Brooks Koepka had a solid return to the PGA Tour last week, but there was one key area that let him down.
Koepka’s putting has plagued his play for a number of years, and it was no different on his 2026 PGA Tour season opener than it was on LIV Golf. He lost -2.37 strokes to the field on the greens at Torrey Pines, and gained strokes everywhere else.
In response to this, the five-time major winner worked all week in an attempt to remedy this. He even changed from his traditional blade putter to a mallet putter, hoping that would put him in position to win the WM Phoenix Open this week.
But incredibly, his putting actually got much, much worse.
Brooks Koepka last in putting after round one of WM Phoenix Open
Koepka hoped this putter change would fix the glaring weakness in his game, but it actually emphasized the issue. He lost 3.62 strokes to the field when putting, which made him the worst player on the greens through round one.
He finished his round four over par and had five bogeys on his scorecard for the round. That’s because he continued to miss a number of short, makeable putts.
And this time, Koepka wasn’t able to make up for it in other areas of his game. He lost over a stroke off the tee, leaving himself out of position all day long, and he lost strokes from tee to green, which isn’t a good match for his poor putting.
Looking at his numbers, Koepka is actually lucky to only be four over and still have an outside chance to make the cut.
What Brooks Koepka said about his putting after Farmers Insurance Open
Koepka was observed to be working on the green intensively in the week’s build-up to the WM Phoenix Open, and admitted to being a bit lost with his putter.
When asked what he was working on specifically, he said, “Trying to get the ball in the hole.
“Yeah, like, just really never felt comfortable over the ball. You’ve got to have everything squared up to the target. Just working on things like that. Real simple stuff, setup. Shoulders were open. My feet are always a little bit open but just trying to minimize the lines crossing so much.
“And yeah, just tried to keep everything more consistent, the face, the path, everything.”
He continued, “I’ve been putting pretty poorly for the good side of two years. I don’t know what’s going on but I’ve got to figure it out.”
Through one round of the Phoenix Open, Koepka is no closer to getting to the bottom of the issue.
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