{"id":452375,"date":"2026-02-06T11:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452375\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:01:07","slug":"koepka-relishes-comfort-zone-in-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452375\/","title":{"rendered":"Koepka relishes comfort zone in Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"Brooks Kopeka reacts after a putt on the 12th hole Wednesday during the WM Phoenix Open pro-am. Justin Edmonds, Getty Images<\/p>\n

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA | While last year\u2019s WM Phoenix Open champion Thomas Detry debuts this week at LIV Golf Riyadh, five-time LIV winner Brooks Koepka is back at TPC Scottsdale, site of his first PGA Tour victory more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

With one start under his belt since returning to the PGA Tour from LIV \u2013 he finished T56 at last week\u2019s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines \u2013 Koepka is glad to be back in the Phoenix Open\u2019s raucous fan environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a fun tournament to play,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cI enjoy the chaos. It\u2019s fun. It can kind of get you in between shots. Gives you something to either kind of laugh at, or, whatever\u2019s going on, there\u2019s always something to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koepka is looking to build on his record in a tournament he has won twice (2015, 2021). In his last start at TPC Scottsdale in 2022, he finished T3 behind winner Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like this place,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cI\u2019ve obviously had some good results here. I\u2019m excited to play on a golf course I feel comfortable on. Obviously winning it twice helps. Any time you win twice on a golf course you feel pretty good and pretty comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dealing with heckling is one thing, but Koepka has been subject to criticism from PGA Tour players and others since joining LIV in 2022. Since returning to the tour in January via the returning member program, the overall response from players has been positive, he said.<\/p>\n

The Phoenix Open is known for its mix of traditional golf fans and spectators who are more interested in a good time than golf. Fans tend to get rowdy, and sometimes toe the line of what is acceptable spectator behavior. Every once in a while, a streaker might interrupt play or beer cups are thrown from the grandstands onto the famous par-3 16th hole.<\/p>\n

More commonly, and somewhat constantly, fans heckle the players..<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a few memorable ones, I don\u2019t think any I can share here,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cYou spend a few years here and you see a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dealing with heckling is one thing, but Koepka has been subject to criticism from PGA Tour players and others since joining LIV in 2022. Since returning to the tour in January via the returning member program, the overall response from players has been positive, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t had any difficult [conversations],\u201d Koepka said. \u201cMaybe just ones where it\u2019s \u2018just happy to see you back, we\u2019re glad you\u2019re back\u2019 type things.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Scottie Scheffler says having Koepka back is \u201cgreat for the tour, great for the fans, and great for our sponsors.\u201d\u00a0 Justin Edmonds, Getty Images<\/p>\n

One player grateful to see Koepka back is world No. 1 Scheffler. Teammates on the 2023 Ryder Cup team, they also made cameos together in Happy Gilmore 2.<\/p>\n

Koepka\u2019s recent return to the PGA Tour, along with Patrick Reed\u2019s expected return later this year, shows the tour is listening to its fans, Scheffler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people want the best people playing together again,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when it comes to great players like Brooks or Patrick Reed \u2026 having those guys competing out here is great for the tour, great for the fans, and great for our sponsors.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Koepka is happy to be back on the PGA Tour, he\u2019s trying to stay out of the politics. He wants to focus on his own game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just focused on myself,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cI\u2019m focused on how I can go play the best golf over the next four days. I\u2019m not focused on anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of now, Koepka isn\u2019t qualified to play in any of this year\u2019s eight signature events, which offer larger purses and award more FedEx Cup points. Having only played in one tournament so far, he\u2019s unlikely to qualify for the first two signature events, next week\u2019s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the following week\u2019s Genesis Invitational, via the Aon Swing 5. If he doesn\u2019t win the Phoenix Open (which would automatically qualify him), he needs to come close to winning to have any chance.<\/p>\n

However, as Koepka said last week, having to play himself into the signature events is fun for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the grind,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed it. I guess it\u2019s a fresh start for me, which is cool. It\u2019s just another chapter I guess in my book. I\u2019m excited for that. I feel like my game\u2019s in pretty good shape and I want to see where it\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

If he does not qualify this week, Koepka will set his sights on the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches later this month. Since Aon Swing 5 standings carry over to that tournament, good performances in both the Phoenix Open and Cognizant Classic would give Koepka a chance to qualify for next month\u2019s Arnold Palmer Invitational, the third signature event of the season. He\u2019d also have a chance to qualify via the Aon Next 10, determined by the top 10 players not already exempt from the FedEx Cup standings.<\/p>\n

It will be difficult, but Koepka has a comfort level at Phoenix and the Cognizant Classic at PGA National, played near his hometown of West Palm Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just good to be back,\u201d he said. \u201cGood to see some golf courses where I\u2019m familiar with and kind of know where to hit it. I think that\u2019s a huge thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2026 Global Golf Post LLC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooks Kopeka reacts after a putt on the 12th hole Wednesday during the WM Phoenix Open pro-am. Justin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[18939,427,10658,3332,210357,5758,99],"class_list":["post-452375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-brooks-koepka","tag-golf","tag-liv-golf","tag-pga-tour","tag-phoenix-open","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}