PGA Tour professional and 4 time major champion Brooks Koepka speaks with the media following the opening round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, his first competitive round in nearly three months.
PGA Tour: Brooks Koepka talks first competitive round following knee surgery
Q. Your first competitive round in nearly three months resulted in a bogey-free 66. I imagine it feels good, but tell us from your point of view?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It does. It’s good to be back. Missed the competition obviously. Played really solid. Missed a few putts early if I really want to pick it apart. Drove the ball well. Controlled ball flight and controlled distances really well and that’s what you have to do out here.
Q. What’s your sense of how the golf course played today?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Pretty good. Usually in the afternoon the wind picks up, and you know that going in, so when you have a morning tee time, you have to take advantage of it. I did that today. Hopefully tomorrow the wind stays down a little bit because this golf course into the wind, or with the wind, can be very difficult.
Q. When we chatted on Tuesday, you said you were particularly targeting an improvement in short game and touch around the greens. 17 from back of the green, horrible lie, very difficult and needed a great touch. How pleased were you with the short game today?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, it was, it was really good. To chip one in there, I wasn’t expecting that, but short game was really good. The strike was really good. I worked hard with Pete in trying to make sure that I know what I’m doing, and understand what I’m doing and can make it repeatable.
Q. A new driver in the bag. How did it feel today?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It works. When they hand it to me and it works; we had a long session on Tuesday trying to figure out — we couldn’t get it quite right but we got it dialed in and it worked, so I’m very pleased with it.
Q. How did the knee feel in competition?
BROOKS KOEPKA: It feels fine. It was a little sore last night. Just did some treatment on it. That’s expected. This is a first week I’ve walked 18 holes and I’ve done it three times already. It’s a little tired.
Q. 66. Your analysis of how today went for you?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I played really solid. Controlled distances. Controlled flights. Controlled spin. Everything that’s exactly what you want to do. Felt good to be back out playing, just feeling the competition again. I’m pretty pleased with it.
Q. We’ve heard from a lot of players leading up to this week how key it is to stay on the fairway, on a day which probably wasn’t your strongest off the tee as far as accuracy. Not a bogey on the card?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, some of these fairways are like 12 yards wide, so I’m not really expecting to hit them. When you put it in the rough — you just have to position. You know where the pins are at. When you know the pins are at, you can kind of play the hole backwards and figure out if you can be aggressive off the tee and hit driver, and then sometimes it pays off to have that lob wedge, even when it’s in the rough, and other times you’ve just got to lay it back. You’ve got to understand the golf course and really how to play it.
Q. You’re often noted and praised for how strong you are and how long off the tee. Your short game has always been impeccable. Do you feel like you don’t get enough credit in that area?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I don’t know. I feel like I’m doing just fine. I’m not really worried. I’m worried about what Pete tells me to do in the short game and that’s about it.
Q. 17, incredible chip and Tommy nearly matched it, and a giggle we didn’t pick up on the feed. What happened?
BROOKS KOEPKA: We were just laughing. My caddie wasn’t exactly helping out. He was too focused on talking and Shane had to face his caddie with Tommy there for a half-second because Bo was in the bunker with Shane. Then I was just grabbing the pin, and Rickie was just — it’s his first week back, put it that way.
Q. The pace of play policy rolled out, this is an area you’ve been outspoken in the past. You must be delighted things are moving in this direction?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, the game is evolving. You see it with the technology and the way the golf courses are build. The rules are starting to change a little bit with it, and I think it’s a good thing. We’re moving forward, moving in the right direction. I’m sure in ten years’ time, there will be a lot more things have changed.
Brooks Koepka speaks on return from injury:
Q. After an injury layoff to come back in that manner must be very satisfying?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, solid. I like the way I’ve played. I’ve kind of known I’ve been hitting it really well, putting it really well for a couple weeks. I think the first day I picked up the club, same thing. Felt like I hadn’t left. I’ve done it for years and years. You don’t forget how to swing the golf club.
Q. When you are in the midst of an injury layoff, do you ever worry that you might not be able to pick it up as quickly when you are able to get back?
BROOKS KOEPKA: No, not really. The only thing is if the injury actually prevents from you swinging the golf club and I wasn’t going to swing a golf club until I knew I was able to do that. I got the green light from everybody to be able to start hitting balls and I did, and it’s fine.
Q. It’s one thing to do it in practice, but then under the gun of competition. To go bogey-free as you did today, and have the moments that you did must be very, very pleasing?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I’m very pleased with how I played today. I’m excited and it will be nice to be able to practice again. I haven’t been able to practice; last year, I just couldn’t practice. It was too painful and wasn’t being able to do the things I wanted to do.
I told my team in the last year, I was just going to really rededicate myself for the next five, six years, and we’ll see where we are. From there, you know, who knows, other things might be a priority.
Q. And physically, how do you feel about your first round in competition back?
BROOKS KOEPKA: I feel fine physically. I’m out of shape but —
Q. You don’t look out of shape.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Well, it takes a little bit to get in golfing shape. You stand on the putting green for 30 minutes and putt and your back starts to ache. Just little things like that. But it will be fine. Only take a couple more weeks.
Q. And you’ve given yourself a great platform for the week.
BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, hopefully just keep it the rest of the week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Abu Dhabi, UAE
January 16, 2020