While he had no inkling at the time, the stars began to align against Brooks Koepka late on a spring Sunday afternoon 19 months ago.
Having won four of his last six majors, he was all over the leaderboard at the last Masters and making his move, cutting a four-shot deficit to just two as he entered Amen Corner, jumbled in with six others players within three shots of the lead. It was going to be a Roman chariot race to the finish.
Then a slight wind gust helped knock down his tee ball at No 12 into Rae’s Creek. He took double-bogey 5. It was a tough day there. Three other players in the last two groups also hit the water. That opened the door for Tiger Woods, who would beat Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele by a stroke. It was Koepka’s highest finish at Augusta National. It was also the most painful.
“I mean, it hurt, physically,” he said this week. “That wasn’t fun. But I mean, I put myself in contention over the last - I don’t know - four years, feels like pretty much every time. Even the PGA Tour. It was right there on Sunday. Try to get it done. It was just (my) body wouldn’t let me do it.”
Koepka had already damaged the patellar tendon left knee, which would eventually cause damage to the labrum in his left hip as he compensated during the weight transfer in his swing. He rallied to win the PGA Championship at Bethpage but it became a battle of attrition; he needed a late summer stem-cell treatment to keep him out there. Finally at the CJ Cup in Korea where he was defending his title, he slipped on some wet concrete on Oct 19. Things haven’t been the same since.
“It’s been a grind,” he said. “I had to get my leg stronger just to be able to support my knee.”
He tried to return in three spring starts but after missing the cut at the Honda Classic, he realized he had no game. And though he had put in rehab work, he determined he had not taken enough time and effort to fully recover.
“It’s not that I regret not taking (more) time off,” he said. “The one thing I regret is not really doing the right things. It was more - I don’t want to say I was slacking - but I didn’t put the effort I needed to to rehab. And that’s on me, so I’ve got to live with that.”
While the Tour shut down due to the coronavirus, Koepka set up camp in LaJolla, California, where physical therapist Derek Samuel worked with him at one point for 40 straight days. He started hitting balls in early October, tested himself at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas (top-30 finish at 5-under) and, following another two week break, let it loose last weekend at the Houston Open.
With twin-65s over the weekend, Koepka tied for fifth. But the numbers meant less than a pain-free swing.
“It was nice to be back to normal and feeling good, because I like the way I’m playing,” he said “Hitting it good, putting it good and doing everything right and I guess just shows all the hard work for those two months that I missed.”
The oddsmakers have seen enough. William Hill bookmaker has him out of the top six picks but lists him at 16-to-1. A year after finishing runner-up at Augusta, could Brooks Koepka return as a stealth favorite?
“It’s up to you guys,” he told reporters. “I’m just going about my business, doing what I’ve got to do. Not worried about what anybody says or what anybody does. Just focused on my own game and from there, just go win.”
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