PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 17, 2022

Brooks Kopeka

Southern Hills Country Club

Flash Quotes

JULIUS MASON: Two-time PGA champion, Brooks Koepka is joining us at the 104th PGA Championship. You're playing in your tenth PGA Championship. Why don't we begin with why you're an hour late for your news conference.

BROOKS KOEPKA: It wasn't my fault. It was Jeff Pierce's fault.

JULIUS MASON: What happened?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I watched him unlock the car, start the car, then he grabbed the bag, put it in the trunk, shut the trunk, and I went in and grabbed a hat, walked right out, and then the car was locked.

I don't know how the keys locked inside the car. It boggles me. I didn't think a car was supposed to do that, but apparently it does. That's why I'm an hour late.

JULIUS MASON: Did you take an Uber here?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I thought about it for a half second but the clubs were in the car, so it really did no use.

They drove -- I called Blake. They contacted somebody, and there was a spare key, so somebody drove it over and unlocked the car. So here we are.

Q. Was it running?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yes, it was running. Only me, man. It's like a theme of car troubles. Run out of gas and then this. I'm just glad it didn't happen on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday.

Q. Where did you run out of gas?

BROOKS KOEPKA: At home. That was my fault, though. This one is Jeff's. I don't know how Jeff did it, but yeah.

JULIUS MASON: How are you? How are you feeling? And do you like what you see of the golf course here?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. I played four holes on Sunday and then just played the entire front nine yesterday, so will go play the back today.

Yeah, it's good. It's going to be tough. I think what I see in the forecast, the wind is going to blow a little bit. It could be difficult. I think if you miss these fairways, you can't control your ball, and it seems the best place to miss is kind of short around these greens.

It's interesting chipping with the Bermuda. If you get the grain into you it could be quite difficult, or if you're chipping out of the rough it could be quite difficult.

So it'll be a good test.

Q. What was the reason for the withdrawal last week, and how is your body physically feeling coming into this week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, the whole reason was to just make sure that I'm ready for this week. I feel ready, and now just got to play good. Simple.

Q. All 100 percent? Everything is ready to go?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, yeah. I've got a quarter of my kneecap from when I started, but my knee is fine. No issue with my knee.

Q. Brooks, I saw you using two drivers on the range yesterday; what were you testing out?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Just had one that's kind of experimental just to see what's going on, but I've got my one gamer, so it's like anything, you've got backups and you've got to make sure they work.

Q. I'm curious, I don't know how much you've played the course yet, but I'm curious which wind the course plays the toughest in.

BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I've seen it in pretty much the same direction the last two days and I've only played nine, so I don't really have an answer because I haven't seen it in different winds.

I guess today is slightly different, so we'll get a good idea for it.

Q. Have you given any thought to what the potential bottleneck at 3, 4, and 6 might be like and how long it might take you guys to get through that?

BROOKS KOEPKA: It is what it is. There's nothing I can do. It's the way the golf course is set up. Yeah, it'll be interesting with a back left pin on 6, in case somebody just tugs it. We're right in the firing zone, right in the landing zone, but just hit the green there.

Q. Not sure if you saw what Justin Thomas tweeted about concession prices yesterday, but I'm curious, do you know what a beer is running folks out on the course this week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah. Michelob Ultra is 18 bucks, but it's a tall boy, so you get...

Q. What do you make of an $18 Michelob Ultra?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, it's bigger than the normal 12 ounces, 16 ounces. It's bigger than the normal ones, so you'll be all right. You drink enough, you'll be fine.

Q. Since you've played the course already, can you give us an idea of how many holes you'll be able to use driver on? In the past a lot of guys had trouble using driver often on this golf course because of the angles of the holes. I was wondering what your thoughts were.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I've only played the front nine, so I can only speak there, but it's not driver every hole. I don't think the course is overly long, but it's definitely tough enough.

It'll test -- you've got to hit fairways out here. Whatever you can do to put the ball in the fairway to be able to control it going into these greens, because some of them are kind of undulating, and you've really got to place your ball in the correct spot because some of these downhill putts are quite quick.

Yeah, there might be -- I mean, it's interesting. I even look at the par-5, 5. Even if you hit driver it kind of bottlenecks, but you can't get there even if you hit driver.

There's a couple holes like that where you just kind of lay up off the tee just to put it in the fairway.

Q. I know you were front and center last year for Phil's heroics, and I'm curious about what your thoughts are that he's not here this year to defend his title.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Not here. There's not really much else I can say.

Q. You told us at Phoenix that you were embarrassed by your World Ranking, and knowing how much pride you take in your play, how do you balance that fire with the patience that you need to actually make progress in this game?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I mean, this game goes up and down. Sometimes you can feel like you're playing great and not score, and sometimes you can score and feel like you're not really playing that great.

It's just a balance. You just go out, go play as many events as you can, be ready and play as well as you can, and everything will take care of itself.

But yeah.

Q. Brooks, in the half hour that I had to wait between when you were supposed to be here and when we had the thing, your odds were 40:1 according to Vegas. Kind of following up on that question, is that where Brooks Koepka should be right now?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know, man. I mean, if you know how odds work, it's about how money goes. More people that bet, the lower my odds are going to be. Obviously not that many people are betting, which is fine. I can't control it. It doesn't matter to me.

