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FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC

June 10, 2016

Brooks Koepka

Memphis, Tennessee

Q. Are you pleased?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. I hit the ball a lot better. Yesterday was awful. I didn't hit the ball very good, kind of a continuation of the Byron Nelson a little bit. Just didn't hit it very well. But today the putter was a little bit better, speed control was a lot better so obviously the putts died around the hole had a chance to go in.

Q. You gave yourself a lot of chances today. You missed some birdie putts out there maybe you thought you could have made. You got to be pleased.
BROOKS KOEPKA: I'm pretty happy. I don't feel like we've quite -- we're not quite hitting on all cylinders right now. Kind of stay around the mix. Do a little bit of work for today and get it going tomorrow.

Q. Do you feel like you're close?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I feel like I'm really close. It's just the one thing seems to be missing every week. I don't know about the ball-striking yesterday, little bit of putting today, putting yesterday today, everything. We have to get it altogether.

Q. Here with Brooks Koepka. 2nd Round 65. Get yourself right back in contention. When we looked after the round, seemed like it was a little bit cleaner. Were you happy with your tee to green play today?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It was. It was a little bit better. I felt like I actually hit the center of the club face today. It was nice. Yesterday just felt out of sync, no rhythm, the timing wasn't there didn't really have anything, even on the greens, putter was a little bit off.

So today was nice to get the speed back on the greens a little bit but as far as ball-striking goes, we struck it pretty well towards the end.

Q. Bit of a lengthy session last night on the range after you finished up. What did you specifically find?
BROOKS KOEPKA: We're just working on the same things we always work on with Claude. Three simple things and just take it outside and make sure with your body and have that club moving left and just trying to fine-tune it. Get that timing back.

Q. You finished tied for 13th here last year. Obviously this golf course you're comfortable on. What are the keys that make your game fit this golf course so well?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Obviously driving is a big key. If you drive it well you can have good shots on almost every hole. That's key. You got to hit the fairway.

If you're in this rough you got no chance at hitting the ball close to the hole. That's kind of how it was yesterday. I don't think I might have hit 5, 6 fairways yesterday but if you can hit the fairways out here you give yourself a good chance for birdies.

Q. Pretty difficult conditions over the weekend. You're 4 back right now. Probably doesn't seem very much considering this golf course will dry out.
BROOKS KOEPKA: It firmed up a little bit yesterday. I'm sure it will today. You know, I'm just kind of waiting for everything to click right now and hopefully we can put together two good rounds on the weekend.

Q. Second best round of the day thus far, 65. Your thoughts on that one.
BROOKS KOEPKA: I felt I struck it pretty well today. The putter was a little bit better. Speed control was good. But as far as ball-striking goes, it was good. Hit a lot more fairways and close to the hole. That always help.

Q. The swing looked matched up. You speak of striking the center of the club face. Looked like you hit the middle of the bat.
BROOKS KOEPKA: We found it towards the end there, the last 6 holes were kind of big for us. We started striking the ball really well. The ball flight was back, it was the ball starting left of the hole and kind of fading back. That was good. Good to see it.

Yesterday it was a bit off and did some work after the round yesterday and hopefully find it here this weekend.

Q. The golf course, how is she starting to play right now as we get a lot more sun on the greens?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Firming up. I'm surprised even there morning how much the ball was releasing on the greens. I hit an 8-iron into 17 today and it still released about five, six feet which you get close to the hole doing that. Even this morning it was pretty firm. I'm sure this afternoon and this weekend it will definitely be quite firm.

Q. Your thoughts on what's upcoming the final 36 holes.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Need to play well. If I can -- like the last few holes today we should be fine but I don't see any reason we can't jump back in this thing with a couple more, 5, 6-unders.

Q. I know you were a little disappointed at 70 yesterday but 65 in these conditions, you got to be happy with that.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it was a little bit. I wouldn't say it was great but I felt like we left a lot out there. Ball-striking yesterday was not very good and today the first 6, 7 holes wasn't very good, either, but I don't know why.

I haven't felt -- I haven't felt too comfortable over the ball but the last 6 holes, I don't know what clicked, something clicked and finally striking the ball really well.

Q. What did you take away from the Nelson? Were you disappointed that you didn't finish the way you wanted to or were you kind of uplifted by the fact that you were in contention and not necessarily happy the way you were hitting the ball that week?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I wasn't happy. I can tell you that much. Anybody around me after could tell that. You got to take some positives out of it. Take the next day I guess to think about it. Other than that I haven't thought about it. If you're not playing your best I guess and still competing, that's good.

We putted really well then. Was the one thing I was pretty impressed with especially putting a new putter in the bag before. There's a lot of positives to it but also, you know, we got to cleanup that ball-striking for the next week.

Q. How difficult is the course playing right now? Most guys seem to be happy if they're shooting 68, 69. I know you shoot 65 today but is the course allowing scores today or is it playing tough?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I think it is. There's a few things that can get you and they're on tough holes, too, but the greens are starting to firm up a little bit so there's a couple back pins. It all depends.

If you hit the fairway you can really attack those pins but if you're in the rough you're not going to be hitting it close all day.

Q. Brooks, talk about your iron play. Most of the your birdies were, I guess, within 12 feet, 15 feet today.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, I mean it helps to hit it far and when you're hitting the fairway you got a lot of wedges into this place. You should be hitting it inside 15 feet all day. We got to clean that up. Hit it a little closer.

Q. Four shots off the lead as you put your head on your pillow tonight, do you put a number on Saturday or, as you say, clean things up and those shots that you left out there maybe you don't tomorrow?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Just do the same thing we're doing. Going do some work on the putting green. Try to clean that speed up a little bit. Some putts weren't quite there but then just keep working on what we're working on.

Make sure the timing is there and the golf swing seems a little bit off right now but those last 6 holes, just try to continue that.

Q. How familiar are you with Oakmont?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Went up last Monday. It's a hard golf course. You don't want to be in the rough there. You got to hit the fairways there and you got to leave yourself below the hole.

We played it and it wasn't soft but I think it rained this weekend, I think it did up there so it's a little bit softer, the guys that went on Monday to play. It was quite firm when we played. It's going to be a good test of golf.

Q. Do you have a sense, does it fit your eye or your game, talk about hitting fairways and hitting it long? That's a good rep recipe there.
BROOKS KOEPKA: That definitely is there. It's a good golf course. Not many drivers, to be honest with you, it was more about positioning. You got to avoid those bunkers. You hit it in bunkers you're in trouble. You're just trying to leave yourself below the hole so you have a putt. The greens are fast.

Q. Is there anything you would work on this week to see towards next week?
BROOKS KOEPKA: We hit a couple 3-irons off the tee this week, maybe we probably could have hit 3-wood, stuff like that. Just making sure. I think No. 10 at Oakmont we hit 3-iron. Quite a few holes to put it in position with a good wedge. Actually a little bit similar out here. You got a lot of wedges in and it's all about positioning.

Q. You game it kinds of peaking now. What is it about your game?
BROOKS KOEPKA: The ball-striking hasn't been there. Ever since -- we played Dallas and it wasn't -- ball-striking just wasn't quite there even though I found myself in the lead after 54 holes. The putter was hot.

If we can just get the putter hot and actually strike it the way I want to, you know, there's no reason we can't throw a couple 62s, 63s at them on the weekend.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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