At PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka tries to find his former self

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It wasn’t long ago that this would have been Brooks Koepka’s stage.

The five-time major champion dominated golf’s biggest events for the better part of a decade. From 2017 to 2023, Koepka won three PGA Championships, two U.S. Opens and recorded six other top-five finishes in majors. He didn’t finish outside the top four at a major in 2019. His only down year, 2022, was due to a knee injury.

Koepka was the big-game hunter.

At the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, Koepka explained why he believes “majors are the easiest to win” because he only has to beat the handful of players who will both play well on the big stage and do a good job of staying calm in the chaos. Koepka rarely made a big mistake at a major. He would pepper fairways, play to the middle of greens and rise up the leaderboard as others faltered before delivering the kill shot on the weekend.

“I think the big thing that kind of separates me is my ability to lock in and go someplace where I think a lot of guys can’t go,” Koepka said last year at LIV Singapore before the 2024 PGA Championship.

Things seem to be different now.

While he won twice on LIV last year, since Koepka’s win at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, he has not finished better than T17 at a major, which came at the 2023 U.S. Open. Last year, Koepka’s T26 at the PGA Championship was his best major result. He missed the cut at this year’s Masters when he made a mess of the 18th hole on Friday to go from safely inside to heading home.

Koepka went off at 7:38 a.m. Thursday with Rickie Fowler and Shane Lowry. He arrived at the 10th tee to a few light claps and a “Let’s go Brooks!” from one early rising fan.

The steely gaze that used to loom over major championships was the same. The intimidating gait hasn’t changed. But his game — the locked-in, mistake-free, major-proof game — has been harder to find.

Koepka pushed his opening tee shot right and punched out. His third into the par-5 rolled off the front right of the green. He ran his fourth past the hole and missed his par putt for a sloppy opening bogey.

That kind of error from Koepka on a major stage used to be a shock to the system. He used to relish watching others make major blunders while he cruised around the cauldron, appearing unbothered by the moment.

That was then.

Now, Brooks Koepka feels different. Like someone desperately trying to recapture a feeling that used to come naturally. Trying to rekindle a flame without an accelerant.

You know the major struggles bother him, even though his on-course demeanor might not give off any hints. He talked about the will to win a couple of years ago when he was on “Full Swing.” That desire drives every athlete; Koepka is no different.

He played his first four holes in one over before making a birdie at the short par-4 14th when the rough to the left of the green kept his ball from going in the water. Koepka showed little emotion during an opening nine that included a smattering of poor iron shots and missed putts. He only broke character when he briefly held his son along the rope line after hitting his tee shot into the par-3 17th.

He missed a 6-foot putt for par on the 18th and then three-putted from 27 feet for double on No. 1. He stepped up to the tee on No. 2 and yanked it left. He tried to play a low punch under the trees for his second but ended up firing it into some branches. Another un-Koepka-like mistake led to another bogey. He blocked his tee shot on No. 3 over a fence and into an area where the equipment trucks are parked. He got a free drop for a temporary immovable obstruction but made bogey anyway.

Even as putts grazed edges and tee shots sailed wide, Koepka’s patented major championship stare never broke. The frustration that was surely bubbling hardly became visible. The armor he had covered himself with, starting with his 2017 U.S. Open win, is still there, but the shine has been replaced by a coat of rust, something the game’s preeminent major killer has desperately tried to shed.

Koepka made back-to-back birdies on seven and eight. One final bogey at No. 9 ended his opening round. The final tally: five fairways hit, six greens in regulation, 29 putts, three birdies, five bogeys, one double and what looks like an eighth straight major as a non-factor.

Koepka quickly signed his scorecard and walked past the media without stopping. There was no need. Koepka has always preferred to let his game do the talking.

A four-over 75 said all there was to say.