I'm going to go out and go play. I like the golf course. It's a tough test. It's usually where I play well. I don't really play well when it's 30-under every week winning.

I think the golf courses have been set up a little too easy where I know that the PGA makes a difficult test, so I'll be ready.

Q. Did that have any -- the fact that it was easy or hard, did that have any part in your decision in withdrawing last week after you saw the scoring?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, considering I only saw the scoring after I withdrew. But I played the golf course last yea. No, it was just making sure that I'm ready for this week, and I thought that was the best prep.

Q. Brooks, how surprised were you to learn that Phil wasn't going to be playing this week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't know. I don't pay attention to what anybody else is doing. Yeah, I've seen articles that he was playing, then he wasn't playing. It's all up to him, man. Whatever he wants to do.

Q. You haven't played since the Masters. Are you practiced enough to be sharp enough to win this week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I feel like so. Took probably two weeks off after Augusta, maybe three, just longer than that, and then got back into it and started grinding, working with Jeff on the putting because I felt like that was really what let me down at Augusta and kind of got me frustrated and ended up resulting in some -- just being angry and let it leak over into my swing and the rest of my golf game.

So getting that squared away and should be fine.

Q. Apologies in advance for not remembering the numbers, but it was an interesting dialogue you gave three or four years ago about the guys actually capable of winning a major, and you keep whittling it down and you're down to a very small number. Without reciting actual numbers, I'm curious if you think that number has gone up or down just considering kind of the constant influx of youth that we keep getting into the game.

BROOKS KOEPKA: No. I think it's still the same. There's a lot of pressure. There's more pressure winning a major, so it's different than a regular Tour event or whatever the case may be. I think you can see it, when we play tougher golf courses, you look at the leaderboard, and then when we play when it's 30-under par. I think there's a difference.

Q. Thinking back to Baltusrol and Bethpage Black and Bellerive, it feels like this tournament used to be a lot of hitting driver far, there was long rough, and it was not a driving contest but that was really important, and these the last two years with Kiawah and here, it feels like the tournament is going in a new direction setup wise. How do you feel about Kiawah and this course compared to the ones in years past?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I did all right at Kiawah and I've done all right in years past. Look, you've got to take what the course gives you. You figure out whatever your game plan might be and then go from there.

Usually it starts with hitting the fairway, like you said. I'm pretty sure at Bethpage you're not winging it around the place. You've got to hit fairways, leave yourself in good spots, and hit a lot of greens. I think that's major championship golf.

If you look at it from years ago until now, it's all about controlling your ball, putting it under the hole and hitting greens.

Q. Was the three weeks off after the Masters a mental break, getting stuff physically set or a combination of both?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Probably the first week was just -- I just wanted a break, just wanted some time off. I had other stuff I had to do.

I got a wedding coming up so there was some wedding planning going on and some other stuff. That was pretty much why. I mean, I would have taken that break regardless of how I played.

Q. You mentioned that your putting wasn't what you wanted it to be at Augusta and it kind of leaked into the rest of your game. What have you done during this time to kind of address that? Or have you done anything different?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I think Saturday morning -- got back Friday night after Augusta. Saturday morning I was just putting in my living room. Was just frustrated with it. Then went back and watched -- I've never done this, but I went back and watched tape or video on YouTube of every major championship I've ever won and what I was doing when I was putting and picked up on a few different things.

A couple things setup-wise, a couple things stroke-wise, just to figure out where the touch was -- the touch was a little bit off. Everything just didn't quite feel right. But it's getting back to what I feel it was, and it looks quite similar to what it was in years past.

Q. Just to follow up, what part of wedding planning do you like and don't you like?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I've actually had a great time. It's been quite fun. Jenna is handling most of it. I just kind of say yes or no every once in a while, but she's done a good job.

Q. Do you get a sense at all that even though he's still fairly young to the Tour that when Scottie Scheffler walks on to the range or putting green that players look at him as the guy to beat that week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: He's No. 1 in the world, isn't he?

Q. He is.

BROOKS KOEPKA: That usually has something to do with it. I think confidence, too. I feel like -- he won Augusta, No. 1 in the world, you've kind of got that swagger when you walk on the range. I know I did. I'm pretty sure everybody else that's been No. 1, you've got a little extra strut, whatever the hell is going on.

But you've got a little something, and I think it's noticeable.

Q. Do you see a strut from Scottie?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I haven't seen him too much since Augusta. But we'll find out today or tomorrow, whenever I see him.

Q. Of the majors that you didn't win, which one eats at you the most? The ones where you had a chance.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Last year I felt like gave it away. I didn't put any pressure on him. I missed a two-foot putt on hole 4 or 3 or something like that and didn't put any pressure all the way going through. Just didn't do anything and just handed it to him.

Augusta, I think I was three back when I rinsed it on 12, so that's kind of tough. You've got to make birdies at that point; you don't know what's going on. That one I ended up probably -- it looked a lot better than it was.

Finished second somewhere else, but I think I should have won that one, too. Woodland at U.S. Open; I felt like I played good, I just got beat there, and sometimes that happens.