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WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 2, 2016

Brooks Koepka

Scottsdale, Arizona

An interview with:

BROOKS KOEPKA

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Brooks Koepka to the interview room. Defending a PGA TOUR title for the first time here at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, tell us what it's like to be back, some of the memories.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Obviously it's nice to be back. Any time you can win it's special, and if you're going back to those places it's cool. You're kind of reliving some of the shots you hit, things like that, and obviously get a lot of positive memories.

I have a lot of positive thoughts going into this week, and I feel good about where my game is at. I don't think I have ever felt better. That's nice.

THE MODERATOR: How strong are those memories from last year? Especially the back 9 of the tournament last year and when you really came in and won the tournament.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it was kind of funny, we really didn't do anything for the first 36 holes, and obviously the back 9 is where we made the ground up.

It's nice. I mean, I think the whole golf course suits me with last year. It's nice not having any changes done or anything like that. Obviously the greens are a little firmer this week, so it's nice to be able to come back to something that's so pure. Last year was so wet with all that rain, and I play really well on firm golf courses. I'm looking forward to it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. I was wondering what you feel like you need to do now that you've had a year or two out here to really kind of take your game to the next level. Obviously you have to be good to be out here, but to try to get out there and be No. 1 or be in the top 10.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Just gotta fine-tune the things, make your misses not as bad, I guess. Things like that. For me I have worked on putting for the last year and that's improved a lot. I think we were one of the best from inside eight feet all year.

Now we are starting with chipping, pitching wedges, narrowing those things down. You have to be able to get up and down from a hundred yards out here. Just wasn't doing it as much, but I feel like my game can compete with anybody. I feel like it's that good right now. It just needs to happen in a tournament. I feel like it's all starting to come together.

Q. Obviously this isn't your usual tournament with the stadium and thousands of people on the fairways. I know you're mellow, but do you have to prepare yourself differently going to the first tee knowing what's ahead with the crowds?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No. I just keep it the same. I'm just pretty chill. Like you said, it doesn't matter to me whether they are hooting or hollering on 16. 16, I love. You don't get that that much out here, and if you can -- it's one time a year.

But I enjoy it. It gets me fired up and gets me going. You're looking forward to it. You need to hit a good shot on that hole (smiling).

It's a little extra focus. Get more tuned in, I guess.

Q. You have seen at the majors last year how low the winning scores were and you have seen that in other tour events too, like Kapalua. When that's what it takes to win on tour, how does that change the way you need to play in terms of strategy, course management, that type of thing?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It's pretty simple: no mistakes. You can't make mistakes out here, in general.

And, I mean, when Jordan goes and shoots, what, just about 30-under in Kapalua? I mean, you can't make mistakes and shoot 30-under.

So you just gotta limit those. Sometimes a pin might be tucked, the hole might sit up to your eye, things like that. But you just can't make mistakes out here.

Q. Does that mean going more conservative or attacking more and just hoping it works out?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It just kind of depends on the way the hole suits your eye. For a right pin, for me, I'm basically going to aim at all day. A left pin might not take such aggressive line, being a fader, things like that.

Knowing where the misses are, doing your homework, you have to know what pins you can attack and what pins you can't, things like that.

You've gotta play conservatively aggressive, I guess, is the best way to put that. It's hard to explain.

Q. So I was fascinated a couple years ago to read about your adventures over in Europe going to the tournaments that were way out in the middle of anywhere. What kind of temperament do you have to have to be able to do something like that, and how has it helped you now that you're back on the American tour?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, it's helped. Everything is easier over here, obviously. You know where to eat, you know where to go. If you're bored, you know there might be a game you can catch. TV is in English. Stuff like that. It's a lot easier.

Over there, it was fun. It helped me grow up a lot. I think I grew up a lot in those two years. It is kind of lonely, I'm not gonna lie. You have to be by yourself a lot.

It's just mentally tiring. I experienced it once I think on the Challenge Tour. Going for my third win, I was ready to just come back home. I was tired of it.

It's just a mental grind over there. I have a lot of respect for the guys who do that. Peter now, what he's doing, I have a lot of respect for him still being over there. It's hard. You're on a plane for 10 hours going over there and then coming back, and then the next week you might have what, five, six days off and you're doing it again.

It's nice to only -- six hours is about the longest plane flight, other than Kapalua? It's nice.

Q. It was a good foundation for what you're doing now?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, absolutely. Being able to come over here, it made things a lot easier.

Like I said, knowing what to do, things like that, and especially -- even your first year on the tour is different. You don't know where to stay, where to eat, things like that. Obviously the more you play, you know where to stay, where to eat, things to do.

