Brooks Koepka posted an extremely impressive second round of 66 at PGA National, to move to three-under-par for the tournament at the Cognizant Classic.
Koepka has flattered to deceive since returning to the PGA Tour in January, after leaving LIV Golf in December.
A T-56 at Torrey Pines was followed by a missed cut in Phoenix and then his opening round of three-over-par 74 did little to calm the fears surrounding his form.
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Koepka’s putting has let him down since he made his PGA Tour return, and that will need to change moving forward, if he is to ever win again.
However, the 35-year-old American burst back into life at the Cognizant Classic on Friday, with a sensational round of 66 that featured six birdies and one bogey, and one that got him well back inside the cut-line.
In fact, he is currently sitting in a tie for 30th at the time of writing.
Brooks Koepka reacts after shooting 66 on day two of the Cognizant Classic
Koepka teed off early on Friday and it became immediately evident that he was seriously focused on getting back inside the cut-line.
The American looked like a man on a mission as he birdied his first hole of the day, before rolling in three consecutive putts outside of 13 feet.
He shot a five-under-par 31 on his opening nine before adding another birdie to his tally on the fourth hole (his 13th) and dropping one on the eighth hole (his 17th).
Koepka spoke to reporters after posting a 66 on day two at PGA National on Friday, and responded when asked to sum up his round.
“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 admitted.
“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.“
Brooks Koepka’s stats from day two at the Cognizant
Koepka looked much more like his old self on Friday at PGA National.
He strolled around with the famous Koepka strut and posted a superb round of golf.
And the key area of improvement was very clearly on the greens for Koepka.
| Stats | Koepka’s day two rank |
| Strokes gained off the tee | 55 |
| Strokes gained approach | 17 |
| Strokes gained around the green | 55 |
| Strokes gained putting | 1 |
| Strokes gained total | T-3 |
The five-time major champion gained 3.821 strokes on the field on the greens on Friday – a vast improvement from the 2.165 strokes that he lost against the field when putting on Thursday.
Koepka got himself right back into the golf tournament on day two at the Cognizant Classic.
However, he will need another round in the mid-low 60s on Saturday in order to have any chance of winning come Sunday.
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