The excitement that surrounded Brooks Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf has kind of fizzled out already.
The funny thing is, Koepka will like the fact that he’s not being spoken about as much as he was this time one month ago ahead of his PGA Tour return at the Farmers Insurance Open.
The 35-year-old left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf way back in June 2022, but he decided he’d had enough just three-and-a-half years later.
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It shocked the golfing world when Koepka left LIV and was granted a PGA Tour return immediately. He was handed plenty of punishments, including no entry into the Signature Events and a $5 million fine which had to be made payable to charity.
The PGA Tour made the same offer to Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, but the LIV duo didn’t accept the terms of the deal.
Koepka is clearly someone who loves to compete against the very best golfers in the world. It’s not all about money for him and he obviously came to realize that over the past year or so.
Unfortunately for him, his return to the PGA Tour hasn’t gone to plan so far. The five-time major champion seems to be lacking the confidence required to win on the PGA Tour, or even challenge for a top-10 finish for that matter.
His swing looks as good as ever, but he’s just not scoring. But why? Is it because he just feels too awkward playing out there amongst his peers after he decided to take the money and run to LIV four years ago?
Or is Koepka’s main issue a technical one? The difference between hovering around the cut-line and contending for a top-10 finish is marginal. Koepka has to quickly get to the bottom of why he’s struggling to score, and it shouldn’t be hard for him to identify the main problem he’s been having.
Why Brooks Koepka has made a poor start to the PGA Tour season
In the two PGA Tour events that Koepka has played so far in 2026, he has a T-56 finish and a missed cut to his name.
He has a lot of work to do if he’s to make the cut at the Cognizant Classic as well, after opening up with a round of three-over-par 74 on day one at PGA National.
Before his first PGA Tour event since his return from LIV at Torrey Pines last month, Koepka looked like a completely different man.
He was nervous and quietly spoken, rather than brash, bold and outgoing. He clearly knew he made the wrong decision by opting to join LIV in 2022.
However, his main problem has nothing to do with his attitude. Koepka is struggling to shoot under par right now because of his atrocious putting.
In his opening round at PGA National on Thursday, Koepka lost more than two strokes to the field on the greens and was ranked 110th in strokes gained putting.
The crazy thing is that performance was actually an improvement on what the 35-year-old has produced during the first two PGA Tour tournaments he has played this season.
He is ranked 171st in strokes gained putting so far in 2026 on the PGA Tour. Interestingly, he is inside the top-25 in the strokes gained approach category, so his iron play has clearly been absolutely fine in 2026.
Koepka gained strokes on the field off the tee and with his approach shots on Thursday at the Cognizant Classic and still shot three-over-par. He simply has to get to the bottom of his putting issues, if he is to ever win on the PGA Tour again.
If he is to stick with the mallet, he needs to completely change his stroke, which would be a bad idea in the long-term. The solution is staring the Floridian squarely in the face.
Why Brooks Koepka’s stroke is not suited to the mallet putter
Koepka changed from his blade-shaped putter after his first PGA Tour event of the season at Torrey Pines to a mallet-headed putter for the WM Phoenix Open.
However, his stroke simply isn’t suited to the mallet. The American sets up with the ball slightly out of the toe of his putter head.
He then takes the putter back slightly on the inside on the backswing and reroutes the head back on line on the downswing.
Jay Townsend and Rich Beem were discussing Koepka’s struggles during the first round of the Cognizant Classic on Thursday during Sky Sports’ production of the event in the UK.
“His normal putter, okay, has a longer blade to it,“ Townsend explained.
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“And he always lines up with the ball somewhat off the toe, okay? That’s his idea of not pulling putts by setting up there.
“That little narrow head, I don’t think he has the ability to do his natural setup.”
Then Beem offered his take. “No he doesn’t. it’s significantly smaller, length-wise to the head. So I think you’re right,“ the 2002 PGA Champion said.
“I think it throws him off a little bit because it’s not going to be that far out of the toe. I mean, it’s just a colossally different look, not just a little bit. It’s colossal.”
Then Townsend jumped back into the conversation.
“He had a bad week at Torrey Pines,“ he said.
“There are thousands of players throughout history that have had bad putting weeks at Torrey Pines.
“You don’t change putters because of one week at Torrey. Koepka’s been using the same putter forever.”
Both Townsend and Beem are spot on. Koepka has not become a bad putter overnight. In fact, he was one of the very best during his heyday, and his stroke is perfectly suited to the blade model.
Brooks Koepka’s putting is the main reason why he is yet to finish inside the top-50 in a PGA Tour event since he returned from LIV Golf.
The good news is that all it will take is a change back to the blade, a lot of hard work and a bit of luck here and there for him to get his confidence back.
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