Q. Along those lines, would you do it again? And by that, I mean, you look at Jordan who just came off, for example, it's a nice problem to have I guess to be in that position, but I'm just curious your viewpoint on that sort of travel schedule. You know, would you ever be tempted to kind of globe-trot a bit in that way?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I already kind of did. I mean, I did my globe-trotting.

I understand what he did. You want to be the best global player. You've got to -- your game needs to travel. I understand what he was doing.

And plus it's fun to go to those countries. I mean, for me at least. I enjoyed it. I don't know if he did. I'm sure he did. It's fun to see these other cultures, experience food and see what goes on in these places.

A lot of times, just reading about it and see what's going on, it is fun to get over there and experience it.

Q. So the answer would be no?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It all kind of depends.

Q. Secondly, regarding 16, first memory of playing it and sort of secondly, what goes through your head on that walk from 15 green to 16 tee and going through the tunnel and everything?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Nothing goes through my head. Just chill. Nothing. (Smiling.)

When you first see it, you're like, wow, it's big. You have this picture in your mind, like, okay, this amphitheatre, it's big and you realize how many people are in it. You're like, whoa. Four, five times bigger than I thought it was.

It is cool. It's fun to see. And I enjoy the hole. I think it's fun.

Q. What do you think about the future of golf for the next generation and yourself as a role model for the sport?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I think as far as me being a role model, I understand I'm a role model for a bunch of kids. It's fun, I guess, to be a role model.

But with this next generation that's coming up, they have so many guys to look at. You look at guys like Jordan, myself, Rickie, things like that, there are so many role models. I think kids nowadays have so much more of an advantage with things like TrackMan, stuff like that.

It would be interesting to see when I'm 45 how good these kids are, because I have seen some of them that are in high school, that are in college now, and they are so much better than I was through that process.

I enjoy being a role model, I guess. It's fun. I still kind of don't see myself as a role model. I just don't. It's hard for me to believe sometimes that you're still out here. It really is. You grow up wanting to be on tour, wanting to have a putt to win a golf tournament. And then all of a sudden it happens, and, you're like, whoa, I'm here.

Q. I was watching you on the range this afternoon before you played. During that stretch where you were just hitting one 3-iron after another with the TrackMan deal, what were you working on there? Looked pretty good to me.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it was pretty good. We were just working on distances. We put a new 3-iron in our bag, and we just wanted to make sure the distance was out -- we went out to The Oven this past week, weekend, and just kind of worked on trying to get it -- it was blowing a lot, so it was hard to really tell and obviously this morning was perfect.

Q. You were carrying 235, 245?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that's about right.

Q. For you. There seemed to be some difference in the balls, the balls you had in the bag and the balls that they had on the range, and one went further than the other.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it was just -- the balls they have on the range, they're not the resin platinums, and we had those in our bag and we just wanted to hit them to see.

Any time you're testing, you want to test with the balls you have in the bag. Because I'm not playing the other ones on the golf course. And I'm playing the resin platinum on the golf course. I want to hit those.

Q. Did TrackMan come to you asking for stats or did you ask him to come to...
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, I asked him to come. I just wanted to -- we haven't hit the 3-iron that much. It was I think Friday we were testing, and so I just had Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to practice with it.

Q. Did the outcome last year here do anything for your confidence or change the way you kind of view yourself on tour?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, any time you win, you're going to have some confidence. Doesn't matter where it's at. Winning is winning. And if you can build off that, you're doing the right things. I think it's also important to look at kind of your failures, too. I think that's a big thing.

You know, I had a couple close calls before then, and it just -- I don't know why. I never got it done. Just kind of had to look back and kind of reflect on it, but I think the failures allowed me to win just -- you look back at the things you did, what you did wrong, where you need to work on things.

That's kind of what we took coming into last year, the approach we had just trying to fine-tune those little things under pressure, missing putts to the right, little things like that.

Q. I was going to ask if you learn more from the wins or from close losses?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, close losses. You have got to learn from your losses or you will never get back up, I don't think.

But then again, if you can learn a lot from your wins, too, you're off and running, I guess.

Q. You mentioned putting a new 3-iron in your bag. How often do you change clubs over the course of a year? How tempting is it to tinker with things from an equipment standpoint given all the new technology and tweaks you can make with individual clubs?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I'm not one to tweak that much. I'm pretty simple. I keep everything in the bag. The new Nike stuff is unbelievable. I have never felt more confident with what I've got in the bag. I don't see myself switching to anything any time soon.

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