Brooks Koepka has been searching for something ever since he triumphed at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. That week in Rochester, Koepka returned to his major-killing ways. He was fully healthy, his game firing on all cylinders, his confidence at peak levels.
However, since that fifth major win, Koepka watched his game dip while playing on LIV Golf. His major performances in 2024 and 2025 fell well below his elite standard. His putting woes became a source of frustration, and he was unhappy. He played poorly and spent a lot of time away from his family due to global travel with LIV. Tragically, he and his wife, Jena Sims, suffered a miscarriage last year. The desire to spend more time with his family drove Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour in January.
“Just my family. A lot’s gone on over the past five, six months with my family. That played a big role into coming back,” Koepka said at Torrey Pines in January. Sims and their son, Crew, have been able to accompany him on the road more since his return. Quietly, Koepka has been playing good golf, though it hasn’t all come together. The putter remains a sticking point. He hasn’t yet played his way into Signature Events, but he has been close.
Koepka has been building back to his old self slowly, piece by piece. Finally, on Saturday at a tournament he probably didn’t have on his radar to start the season, it all came together. The five-time major champion shot a back-nine 29 to vault into contention at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic. It was the first 29 Koepka has shot on the PGA Tour since the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in 2019. More importantly, it gave him the thing he has been missing.
“That’s the most excited I’ve been playing golf in a long, long time,” Koepka said after his round. “I can tell you that much. I would say back until ’23, the PGA. That’s the most — it’s been a long time since I’ve had fun playing golf. I was very frustrated last year. Just wasn’t in a good place, but I think a lot of times when you — it’s like anybody, right? If they’re happy off the golf course, they’re going to play well on the golf course. I think that’s a huge, huge piece of it, and I’ve found that. Refound my happiness, my love for the game. All the pieces are connected. It’s just now I’ve got to go out and go play.”
Koepka finished T12 at the Masters, where Rory McIlroy defended his title and moved ahead with his sixth major. The next week saw Koepka sit around at the RBC Heritage as the first alternate, hoping for a tee time that never came. He and Shane Lowry missed the cut at the Zurich Classic team event, and Koepka failed to get off the alternate list at the Cadillac Championship.
With the PGA Championship next week at Aronimink, Koepka entered the field in Myrtle Beach to ensure he had a tee time to fine-tune his game. He has been waiting to feel fully back. His iron play has been superb for the last two months, but he dealt with a driver issue he fixed at the Masters and hasn’t found consistent success with the putter.
Koepka has said that “good golf” will take care of everything — getting him into Signature Events and putting him in position to win more majors. The kind of golf he has been hunting arrived in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, and it could foreshadow something bigger. Finally, everything is starting to gel on the eve of golf’s second major — one he has won three times and that will be hosted at a burly, challenging course.
