{"id":500913,"date":"2026-02-26T13:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500913\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T13:59:09","slug":"brooks-koepka-excited-for-challenge-as-he-returns-home-to-cognizant-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/500913\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooks Koepka excited for challenge as he returns ‘home’ to Cognizant Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no shortage of storylines around Brooks Koepka this week as he returns for the first time in three years to play his \u201chometown event,\u201d the Cognizant Classic<\/a> in The Palm Beaches. <\/p>\n

Considerable attention was given to his $5 million charitable donation<\/a> announced earlier in the week, part of the nine-time Tour winner\u2019s agreement when he joined the Returning Member Program in January. <\/a><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the business surrounding his putter. Koepka switched from a blade to a mallet ahead of the WM Phoenix Open after struggling with his short game at Torrey Pines<\/a> in his first PGA Tour event since the spring of 2022.<\/p>\n

Koepka, who missed the cut at TPC Scottsdale, acknowledged in his pre-tournament press conference this week that he was still learning how to effectively use the mallet putter in the desert.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know where exactly I was hitting it, and obviously when you change putters, speed becomes another thing, and I felt like the speed was slightly off,\u201d Koepka told reporters Wednesday. \u201cNow I understand exactly where to hit it and where it\u2019s going. I feel like my speed control has gotten better, and just with a few changes, just tidying those things up.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Despite not making it to the weekend at the WM after making the putter switch, oddsmakers have Koepka as one of the favorites entering the Champion Course at PGA National<\/a> (he\u2019s currently listed seventh favorite at +2900 to win). Not having to travel does have its advantages. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely weird staying at home, you just get so accustomed to living out of a suitcase or hotel or whatever,\u201d Koepka said of getting to play in his own backyard, at an event in which he\u2019s participated in since he was 9 or 10 years old. <\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up here, I came every year. I remember carrying the sign. From [the time] I was 9, 10 years old until probably maybe a junior, senior in high school.\u201d<\/p>\n

He played the Cognizant in 2022, finishing T-16 alongside eight other players.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s field lacks star power at the top<\/a> with just one player (Ryan Gerard) ranked in the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

With a swing all his own but inspired by Ben Hogan and the confidence of the best player in the world, 26-year-old Gerard has established himself among the PGA Tour\u2019s best young talents.<\/p>\n

Big names or not at the Cognizant, Koepka is more concerning himself with learning everyone who\u2019s in the field \u2014 not the quality of the competition based on world ranking.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s probably more guys I\u2019ve just had to introduce myself to, there\u2019s a lot of people I don\u2019t know,\u201d he admitted Wednesday. \u201cI think I remember reading a stat years ago where every four years there\u2019s a 50 percent turnover, something like that. I could be wrong. That could be completely made up, too, so I don\u2019t know. I remember reading that.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all goes to plan, Koepka can help use it to leverage his own OWGR placement \u2014 he sits No. 263 after his stint on the LIV circuit, a precipitous fall from the No. 1 spot he once held for 38 consecutive weeks beginning in May 2019.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Where does the Cognizant Classic fit in the new PGA Tour schedule?<\/p>\n

Does it make sense for the Cognizant Classic to be the second or third event on the PGA Tour schedule going forward? Golf Today discusses why the Champions Course appeals to so many players on Tour and what its future might look like.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is true hometown event,\u201d he said, without putting expectations on where he might finish if he makes the Cognizant cut after 36 holes. \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody in my family or really anybody has got more than like a 25-minute drive.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be able to be this close to home and to have everybody come out,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s just enjoyable to see faces you haven\u2019t seen in a long time. Sometimes it\u2019s the only time I see people is when I\u2019m here at this event. It\u2019ll be fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no shortage of storylines around Brooks Koepka this week as he returns for the first time in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-500913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}