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

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

He decimated Oak Hill over the final 54 holes a year ago, easily waltzing his way around the Western New York property. Like a man on a mission, Koepka avenged his 2023 collapse at Augusta National with his fifth major victory and third Wanamaker Trophy.

Fast-forward to 2024, and Koepka has not played up to that standard. He began the year with a 7th-place finish at LIV Golf Mayakoba but has yet to record a result better than that since.

That includes his lackluster performance at The Masters, where he tied for 45th.

“Clearly not very good, with Augusta the way that it went,” Koepka said when asked to describe the state of his game.

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

“I feel like I wasted all the time from December until then. Just keep grinding away, keep doing the work, and hopefully, something will turn around.”

Koepka has struggled on the greens, which have restricted his chances of once again entering the winner’s circle.

“I can’t find the hole at all, to be honest with you,” Koepka added.

“I don’t know how else to simply put it. I feel like I’m hitting good putts; they just keep burning lips. Eventually, it starts to wear on you after a while. All you can do is hit a good putt and see where it goes from there. Hopefully, they start falling soon.”

Yet, something has clicked for him recently—at least somewhat. More putts fell in the hole last week in Adelaide, where he carded two 6-under 66s at The Grange over his final two rounds. That led to a 10th-place finish, his best result since the beginning of the LIV Golf season.

Perhaps he has discovered something with his putting, which could help his cause this week at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore, the site of the seventh LIV Golf event of the season.

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Koepka played well there a year ago, carding three rounds in the 60s on the par-71 layout to finish solo third—one stroke behind Talor Gooch and Sergio Garcia, with the former defeating the latter in a playoff.

“It’s a pure golf course,” Koepka said of Sentosa.

“It’s all about positioning and being in the right spot, making sure you either hit the fairway or you’re positioned correctly.”

Should Koepka play well on this course—one that suits ball-strikers over bombers—then questions of his poor form will dissipate heading into Valhalla. Strong finishes in both Adelaide and Singapore would prove that Koepka is trending in the right direction.

But until he does that, questions about his form will continue to linger—even more so if he fails to contend in Singapore. Regardless, all eyes will be on Koepka this week for his final tune-up before his PGA Championship defense.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.