LIV GOLF ORLANDO

April 1, 2023

Brooks Koepka

Orange County National

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome Brooks Koepka, captain of Smash GC. Welcome, Brooks. Another amazing day out there. You've clearly found your form out there. Can you just tell us what's different? What clicked for you?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Just got rid of the mental mistakes. I think, I look back, Mexico I felt like I was playing pretty well, just made dumb mistakes, and then go to Tucson and I played the tough holes really well and played the easy ones probably the worst in the field.

Just making sure I miss on the correct side, giving myself chances, don't take too much on, and it's worked.

Q. You had a bogey-free round today, yes?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yes.

Q. Most of the guys were saying how tough the course was playing. Why was it so easy for you?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Just goes back to missing in the correct spots. You try to give yourself the best look. When you get into trouble, get out. Pretty simple.

Q. You have a strong position going into tomorrow; same strategy?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, just keep doing the same thing. It's worked so far.

Q. And Team Smash is again at the top of the leaderboard but you're getting tracked down by Team Torque.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, Wolff played well today and J played really well today, too. It's good to see after the start we've had over these last two weeks hasn't been good, so it's nice to see everybody playing well and in contention.

Q. Do you remember the last time you've won a tournament in Florida?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Maybe -- no. Probably a minor league golf event. I remember playing in like 2012, maybe 2013. That was probably the last time.

Q. How special, if any, would it be to win this event in your home state?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it would be nice. Obviously my family is here, so yeah, to be able to win -- anytime you win in your home state and win where everything is close by is pretty cool, and know a lot of people. Rick lives here, so that's a big thing, as well. It would be nice to squeak one out.

Q. The first nine regular season events in LIV, there's not been a second-time winner. You're obviously on the verge of doing that. Why do you think that's been? Obviously it's a small sample size. Do you feel like there's something there with the quality of the fields, the depth, that type of thing?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I think you just said it. There's nine events, right? It's kind of tough to have multiple wins in nine events. If you do, you're doing something right. Don't care what tour you're playing on, where you're at, if you win twice in nine events, that's pretty good. I'm sure it'll happen here soon.

Q. The golf course played a little bit harder today I would imagine than yesterday. The scores indicate that. But my question is you had mentioned that your family is here. I'm not asking you to speak for your parents, but what do you think is going through their minds, like the level of pride watching both of their boys on the same team competing? What do you think?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I mean, they've got to be loving it, right? I'll speak for me, it's pretty cool to have my brother, playing alongside him, being able to go do practice rounds, playing an event with him, seeing all the behind the scenes stuff that you guys might not see all the time and be able to spend more time with him, more QT.

I think that's been a big thing. It's been pretty dope.

I can only imagine what it is for them. I'm sure they're super proud, which is a cool feeling.

Q. There's really not much to say. You had a terrific round yesterday, another great round today. It's pretty lonely at the top. Today this course played obviously tougher with the wind in your face on some of the par-5s rather than behind your back. Are you going to keep a more conservative approach tomorrow or just keep playing your game going into championship Sunday?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't think about anything. I don't look at the pins. I don't do any research where the wind is, take just one hole at a time, one shot at a time. I've done that my whole career. I don't know whatever lies ahead. It's tough to predict the future. The wind might change, you never know.

Q. If you or Team Smash win this weekend, I'm offering you to do a shotgun with me after hole 18 tomorrow. Will you accept that?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't drink during tournament weeks, man.

Q. You have had a track record in the past of kind of stepping it up in the weeks leading into a major. Does this week kind of feel a little bit that way?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, I mean, there's a major next week, so yeah. Every time I try to play the week before a major, it's always just to make sure my game is in good shape, just kind of go down the checklist of trying to make better decisions than normal. Just trying to play disciplined golf because when I go to a major, I'm so disciplined, and I think sometimes it's -- I can get a little bit carefree in regular events, firing at flags, missing on the wrong side, and I don't do that in majors. So it's kind of tough.

Q. Obviously you're playing this event, but do you hit any shots, take any angles that you think, I might need that next week?

BROOKS KOEPKA: No, no, I don't do anything to prep for Augusta. Listen, whatever the hole shows you -- every shot is different in golf. It doesn't matter what -- you can play the same hole over and over again. No shot is the same.