00:00Brooks Koepka this week.
00:02I've actually not checked the updated leaderboard.
00:04Last I saw him, he was tied for ninth.
00:06I don't know if that was his finishing position,
00:07but that's his third start on the PGA Tour since his reinstatement.
00:10Of course, opened at Torrey Pines, Farmers Insurance Open,
00:13finished tied for 56.
00:14He misses the cut at TPC Scottsdale for the WM Phoenix Open.
00:18And this week, if you look at the stats for those weeks,
00:21we talked about the putting struggles,
00:24and he was using a blade for the entirety of the event at Torrey,
00:27and then for part of that week at the WM.
00:30Or actually, maybe he used a spider the entire week there.
00:31Yeah, he's used a spider ever since he made that adjustment in Phoenix.
00:34So he goes with this mallet, and he was positive strokes game this week.
00:38And I think it was in the teens in terms of the rank against the field
00:41for the entire week.
00:41So that's a huge, huge change.
00:42And that's with losing about two to three strokes on Thursday.
00:45He was in the top ten of putting on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
00:50What did you see that you liked there?
00:51He mentioned that going Thursday into Friday,
00:54he found something that night, just in terms of, like,
00:57you know, alignment maybe, or maybe it's comfortable with that mallet.
00:59What did you see that you liked there?
01:01His hands were creeping too far back.
01:03So he just got his hands a little bit forward.
01:05And that's actually something that's, I've made that adjustment before.
01:09And what it helps, it helps arc your stroke a little bit better.
01:13You know, he's always kind of had a little bit of a loop.
01:15Yeah.
01:16But I do think it helps kind of get the club working better
01:18on that arc on the way back.
01:20But also, you'll notice that the ball really starts to get going and rolling,
01:24and you feel like you can kind of release it a little bit better.
01:26But clearly, he made, I think, over 100 feet of putts Friday morning.
01:31Finally, I think he made four putts outside of 20 feet on Friday morning.
01:34And that's kind of the round that he needed, you know,
01:37just to see the ball finally go in,
01:39just have a day in which the putter was giving him life.
01:42You know, when you can't make anything inside of 10 feet,
01:45you just feel just hopeless out there.
01:48You know, it doesn't matter how good you hit it.
01:50So when you kind of combine what we've seen through this entire stretch,
01:53I feel very confident heading into the Players' Championship
01:57that Brooks could, I don't know if win is the right word,
02:00but I think he is closer to putting it all together
02:04than he is to, you know, missing multiple cuts coming out.
02:08I think he's closer to finding himself around the mix
02:12at some of these events coming up.
02:14Yeah, because I think in two mid-60s rounds this week,
02:16we will not see him at the Arnold Palmer Invitational,
02:19but as you mentioned, we will see him at the Players'.
02:21And that was a question mark when he was coming back,
02:24is like, what version of Brooks Koepka are we going to get?
02:26And it is interesting in the context of, you know,
02:29the frequency or the lack of frequency of the live golf tour he's coming from,
02:34and maybe the lack of, you know,
02:35now he hasn't played any of the signature events here, of course,
02:38but just the lack of high leverage events you're playing there.
02:41Do you think what we're seeing here is he kind of plays his way into form,
02:45he could be more of a factor this major season we've seen in past years,
02:49you know?
02:50I mean, it's, you know, with Brooks, it doesn't take much, right?
02:53Right.
02:53As soon as, if he feels healthy, coming out the right windows for him,
02:57the putter, like, you have a hot putter, man.
03:00Yeah.
03:00I'll tell you what, it opens up the rest of your game
03:02to feeling like you don't have to play quite as aggressively with your irons.
03:05And I bet he felt that earlier in the year,
03:08feeling like I got to aim at these flags, the closer I hit it,
03:11the better chance I have of making birdie, which of course that makes sense,
03:14but it sure would be nice to hit it to the middle of the green sometimes on,
03:17on some of these holes,
03:18not get short-sighted and walk away with some bonus birdies.
03:21So I feel great about Brooks.
03:23You know, we got a fun stretch heading, you know, with the four to swing,
03:27also some events in Texas, assuming that he, you know,
03:30plays that whole stretch of could play four in a row from players to Valspar
03:33over to Houston and San Antonio,
03:36probably going to be taking off an event somewhere in there.
03:38Maybe San Antonio would be the one he might take off,
03:41but I wouldn't put it past him to win before Augusta.
03:45Oh, wow.
03:45I really think that he could win.
03:47Yeah.
03:47I 100% think he could win.
03:50Do you like a specific venue?
03:51Because I'm trying to think there.
03:52Would it be Memorial Park Houston?
03:54Yeah.
03:54Houston.
03:54I mean, he's a co-designer, right?
03:56He's got to know some secret.
03:57That's a great, that's an excellent point.
03:59I'd hope that it's about as good as you can get on local knowledge.
04:01Yeah.
04:01I built the place.
04:02So I should know where to hit it and where not to hit it.
04:04And then another kind of, you know, a big name that, you know, highlights the field,
04:08even if he hasn't played his best, you know, the last whatever year plus Max Homa top 20
04:13this week.
04:14What'd you see there that you liked from the way he, you know, cause it's been a lot of
04:17different things, right?
04:18He's gone back to Mark Blackburn, you know, last year it was new equipment, you know,
04:23whether or not that was overblown, but like, where are you seeing kind of fine consistency
04:26and comfort?
04:27Cause that's one of the things that Mark said on our show is just like, this guy can, can battle
04:31through it.
04:31He's got like the mindset to kind of dig deep and grind.
04:34And now we're seeing some results.
04:35Like, could this be a resurgence in form for Matt?
04:38He's getting closer.
04:38I wouldn't say he's all the way there yet, but he's definitely inching his way closer.
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