Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and by the skin of his teeth, he made the cut on his comeback.
Koepka left LIV Golf to return to the PGA Tour and is playing in his first event back at Torrey Pines. Thankfully for him, he made the cut on the number. This looked incredibly unlikely going into the final two holes, but an eagle on the 17th set up a birdie on the last, which brought him to three-under.
It’s a solid outcome for Brooks Koepka, who needs as much golf under his belt as possible in order to build back up to the form that made him a five-time major winner.
Honestly, he’s played well enough to be far further up the leaderboard, and perhaps even contending with the leading Justin Rose. There’s been one key area of his game that has held him back: putting.
And Koepka admitted that he made a mistake on the greens, which has held him back at Torrey Pines.
The mistake Brooks Koepka made on the greens at Torrey Pines
Koepka admitted to feeling nervous ahead of his PGA Tour comeback, but he said the fan reaction to his return settled him into rounds. Those nerves appear to have shown up on the greens, however.
He’s put himself into position frequently, but Koepka’s putter has been as cold as can be. Koepka admitted he’s been too conservative on the greens, and that’s why he’s struggled for birdies.
Speaking after his second round, Koepka said, “Yeah, it feels good. Just wanted to play four days this week, I think that was important.
“Played really solid today. Drove it a lot better. Putting, I feel like I hit a lot of great putts, they just didn’t go in. I felt like I was all over the lip today. But that’s golf. Kind of poa greens.
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“Maybe a touch conservative, maybe putting, not as aggressive. I don’t know if those greens were a little bit slower, but it felt like it. But that’s all right, got two days to figure it out and kind of really see where my game’s at, kind of take the reins off and go.”
Now that the pressure is off, Koepka can let loose and really test the limits of his game. But these putting woes are part of a concerning trend for him.
Putting has been Brooks Koepka’s weakness
Since joining LIV Golf in 2022, Koepka has seen his form decline drastically. He missed the cut in three of the four major championships, which used to be his specialty, and had only one top five all season on LIV.
And for the most part, that’s down to Koepka’s putting. In 2024, it was the one area of his game where he lost strokes to the field, and the issue worsened in 2025.
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This was never the case when Koepka was at his best. From 2014 to 2023, he lost strokes on the green in just one season. And in 2023, he actually gained a massive 0.73 strokes.
But since then, he’s lost his touch, and his biggest priority this weekend should be trying to refind it going into the rest of his PGA Tour campaign.
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