JT plays ‘like crap’ and misses cut at Sony Open

HILTON HEAD, S.C. – We’ve grown accustomed to seeing Brooks Koepka in the mix on Father’s Day with consecutive wins and a solo second at the last three U.S. Opens, respectively. Thanks to the coronavirus, though, America’s national championship won’t be played until September. But the RBC Heritage, first canceled and then resurrected, took those holiday dates, and Koepka put together his best tournament of the season, closing with a 65 on Sunday for a seventh-place finish. Prior to this Father’s Day, though, Koepka, who had a painful stem cell injection to repair a partially torn patella tendon his left knee after last year’s TOUR Championship, hadn’t finished higher than a tie for 32nd at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He ranked 204th in the FedExCup, as a result. The top-10 finish at Harbour Town, though, vaulted Koepka 56 spots to No. 148. The top 125 at the end of the Wyndham Championship in mid-August advance to the FedExCup Playoffs where the winner of the $15 million bonus will be decided. Koepka has made it to the TOUR Championship four of the past five seasons and has yet to miss the Playoffs. In fact, his last top-10 finish prior to Sunday came at East Lake in August when he tied for third. “Obviously, six months off, three with the lockdown and then three on my knee, so, yeah, it feels like it’s been a really long time since I’ve even felt some juices flowing,” Koepka said. “It just felt nice to be in contention again. I feel like I played OK. I putted terrible today.” The RBC Heritage marked the second straight tournament in which Koepka had posted four rounds in the 60s. He played his final 14 holes in 7 under, including two eagles, one of which came when he drove the green at the par-4 ninth. “It wasn’t too bad,” Koepka acknowledged. “I hit shots exactly kind of how I wanted to coming down the stretch, which was nice. Obviously, it’s been an incredibly long time for me to be in contention. It just felt good to be back in the swing of things.” Koepka said he was trying to get to 21 under before ending up three short, and he called the 65 he shot as disappointing a score as he could have had. Webb Simpson won what turned into a shootout with a tournament-record score of 22 under. “It just felt nice to feel something again,” Koepka said. Koepka credited a session with the renowned Butch Harmon, the father of his swing coach Claude Harmon, prior to THE PLAYERS Championship with helping get things back on track. A meeting of his inner circle also bore fruit. “I told them what I wanted to do is get back to what got us there,” said the four-time major champion. “I think sometimes, when you get to the top, you change things a little bit. I laugh at it now because I always say, when I do that, I’m not going to do anything, and I think I tried to play too perfect instead of just being me, just go out and play golf.” The three-month break also enabled Koepka to spend more time with his physical therapist, Derek Samuel, who is based in San Diego. He says his body feels better than it has in years. “A lot of work I’ve done with Derek, with him, just manipulating the knee, the kneecap, it’s been a long road,” Koepka said. “It just feels like I haven’t been healthy for a very long time. My body feels great. I feel like I can really move through the golf ball. The knee feels great. “Finally able to do things I wasn’t able to do for a very, very long time. So, I’m excited, playing good, and I just need to keep it up.” Koepka is entered in this week’s Travelers Championship.

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FedExCup pacesetter Justin Thomas will tee it up for the first time as the new world No. 1 at the Memorial Tournament, doing so under Jack Nicklaus’ watchful eye as his annual gathering at Muirfield Village again attracts one of the year’s strongest fields. Dustin Johnson, who Thomas nudged aside atop the rankings, and hometown favorite Jason Day, also are part of a Memorial lineup boasting eight of the top 10 in the current world rankings. Tiger Woods, a five time Memorial champion, also returns to Jack’s Place for the first time since 2015. FIELD NOTES Thomas and Day also help give Muirfield Village 12 of the top 15 in the FedExCup standings, not to mention all four of the TOUR’s multiple winners this season. Bubba Watson and Patton Kizzire are the other two-time winners. Rory McIlroy, Branden Grace and Ernie Els are among eight players coming to Muirfield Village following this week’s BMW PGA Championship in England. Kenny Perry, a three-time champion, returns for his first PGA TOUR start since the 2015 Memorial. Sam Burns, winner of the Nicklaus Award a year ago as the top golfer in NCAA Division I, makes his ninth start vs. PGA TOUR competition. He’s twice posted top-12 finishes in 2018, along with a win on the Web.com Tour. Also part of this year’s youth showcase: Former world No. 1 amateur Joaquin Niemann and reigning U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman. FEDEXCUP Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES Thomas, fourth last year at Muirfield Village, seeks to continue to build on a season that has brought two wins, a playoff loss and five other top-15 finishes. Woods tries to build on the momentum of a share of 11th at THE PLAYERS Championship. For all his success at Muirfield Village, he hasn’t finished in the top 60 since his 2012 win. Day takes aim again at a first win in his adopted hometown, near where wife, Ellie, grew up. Even a top-10 would be his first at Muirfield Village, besting last year’s T15. Six of the Memorial’s past 14 champions have been international players. Before that, just three of the first 27 came from outside the United States. Hale Irwin, winner of three U.S. Opens and a record 45 PGA TOUR Champions titles, is this year’s Memorial honoree. Wednesday’s ceremony also will recognize journalist Larry Dorman, most noted for his work in the New York Times and Miami Herald. COURSE Muirfield Village Golf Club, 7,392 yards, par 72. Essentially a gift from Jack Nicklaus to his hometown of Columbus, the venue serves as a stage to both honor golf’s history and showcase its current talent. The Memorial’s home since its 1974 opening, Muirfield Village also has stepped up for other top events, making history as the only locale to host all three of U.S. pro golf’s team match-play showcases – Ryder Cup (1987), Solheim Cup (1998) and Presidents Cup (2013). The U.S. Amateur also paid a visit in 1992. Constant fine-tuning by Nicklaus and his design team keeps Muirfield Village perpetually among America’s top 20 courses and the world’s top 50. 72-HOLE RECORD 268, Tom Lehman (1994) 18-HOLE RECORD 61, John Huston (2nd round, 1996) LAST YEAR A rollercoaster weekend ended on a high for Dufner, who punctuated a rally from four shots back on the final day with a 33-foot par save that sealed a three-shot win. Dufner’s fifth PGA TOUR victory was anything but typical, building a five-shot lead through 36 holes and seeing it disappear five holes into his third round. A Saturday 77 left him four shots off the pace, only to rebound with a closing 68 that endured two storm delays. The second came right after he and Rickie Fowler teed off at No. 18, with Dufner in thick rough near a fairway bunker while nursing a two-shot advantage. He only advanced his ball 75 yards from the wet rough, but found the middle of the green with his third before his clinching putt. Fowler (70) and Anirban Lahiri (65) shared second – for Fowler, it was his 10th career runner-up finish. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12:30-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, noon-2:15 p.m. (GC), 2:30-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 8:15 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6:30 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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A look at the equipment Rickie Fowler used to win the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Driver: Cobra King F9 Speedback (10.5 degrees, 9-degree setting) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ 7X Length: 43.5 inches Fairway Wood: Cobra King F8+ (14.5 degrees) Shafts: Aldila Synergy 75TX Length: 42 inches Driving Iron: Cobra King F9 Speedback (4 iron) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD Irons: Cobra King Forged MB (4-PW) Shafts: KBS Tour C-Taper 125S+ Wedges: Cobra King V-Grind (52, 56 and 60 degrees) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Scotty Cameron Circle T Newport 2 GSS prototype Golf Ball: TaylorMade TP5x PGA TOUR SUPERSTORE: Buy equipment here

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