Houston Open: Brooks Koepka building momentum ahead of Masters
By Tim Letcher
Brooks Koepka is using this week’s Houston Open as a prep for next week’s Masters. And his game appears to be rounding into form.
Brooks Koepka has not played a lot of competitive rounds of golf in recent months. But this week, at the Houston Open, he’s steadily improving as he prepares himself for the season’s third and final major, the Masters, next week.
We all remember the struggles that Koepka went through as he attempted to defend his PGA Championship in August. It seemed that he was constantly trying to stretch out his knee and hip as he battled not only the major championship pressure and a tough field, but also his own body.
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After taking a few weeks off, including the FedEx Cup playoffs that ended last year’s PGA Tour season, Koepka returned to action at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas three weeks ago. As one would expect, Koepka got off to a slow start that week, with a 74 in the first round. However, he followed that with a 68 on Friday and another 68 on Saturday. He closed with a 73 to finish in a tie for 28th place that week.
Koepka went on another hiatus after that event, but has returned this week at the Houston Open. And his results this week are showing continued progress.
He started the week with a 2-over par 72 on Thursday, a round in which he made three birdies but was victimized by a double bogey on the par-3 seventh hole. His Friday round included four birdies and four bogeys, as he shot an even-par 70 to remain at 2-under.
On Saturday, he made even more improvement. Starting on the back nine, Koepka made two birdies and a bogey to shoot a 1-under par 34.
He really got things going after making the turn in Saturday’s round. He birdied the first hole to get to 2-under on his Saturday round. He later birdied the fifth and sixth holes to get to 4-under on his round. He would add a birdie on nine to finish 65.
In the process, Koepka jumped more than 30 spots in the tournament standings. He was tied for 14th when his round finished.
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Koepka must like how his game is coming into shape with the Masters on the horizon. Keep in mind that he was second at Augusta last year, falling just one shot shy of Tiger Woods.
If Koepka can carry the momentum he has gained this week into the Masters next week, he could seriously contend at Augusta again this week.