Brooks Koepka caused quite a stir following his return to the PGA Tour. Bypassing a potential year-long suspension thanks to the ‘Returning Member Program,’ the returning LIV golfer is looking to make his mark in the PGA Tour once again. But as he is getting ready for The Players’ Championship, Koepka tactfully avoided a comparison of the tournament with LIV Golf. 

“Did any of the LIV events feel more special the way this does?” the question came.

“Every tournament feels special, man. It’s very, I’m going out there, I want to win,” replied Koepka at The Players’ Championship presser. 

Now, this was quite a politically correct answer from the star golfer. With all the pomp and show with the finances in LIV Golf, there ought to be a difference that Koepka did not want to get into. Rather, he delved deep into how almost every tournament feels the same for him. He agreed that with events like The Players, the initial hype was significant. 

But once it was Thursday morning, his mind became empty. Fully focusing on the job at hand, he doesn’t have time to think whether the event is a premium or a regular one. Koepka also clarified that this was the standard practice not only for him but for all the professional golfers out there. 

“It’s just you go about your process, and sometimes when you get in your process, you shut your mind off and everything becomes very easy,” Koepka said. 

Meanwhile, answering a different question, the former LIV golfer cited The Players Championship as a ‘cool’ event. Comparing the tournament with the BMW of the DP World Tour, he stated how the best competing with each other elevates the quality of the tournament significantly. 

Interestingly, despite having some notable wins on the PGA Tour, the TPC Sawgrass has always eluded Koepka. Thus will be looking to change his fate by displaying some impressive golfing skills this year. However, following his previous performances, Koepka’s chances are not looking very promising.

Brooks Koepka battles shaky PGA Tour restart, secures top-10 finish

After resorting to the Returning Member Program of the PGA Tour and getting reinstated, Brooks Koepka has been dealing with a shaky restart. As a member of the PGA Tour, he started off the season with the Farmers Insurance Open, where he finished tied for 56th position with a total of 4 under par. Following that, in the first week of February, he teed it off at the WM Phoenix Open, but unfortunately missed the cut. 

Weeks later, he was again in the field for the Cognizant Classic. The $9.6 million event was already struggling with a weak field owing to back-to-back withdrawals. Several names withdrew before the tournament began, thus the administration could settle with replacements, but the event also encountered a few mid-tournament withdrawals. But Koepka made sure to grab the opportunity and post his season’s best performance at the non-major PGA Tour event. Koepka ended tied for 9th position with a 10 under-par. 

However, he was seen struggling at the beginning. Still, he managed to make the cut and then climbed up the leaderboard in the preceding rounds.

“No. If I’m out here to try to make cuts, I’m probably done,” said Koepka, acknowledging the situation after the end of round 2 at the Champions Course.

Before stepping in for the Cognizant Classic, he stood at an official world ranking of 171. Koepka currently stands at 221 under OWGR. It will now be interesting to see how he performs on the greens of the TPC Sawgrass.