Brooks Koepka Says He 'Can't Find The Hole' In Rare Sign Of Frustration Ahead Of PGA Championship Defense
Brooks Koepka is someone who typically oozes confidence. That's especially true when the PGA Championship is involved in the conversation, given that he's hoisted the Wanamaker Trophy three times over the last six years. With just two weeks until he'll be defending his victory from a year ago, however, the five-time major winner seems to be searching for some of that all-important self-belief.
Speaking ahead of this week's LIV Golf event in Singapore, Koepka was asked how his game was trending with the year's second major championship just two weeks out.
Instead of his typical ‘things are going well, we’re just fine-tuning some things' type of answer, Koepka went the candid route and admitted that his game isn't exactly in the best place at the moment.
"Clearly not very good," Koepka explained. "With Augusta the way that it went, I kind of felt 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 finished 45th in the Masters, shooting over par in each of his four rounds at Augusta National.
Brooks Koepka. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The 33-year-old switched from the blade putter that has treated him so well over the years to a mallet style flatstick in the lead-up to the Masters. While he was a Top 20 putter in the field at Augusta, it's the putting that he feels has been holding him back as he admitted that he can't find the hole at the moment.
"It’s been in the bag two weeks before Augusta, I haven’t even putted with that other putter, the one I’ve putted with for—the button back I’ve probably putted with for 12, 14 years, I haven’t putted with it since then," Koepka said.
"I can’t find the hole at all, to be honest with you. Something we’ve just been putting some work into, so trying to find some answers."
He wasn't done there when voicing his frustrations about his game.
"Ball doesn’t go in the hole, that’s usually one of them. 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," Koepka said.
Koepka always calls things how he sees them, but that typically involves him being on the shorter side when it comes to his interactions with the media. This frustrated version of Koepka is one we don't often see, and if things don't turn around on the greens for him in Singapore this week, we could be in for quite the lead-up to the PGA Championship at Valhalla later this month.