Brooks Koepka bounced back from a slump in the opening round of the Cognizant Classic.
After starting the tournament with a 3-over 74 in the opening round, he bounced back on Friday with a score of 66 to qualify.
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Koepka found his groove back on the greens after enduring a prolonged putting struggle that forced him to change putters for the first time in more than a decade. Although he couldn’t hit any holes on Thursday, he was the third-best putter in the field in the second round.
He looked like a different player on Friday, and some of that can be attributed to the equipment changes he made under the radar.
Photo credit: Raj Mehta/Getty Images
Brooks Koepka swaps golf balls at Cognizant Classic
Koepka started the Cognizant Classic using the Srixon Z Star Diamond, the golf ball he has been using since 2021. But on Friday, he switched to the Titleist Pro V1x, widely considered the best ball in golf.
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The change clearly paid off, as he was 5 under through the first nine holes and quickly connected to the new ball. The only blot on his scorecard was a bogey on the penultimate hole of the round.
This isn’t the first time he’s made this change. Koepka performed the same move at Winged Foot at the 2022 U.S. Open, but didn’t get the same results. He finished T55 at that US Open, finishing at +12 for the week despite using the ball in all four rounds.
But after Friday’s show with the Pro V1X, he’ll likely keep it in his bag for the rest of the event.
What Brooks Koepka did to fix his putting stroke at the Cognizant Classic
Koepka’s putting struggles were well documented at this point, but he appeared to correct his putting stroke during the second round. He then explained the changes he had made.
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The five-time major champion said, “I’ve changed my mechanics, so I’m going to go with a good feeling. Like I said, I was just cheating yesterday, and my hands were too far back when I set up, so that was the only thing I had.”
“Once I got them in front, I felt like I could see the line a lot better and I felt like I could visually see where I had to jump out on the right line, and yesterday they weren’t matching up.
“You can always change something during the round and try to do something. But that wasn’t the case. It’s very difficult to see with the naked eye.”
“I really had to stand up. That’s why after I finished here, I ran to the putting green and sent the video. And then we talked about it and we realized that. But that’s really it, the stroke was fine.”
We’ll see over the remainder of the tournament whether Koepka is truly back on track on the greens, but so far the signs are positive.
