in 2023, but he still had three top 10s after the win at Sawgrass. Going back to 2014, when Martin Kaymer won the Players and the US Open later that year, only Si Woo Kim (2017) and Webb Simpson (2018) did not follow up their Players streak with either a major win or multiple top 10s.

With the excitement and nerves of his PGA Tour return in the rear view, Koepka is settling into a familiar but still new routine. He has changed tires and messed with his mechanics. Faith in his game is building and his patented mojo is returning with every round.

The next phase of his comeback begins this week at The Players, where Koepka hopes to find proof that the Koepka of yesteryear, the top hitter, can still be the Koepka of today.

“The answer to everything is to play good golf and everything will take care of itself,” Koepka said.

But the answers aren’t always easy to find at TPC Sawgrass.

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