MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2021

Brooks Koepka

Quick Quotes

Q. How were you feeling out there walking? How are you feeling with your game?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Game feels fine. Game is good. Playing good. I like where -- I like how I'm swinging it. Everything should be fine.

Q. You're feeling good walking and everything up and down the hills?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Good is relative.

Q. We followed you for a couple holes out there. Seems downhill is definitely more pronounced. Is there something about the downhill as opposed to uphill that just the knee is a little bit different?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it puts all the pressure on the patella, so considering I dislocated and I've got a bunch of -- I don't know even what they put in there, but there's a bunch of stuff going on in there that can cause a pain right where the brace is. It's probably the most sensitive spot, so it's going to pull. It's going to hurt downhill.

Q. What in addition to the brace do you have on, a sleeve or something?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I was talking about the inside. There's like an internal brace they put in there right where the screw is. I don't even know if it's a screw. I don't even know exactly what it is. It's probably the most sensitive part of the knee, the kneecap. They had to put it there just because it's still broken.

Q. What's the most sensitive part about swinging? Is it uphill, downhill lies?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Just ball above your feet. That's it. I don't have -- yeah, I have some motion. I can get it downhill, ball above your feet in that same portion -- if you hit one down there on 13 around the corner a little bit. That's why we're hitting 3-wood, though.

Q. What's your therapy like every night? I guess pretty intense?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, probably about -- it took about three hours this morning just to get going, and I didn't finish last night until about 12:30 or so.

Q. How does it affect your preparation in terms of your usual practice time, how many balls you hit before a round?

BROOKS KOEPKA: No, it won't affect it. Once I get going, it's all right. Just need to -- just watching my steps at home, kind of watching how many minutes I'm on my feet, not spending too much time on the feet and just getting it worked on and getting it fleshed out, making sure I control the swelling because if swelling pops up it's quite difficult. Yesterday it swelled up a little bit, but nothing I can do.

Q. The stairs can be slippery.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Everything is slippery for me at this point.

Q. There's so much to worry about coming into Masters week every year, but now how much more of a mental sort of pressure and strain is it knowing that this physical ailment now you have to deal with in addition to everything else?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I don't know, I've told Doc, I told everybody, the whole rehab process is all mental. Two days after trying to go around on a bike, you know your knee can actually do it, it's just whether you allow it to do it. All the connectors from your brain to everything, so you've just got to push yourself, and it's painful at times. The rehab was strenuous, but I'll be all right.

Q. I noticed you had to do kind of a weird stance on 8 to putt.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I can't bend down. My knee doesn't go. I mean, that's the most stress you're going to have on your patella. I don't have that much motion in my knee. Prone I can get it to about 90 degrees and that's about it. But getting down, I'm not going to be -- it's going to look funny, I know that. But what are you going to do.

Q. After being here two days, how much are you worried about the next five?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I've got to do it. No other option, is there.