Koepka aims to salvage difficult year

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Welcome back, Brooks Koepka. For the third time this year. And yes, it’s a phrase he’s getting tired of hearing.

“Hopefully, that won’t happen again,” Koepka said Tuesday at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, the very tournament where last year — in a much different location — he reinjured his left knee and began what has become a lost year.

Koepka was amajor champion for the third straight year, No. 1 in the world without argument and the defending champion at the CJ Cup in South Korea last October. Walking off the third tee in the second round, he slipped on a wet slab of concrete, landed awkwardly trying to brace himself and tore a tendon in the middle of his left patella.

He missed three months, including the Presidents Cup, and returned in the Middle East in January. Five tournaments later, the pandemic shut down golf for three months.

When he returned from that, he was so far behind in the FedEx Cup that he played eight times in 10 weeks. Issues with the knee fed into his left hip, and while he barely made it into the PGA Tour’s postseason, he couldn’t keep going.

He withdrew at the TPC Boston and had a cortisone shot for his hip. During his two months away, which included missing the U.S. Open, he had more stem cell treatment on his left knee.

And here he is again, healthy and hopeful.

He said he feels “a million times better” than when he returned at Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia in late January.

“I didn’t know how bad I felt until I actually feel good,” he said. “It’s nice to be back.”

Koepka, now at No. 11, is only looking forward.

“I don’t feel like I’ve lost anything,” he said. “I feel good now, so I’m just pleased to finally feel good. Still got a couple events, and then Augusta. The year’s not over.”