Koepka looks for repeat in this week’s tourney at TPC Southwind

No fans to be allowed for Sept. 17-20 Open

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Brooks Koepka loves TPC Southwind, and he’s hoping for the same boost he got here a year ago when he won the first World Golf Championship.

Last year, Koepka only felt a bit ill.

This year, the man who won three times last year, including a major, is trying to defend his

FedEx St. Jude Invitational title with an injured left knee that’s affecting his swing because he’s hesitant to shift his weight.

“I feel like I’m getting better and better every day,” Kopeka said Wednesday.

“Last week I saw signs of it, made some adjustments this weekend as far as just seeing how scared I was to get on my left side. … You can battle through it all the time, but still, pain will make you adjust really quickly, and just seeing where I was made a few adjustments in my setup just to kind of help ease it and help get my body through that.”

Koepka reinjured his left knee in South Korea at the CJ Cup last October and has a partially torn patella tendon. He’s holding off surgery unless the tear worsens.

“We’ll see when my season ends and go get stem cell again most likely and figure it out from there,” Koepka said.

His victory here last year was his seventh on the PGA Tour and most recent. Koepka finished seventh at the RBC Heritage in June, his only top 10 since the tour returned from its shutdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. He’s missed the cut twice in his last three events and tied for 62nd at the Memorial. Ranked No. 1 in the world at the beginning of the year, he has slipped to sixth.

After missing the cut last week at the 3M Open, Koepka worked with both British-based coach Pete Cowen and Claude Harmon to fine-tune his game. Koepka said having Cowen watch him hit balls in person and not on video was much more helpful.

“It was nice to see him, work on some things,” Koepka said. “Just good to have. That’s why I have Claude and Pete there, to bounce ideas off of and see where you’re at. They’re both saying the same thing. And I think this weekend, if there was ever a good cut to miss, I think it was that one.”

NO FANS FOR OPEN: A week before the PGA Championship begins without spectators, the U.S. Open announced Wednesday it would not have fans Sept. 17-20 at Winged Foot in New York because of health and safety concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We will miss the excitement of the fans and what their presence brings to the championship,” said Mike Davis, CEO of the USGA.