Back at Augusta National in April, golf fans, players, and pundits alike felt that Brooks Koepka would win his fifth major championship on Easter Sunday. After all, he entered the final day at The Masters with a four-shot advantage.
Was the Brooks Koepka ‘secret mistake’ from the Masters solved
Koepka, who collapsed and blew a Sunday lead at this year’s Masters, had been very cryptic on what change he needed to make.
Jack Milko has been playing golf since he was five years old. He has yet to record a hole-in-one, but he did secure an M.A. in Sports Journalism from St. Bonaventure University.
But on the 7th green in his third round—the first hole he and Jon Rahm played because Saturday was washed out—Koepka missed a par putt while Rahm poured in a birdie.
Just like that, his four-shot lead dwindled to two, signaling a harbinger of things to come.
Rahm won The Masters by four shots, while Koepka tied for second with Phil Mickelson.
Weeks later, Gabby Herzig of Sports Illustrated spoke with Koepka’s swing coach Claude Harmon III.
In doing so, Harmon revealed that Koepka felt “devastated” after the 2023 Masters:
Koepka did not have the mental fortitude to overcome bad breaks at Augusta.
Harmon noted that Koepka could not get past what happened to him at the par-4 9th hole.
At this point, Koepka sat at 9-under par, 2-over for the round. He was already facing a two-shot deficit.
Koepka found the fairway off the tee and hit his second shot to the left side of the green, but the moist conditions softened the course. Instead of his approach rolling down next to the hole, his ball stayed on the slope, leading to a three-putt bogey.
“I think when you want it too badly, you can get into the headspace where you’re trying not to hit bad shots,” Harmon noted. “As soon as you are trying not to hit bad shots at Augusta, you end up hitting bad shots, because it’s such a difficult [and] mentally taxing golf course.”
Indeed, Koepka did not recover. He finished with a 3-over-par 75.
Fast forward one month to the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, and Koepka looked like the best golfer on the planet.
Following his third round which saw him sitting atop the leaderboard once again, Koepka was very cryptic. He acknowledged choking away the Masters Tournament and talked about his ‘secret mistake.’ But the five-time major winner vowed that would not happen again. When pressed what will be different, he refused to let everyone know what change he was going to make.
It appears that mental fortitude that was lacking was the difference.
He remained stoic all week as he led the field in strokes gained overall en route to his two-shot victory—his first major championship win since the 2019 PGA Championship.
Koepka also did not let anything bother him, unlike what happened at Augusta.
Take the 6th hole, for instance. As Scottie Scheffler noted after his second round, the 503-yard par 4 is one of the most challenging holes on the course. Allen’s Creek meanders down the fairway’s right side, then swings around the left and back sides of a tricky green complex.
Koepka’s tee shot on Sunday found the penalty area, but his steady demeanor did not change.
Following a drop, he stepped up, ripped his third shot on the green, and two-putted for a bogey.
He dropped another shot at 7, but again, he did not let the pressure get to him. He stayed calm, cool, and collected—echoing Tiger Woods’ approach to major championships in the early 2000s.
From there, Koepka made four more birdies on the back nine and finished with a 3-under-par 67 to win the PGA Championship by two over Viktor Hovland and Scheffler.
Consequently, it seems as if Koepka has solved his “secret mistake.”
Watch out world, Koepka is back—and perhaps better than ever.
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