After his failure to contend for the Green Jacket at the Masters last month, Brooks Koepka took time away to recover both physically and mentally.
Koepka travelled to Augusta with three top-12 finishes in the early part of the 2024 LIV Golf League campaign under his belt. However, the five-time major champion failed to make an impact in the season’s first major, only finishing in a tie for 45th.
Following that disappointment, the 2023 runner-up at Augusta National left his golf bag alone for a while, and it would pay off.
“Well, I took the week off after Augusta. I didn’t touch a club,” he said in his press conference at the PGA Championship on Wednesday.
“So Adelaide was kind of the first time we were – did a little work on it. Just went back to basics. That’s kind of the thing.
“It’s never – my swing is never off. It’s always either something with alignment and ball position and get back to those fundamentals and that’s the key for me.”
Those small changes worked, as he finished in the top 10 in LIV Golf’s raucous Adelaide event before winning LIV Golf Singapore by two shots to become the first player to win four times on the Saudi-backed circuit.
While speaking to the media at Valhalla ahead of his Wanamaker trophy defence, Koepka detailed a punishing regime his backroom team inflicted on him for his bad performance in Georgia.
“We had a good talk and just put our nose down and kept grinding. You know, had some difficult punishment workouts,” he explained.
“It was long hours on the range. Just worked with everybody and really tried to go back to the fundamentals, and I think that was the important thing.
“I mean, I’m not looking for the punishment workout. I just get told. It sucks. It’s not a lot of fun. A lot more running. Very up-tempo, no rest. Ara Suppiah, basically he oversees my program with Hamish and Kolby, and they talk and they figure it out.
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“I walked in and Ara told me that you finished 45th; you’re going to get penalised. I think I had like four or five days in a row of just – I turned white, I wanted to throw up in a few of them. But yeah, got through it.”
Brooks Koepka Masters finish brought an intense punishment workout
It has become abundantly clear that Koepka lives for the sport’s big four events. That’s why he has won five of them, namely three PGA Championships and two US Opens.
Koepka was asked why he had had such good success at the PGA Championship. His response was a typical Brooks Koepka retort.
“No idea. I just like majors.” At a different point in the press conference, he explained in more detail what it is about the majors that bring the best out him.
“I think the majors are different than everything else. The majors are – they just have a different feel than any other golf tournament,” he added.
“I’ve always enjoyed it and they are always tougher golf courses. That’s something I get up for – it’s the same thing, right. It’s always the peak of our sport or the four times a year we play in majors. That’s the only thing. But there’s no real difference.
“I mean, I’m just looking forward to a major championship. That’s kind of my – gets my excitement going. Something I look forward to all year. So yeah, look, I always enjoy competing against these guys, and anytime you get the best, it’s always good, and you just want them to play their best, too. You want to go out and win it.”
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