Why Brooks Koepka was compared to Tiger Woods by his playing partner during the 2023 Masters

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Brooks Koepka has to now be one of the players you would be brave to completely rule out heading into The Masters next month.

While his PGA Tour return has not been an overwhelming success thus far, Koepka seems to be starting to find his feet again.

He finished inside the top 15 at both the Cognizant Classic and The Players Championship. And there appears to be a good chance of that run continuing at the Valspar Championship ahead of Sunday’s final round.

Brooks Koepka was compared to Tiger Woods during the 2023 Masters

Koepka has twice finished second at The Masters. In fact, in 2023, the 35-year-old went into the final round leading by two shots.

Unfortunately, a poor final day cost Koepka as Jon Rahm went on to win. But he clearly made a big impression on Gary Woodland, who played alongside him over the first two rounds.

Koepka was making his first appearance at Augusta National since his move to LIV Golf the previous year.

Woodland was asked after the second round about the theory that LIV players may struggle due to how different their events were. That prompted the 2019 US Open champion to explain how Koepka reminded him of Tiger Woods.

“I think you look at the history of Brooks, he’s always lived for these moments. He’s very similar to Tiger in that standpoint, that the other tournaments never seem to bring out the best in him, where the majors did, and it was no different here this week,” he said.

“At the end of the day, he drives it long, and he hits it straight. That’s a huge deal. He’s putting it well again. I think sometimes the putter has been up and down, and the putter looked amazing. He hit a lot of six, seven footers today that just go dead centre for par. You’ve got a lot of break out there.

“It was impressive to see. His iron play was a joke. He couldn’t have missed many greens. It was really impressive.”

How Brooks Koepka has performed in the majors since an agonising final round at Augusta National

Koepka responded to the disappointment of failing to win that week by lifting the PGA Championship the following month.

Remarkably, that win at Oak Hill remains his most recent top 10 in a major. Koepka missed three cuts in the four biggest events of the year in 2025.

It would be asking a lot to expect Koepka to emerge victorious at The Masters next month. There are several big names who are looking incredibly strong right now.

But crucially, you can never write Koepka off. His 2023 triumph came after such a difficult time with injury.

And his recent form suggests that things are really starting to click into place for Koepka. With that, it should come as no surprise if he puts himself in the mix at Augusta National.