Brooks Koepka explains his poor play, ‘wasted time’ at Augusta National

In two weeks, Brooks Koepka will arrive at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, as the defending PGA Championship champion.

He demolished Oak Hill a year ago in his final 54 holes, waltzing effortlessly around the Western New York grounds. Like a man on a mission, Koepka avenged his setback at Augusta National in 2023 by winning his fifth major and third Wanamaker Trophy.

Fast forward to 2024, and Koepka isn’t playing up to that standard. He started the year with a seventh-place finish at LIV Golf Mayakoba and has yet to finish better than that.

That includes a lackluster performance at the Masters, where he finished tied for 45th.

Asked about the state of the game, Koepka said, “Augusta obviously wasn’t feeling very good.”

“I feel like I wasted the time between December and then. I just keep trying and keep working and hope something turns around.”

Koepka has struggled on the greens and his chances of getting into the winner’s circle again are limited.

“To be honest, I don’t see any holes,” Koepka added.

“I don’t know how else to describe it. I feel like I can make good putts. They just keep burning their lips. Eventually, after a while it starts to wear on you. All you can do is make good putts. It’s just a matter of hitting it and seeing where it goes from there. Hopefully it starts to fall soon.”

But lately, something has clicked for him, at least to some degree. More putts fell in the hole last week in Adelaide, but he posted two six-under 66s in the final two rounds at Grange. That led to a 10th place finish, his best finish since the start of the LIV golf season.

Maybe he discovered something with his putting. It could help his cause this week at Singapore’s Sentosa Golf Club, where the seventh LIV golf event of the season will be held.

Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images

Koepka played well there a year ago, carding three rounds of 60s on a par-71 layout and finishing alone in third place. He finished one stroke behind Tara Gooch and Sergio Garcia, with the former beating the latter in a playoff.

“This is a pure golf course,” Koepka said of Sentosa Island.

“It’s all about positioning and being in the right place, hitting the fairway or making sure you’re in the right spot.”

If Koepka plays well on this course (which is more suited to ball-strikers than Bombers), any doubts that he’s in bad shape heading into Valhalla will disappear. Good results in both Adelaide and Singapore will prove Koepka is on the right track.

But until he achieves that, questions about his form will remain – even more so if he fails in Singapore. In any case, all eyes will be on Koepka this week as he makes his final preparations for his PGA Championship defense.

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.