Brooks Koepka’s 63 at Colonial shows he is ready to defend U.S. Open title
Brooks Koepka’s second-round 63 at the Fort Worth Invitational shows he is returning to top form in time for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
Brooks Koepka is regaining his golf game just in time for the U.S. Open in three weeks.
The 28-year-old pro from West Palm Beach, Florida, shot a seven-under 63 in the second round of the Fort Worth Invitational at Colonial. Koepka birdied five holes on the back-nine and jumped into a tie for third, three shots behind leader Justin Rose.
It was just a month ago that Koepka returned to the PGA Tour. He had been out since January with a wrist injury and missed The Masters.
Since his return, Koepka has been trending in the right direction. After a missed cut at his first tournament back, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he finished tied for 11th at the Players Championship two weeks ago. In the final round he also shot 63, tying the course record.
“I’m knocking on the door. To be honest with you, I’m right where I was last year,” he said after his round at Colonial. “I haven’t quite put four days together, but I’m pretty damn close. I feel like it’s something that is going to come very soon, and I just need to stay patient.”
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Koepka’s return to form is coming just in time. In three weeks he will attempt to defend the U.S. Open title he won at Erin Hills last year. He overpowered the longest course in Major Championship history, shooting a final round 67 to win by four shots and tying the tournament scoring record at 16-under. No player has repeated at the U.S. Open since Curtis Strange in 1989.
“I feel like I’m peaking right at the right time for the U.S. Open,” he said. “I feel like I was playing really well, and luckily enough I picked up right where I left off.”
Koepka described how he first learned of his injury in an interview with Golf.com’s Sean Zak in April:
"It hurt before Tiger’s event [the World Hero Challenge, in early December]. We knew something was wrong. I got an MRI and it came up clean, but the image wasn’t very good. They kind of messed it up. I didn’t play from Tiger’s event until I showed up in Hawaii [in early January] and was hitting it great. I can take a month off; it doesn’t really bother me. That Monday and Tuesday were probably the best I’ve hit it in a really long time, maybe since the U.S. Open. I was pumped. On Wednesday I went to the range, and the first swing with a wedge went 40 yards. I just felt it. I went, “Uh, oh. This is really not good.”"
He spent the next four months undergoing rehab and resting at Floridian National Golf Club in Palm City, Florida. Koepka admits that the time off made him impatient to return. In fact, he feels like he may have come back too early. Now that he is fully healthy, however, he is eager to start winning again.
“There’s nobody more excited to be out here than me right now. I think that’s something that’s kind of underrated. Being off for four months, coming back here, I’m so excited just to be out playing in front of people, get some competition. I honestly couldn’t wait.”
He couldn’t have picked a better venue to re-establish himself on tour. Colonial, “Hogan’s Alley,” is a shrine to Ben Hogan. It was Hogan who staged arguably the biggest comeback in PGA history, returning from a near-fatal car accident in 1949 to win the U.S. Open at Merion the following year.
Next: Complete List of U.S. Open Winners
Koepka will begin his U.S. Open title defense June 14 at Shinnecock Hills in New York.