Brooks Koepka produced a strong second-round performance at the Cognizant Classic, carding a 66 to climb to three-under-par for the tournament.
Since rejoining the PGA Tour in January after his spell with LIV Golf, Koepka has struggled to find his footing.
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He finished T-56 at Torrey Pines before missing the cut in Phoenix, and an opening round 74 this week added to questions about his current form.
Putting has been a particular weakness during his return, something he’ll need to address if he wants to get back into contention for titles. But there were positive signs on Friday at PGA National, where six birdies and just one bogey saw him shoot 66 and comfortably make the cut. He’s currently tied for 30th as play continues.
Brooks Koepka comments after shooting a 66 in the second round of the Cognizant Classic
Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
Koepka had an early tee time on Friday, and it didn’t take long to see that he was determined to play his way back inside the cut-line.
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The American birdied his opening hole, then made three straight putts from outside 13 feet, showing early momentum.
He carded a five-under-par 31 on his front nine, picked up another birdie on the fourth hole (his 13th), and dropped a shot on the eighth (his 17th) to close out his round.
Koepka met with reporters after signing for a second-round 66 at PGA National and was asked how he’d sum up his performance.
“I hit it a lot worse today. Didn’t drive it nearly as good. Iron play wasn’t as good, but the putter was better,” Koepka said.
“Made a few adjustments after the round yesterday. We were just kind of running over there. We spent probably about 15 minutes talking about it and then probably 30 minutes’ worth of work.
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“Just my hand position at setup. I was just cheating it. Changed the stroke a little bit.”
“I’m not getting as handsy and I was cheating it by getting my hands back, and it just was creating an inconsistent feel, or where I thought it was taking off it wasn’t.”
“We changed my mechanics so I’m going with the feel of what feels good. Like I said, I was just cheating it yesterday, so at setup my hands were too far back, so that was the only thing.
“Once I got them forward, I felt like I really saw the line a lot better and could see where visually it’s got to take off on the right line. They weren’t matching yesterday.”
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Breaking down Brooks Koepka’s second round at the Cognizant Classic
There was a different energy about Koepka on Friday at PGA National, and it showed in his play. He looked more like the player we’ve seen in big moments over the years.
His confidence was noticeable as he walked the course, and the scorecard backed it up.
The most noticeable change came on the greens, where he seemed far more comfortable than earlier in the week.
The five-time major winner picked up 3.821 strokes on the field with his putting, a dramatic swing from Thursday when he lost 2.165 strokes to the field with the flat stick.
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Koepka has put himself back into contention at PGA National with that strong round, but there’s still work to do if he wants to be in the mix come Sunday.
He’ll likely need another round in the low-to-mid 60s on Saturday to stay within reach of the leaders.
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