McKINNEY, Texas — There’s a note of romance in Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour, a rediscovery shaped as much by the grind as the spotlight. Listen to him speak and it’s a thankful, appreciative Koepka.
Life on Tour is louder, busier, more demanding. The travel schedule rarely lets up. Equipment options abound. Every shot unfolds under a national TV lens. And yet, Koepka leans into it all with something approaching renewed affection.
“Every week is a fresh start for me,” he said ahead of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch, just outside Dallas. Limited in how often he can tee it up, he treats each start as something to savor. “If I get the chance to play, I want to play.”
There’s a different energy to him now, one that feels less like obligation and more like pursuit.
“I’ve kind of fallen back in love with this,” Koepka said. “I’m enjoying the grind. I’m enjoying battling it out here. It’s a newfound passion for the game. Being back on the road, grinding it out, trying to find it in the dirt. I think there’s something to be said about that.
“Each week is becoming more and more fun,” he added. “I very much enjoy that.”
But Tour life doesn’t offer the shelter of anonymity that perhaps LIV Golf did. It probes weaknesses. And in Koepka’s case, it keeps circling back to one persistent question: his putter.
The results tell part of the story. A ninth-place finish at the Cognizant Classic near his home in Jupiter. Close calls elsewhere: T-13 at The Players, T-12 at the Masters, T-11 at Myrtle Beach. Consistent, competitive, but not quite enough to break through. He’s climbed from over 400th in the Official World Golf Ranking to 111th heading into this week’s event.
But without putts falling, scrutiny follows.
“I don’t bring it up, you guys do,” Koepka said with a shrug. “I just try to fix the problem.”
At home, Koepka retreats to a personal workspace, his warehouse that houses a putting studio, where the hours stretch long and deliberate. He drops his son off at school in the morning, then heads straight there, working until it’s time for pickup. Different setups. Different putters. Subtle adjustments, repeated again and again.
“Just going back to basics, I think is a huge thing, trying to make sure you’re lined up, your grip is correct, your putter is aimed where you think it’s aimed,” Koepka said. “Just little different things.”
This week, he’s trying out a new toy, Scotty Cameron Fastback 1.5. He’s hoping that will help improve upon his Strokes Gained: Putting stat, which currently has him ranked 141st. If the putter was clicking, it’s likely Koepka would have a handful of top-5 finishes or maybe even his first PGA Tour victory since the 2021 Waste Management Phoenix Open. [Technically, Koepka’s PGA Championship victory at Oak Hill in 2023 is a PGA Tour win, but it came while he was a member of LIV Golf.]
Koepka’s new putter and new attitude have a new test, as TPC Craig Ranch has gotten a complete overhaul from the original Tom Weiskopf layout. The $22 million renovation features 777 Bentgrass greens with SubAir technology, as Lanny Wadkins handled the job.
Will an essentially new track give Koepka a clean slate when it comes to his putter? He’s not sure.
“I don’t know, it can be a bit of both, I think. The way I look at it, if you hit it close enough, you don’t have to worry about putting,” said Koepka, who missed the cut the only time he played at TPC Craig Ranch. “I think sometimes you have a little bit of history or like mental history of, oh, if I hit it here, this ball might roll or slope a little bit closer to the hole, and it doesn’t anymore. So sometimes it can be an advantage, sometimes it can be a disadvantage. It just kind of depends.
“I’ll be able to tell you this probably later in the week when I get a better idea of it.”
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Brooks Koepka tries another new putter at PGA Tour’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson