– Brooks Koepka (-2) has given the first serious warning today, said in the best sense, after signing an excellent round of 66 strokes on the second day of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches. A score that, to begin with, ensures his presence at the weekend, which was uncertain after his poor start on Thursday, and which has been fundamentally based on an excellent performance on the greens of the Champion course at PGA National.
– If anything had been clear since Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour, it was his irregular and even poor performance with the putter in hand, including the first round of this very week. In fact, according to the player himself, he had been putting poorly for nearly two years. Well, it is surely too early to make assessments, but perhaps there is a before and after from today’s round…
– Brooks started today on the 10th hole of the legendary Florida course and immediately, on the 11th, saved par by sinking a short putt from about four metres. But then he holed a putt of nearly ten metres on the 12th and another from about seven metres on the 13th to score consecutive birdies that truly boosted his chances. It is true that he also missed some good opportunities, but nothing out of the ordinary, and by the end of the round, he had holed nearly 40 metres of putts (131 feet), a figure that is unlikely to be surpassed.
– It’s an old story: Koepka felt so bad with the putter on Thursday that he went to the putting green as soon as he signed his card and there, along with his team, found the reason for such poor performance, as he pointed out today after finishing the round: “I made some adjustments after yesterday’s round. We spent about fifteen minutes talking about it and then about thirty minutes working on it. It was an adjustment in my hand position when setting up the shot.” It doesn’t always happen that way, diagnosing so quickly, but this time it did. Sometimes it also happens that you are sure you have found a solution, but then, the next day, it doesn’t work in competition… This time everything has aligned, no doubt remains. But the test is daily, and we will have to see how far his comeback can go in the last 36 holes.
– The recipe is simple for Brooks, because it turns out that today, despite closing the round with a great 66, he wasn’t as sharp from tee to green. “Today I hit much worse. The drive wasn’t as good. The iron play wasn’t as good, but the putter improved. I just need to play like the first day and then putt like today.” So, a simple recipe… However, what he is clear about is that he hasn’t returned to the PGA Tour just to make cuts. “If that were the case, I’m finished,” he said.
– Right now, with the morning session of the second day already finished, Koepka is five strokes away from the provisional third place at the time of editing this report, but the possibilities for him and many other players depend on what the two players who set the pace on Thursday, Austin Smotherman with his round of 62 strokes, and Nico Echavarría, with his round of 63, are capable of doing.
