Koepka hobbled but plans to fight through
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Brooks Koepka is swinging the club fine, a good sign going into the Masters.
Getting to the ball for those swings is the problem.
Less than a month removed from a March 16 surgery following a fall that left him with a dislocated right kneecap and damaged ligament, Koepka is at Augusta National — a course that isn’t exactly flat and definitely isn’t one of the easier walks in golf.
“I’ve got to do it,” the four-time major champion said Tuesday. “No other option, is there?”
It’s not just his walking that is affected. His putting is as well. Koepka can’t bend downlike he would normally, and there’s no getting around that — not even with hours and hours of rehab and treatment each day.
“My knee doesn’t go,” Koepka said. “I mean, that’s the most stress you’re going to have on your patella. I don’t have that much motion in my knee.
“Prone, I can get it to about 90 degrees and that’s about it. But getting down ... it’s going to look funny, I know that.”
Koepka hasn’t played a tournament since February. Hemissed The Honda Classic, his hometown event, along with The Players Championship and Match Play because of the injury.
He’s been to the Masters five previous times, making the cut in each, and finished tied for second in 2019 and tied for seventh back in November. He knows how to play Augusta National. The question is whether he can do it while the knee limits his mobility and flexibility.
Walking downhill is particularly challenging.
“It puts all the pressure on the patella, so considering I dislocated ... there’s a bunch of stuff going on in there that can cause a pain right where the brace is,” Koepka said. “It’s probably the most sensitive spot, so it’s going to pull. It’s going to hurt downhill.”
There has been some swelling in recent days, so Koepka is also mindful of how much he’s on his feet away from the golf course.
But the lure of a Masters title and a green jacket is just that strong, so he’s here, pain or no pain.
“You’ve just got to push yourself, and it’s painful at times,” Koepka said. “The rehab was strenuous, but I’ll be all right.”
Koepka already has missed three majors over the last five years, including the Masters in 2018 while recovering from a wrist injury.
No par three: For the third time in five years, the Par 3 Contest — a long-standing Wednesday tradition at Augusta National — is off.
It was canceled by rain in 2017, then doomed by concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing both last year and this year.
Matt Jones’ only other trip to the Masters as a player was in 2014. He missed the cut but remembers the Wednesday contest fondly.
“I do remember having a hole-in-one on the par 3, and that was probably one of my fondest memories in golf: having my2-yearold daughter get the ball out of the hole,” Jones said.
The pairings: With 88 players in the field, that means the first two rounds couldn’t entirely be composed of threesomes. Instead, it’ll be 28 threesomes and two twosomes.
Michael Thompson and Hudson Swafford will be first off the tee at 8 a.m. on Thursday, 15 minutes after honorary starters Lee Elder, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus open the Masters.
The other twosome for the first two rounds, Vijay Singh and Martin Laird, goes off at 11:06 a.m. on Thursday. They’ll be first off Friday, also at 8 a.m., while Thompson and Swafford take the 11:06 slot for the second round.
The defending champion plays with the U.S. Amateur champion, so Dustin Johnson will have Tyler Strafaci in his threesome, joined by Lee Westwood. They’ll tee off Thursday at 10:30 a.m.