Brooks Koepka has issued some fighting talk ahead of the Masters next week by highlighting how his impressive runner-up finish at last year’s major at Augusta proved to his critics that he was back to his best.
The American, who was recovering from a crippling knee injury at the time, was leading by four shots at the end of Saturday before ultimately falling four back of eventual champion Jon Rahm. Undeterred, the following month saw him claim victory at the US PGA Championship – taking his major tally to five wins and only trailing one behind Sir Nick Faldo.
And speaking ahead of LIV Miami, he downplayed the significance of his second-placed finish at Augusta, expressing that he was always sure of his capabilities despite external scepticism: “I already knew that. I think it was more, I kept telling everybody, but nobody believed me. I think it was more validation for everybody else.
“I always thought I was going to win. Statistically, it’s your best chance to win a major. I’ve already done my prep, man. Just trying to figure out and make any last-second tweaks I can. This is kind of my time.”
Rahm’s triumph at the Masters was viewed as a win for the PGA against LIV Golf. However, less than a year later and the Spaniard jumped ship to join the breakaway circuit.
This year’s Masters is set to witness a clash of PGA Tour and LIV stars once more, but Anthony Kim will be notably absent. Instead, the wildcard for the LIV Miami event is gearing up for his first US tournament since 2012.
Kim has admitted to being so out of touch with the sport that he was unaware of Koepka’s major wins and didn’t tune in for Tiger Woods’ 2019 Masters victory.
“I didn’t watch much golf,” the former world No. 6 confessed. “I just found out from DJ yesterday playing a practice round with him yesterday that Brooks won back-to-back majors, which is awesome. But I had no clue that that happened.
“Where I was in my life, I really wasn’t focused on golf. I definitely heard that it (Woods winning) happened but going through some of the things I’ve gone through in my life, I wasn’t focused on golf. I didn’t care about somebody who won a golf tournament.”
