Brooks Koepka wasn’t happy with his finish at this year’s Masters. Neither was his trainer.
Last year’s 54-hole leader and runner-up was never a factor at Augusta in 2024, failing to break par in any round and fading to nine over by the end of the weekend and a T45 finish. He also finished 45th the week before at LIV Golf’s Miami event.
And the first time Koepka went to see his trainer, Dr. Ara Suppiah, after the Masters, he didn’t get much sympathy.
“I walked in and Ara told me that you finished 45th; you’re going to get penalized,” Koepka said ahead of his title defense at the PGA Championship Wednesday.
The five-time major winner said he was subjected to a brutal regiment of “punishment workouts.” Koepka didn’t go into explicit detail on the routine, but it didn’t sound fun.
“I think I had like four or five days in a row of just— I turned white, I wanted to throw up in a few of them,” he said. “I’m not looking for the punishment workout. I just get told.”
That’s coming from a man who is known as one of the biggest gym rats in professional golf. Koepka’s build has often been compared to that of an NFL linebacker or an MLB player who could casually hit 40 home runs in a season.
Before the first of his three PGA Championship wins in 2018 at Bellerive, Koepka detailed his intense pre-round workout routine, which involved lifting all morning, even before his victory at that year’s U.S. Open, an event he also won.
“Like Sunday at the U.S. Open I [bench pressed] 225 [lbs], 14 times. I know that’s not that impressive. But I can get 315. So, it’s all right. I don’t know,” he said after the first round at Bellerive. “I don’t get sore. You don’t — if you’re working out every day you’re not going to be sore. But then if you take two weeks off, a week off of being in the gym and then come back, you’re going to be sore. But doing it every day, you’re not going, I don’t get sore.”
Koepka dealt with injury woes for several years before his return to major-winning form last year at Oak Hill. And if those punishing post-Masters workouts drained the color from his face, they also seemed to revive his game, as Koepka finished 9th in his next start at LIV Golf Adelaide and then won LIV Golf Singapore in his final tune-up before this week’s PGA. He opened with a solid front nine Thursday morning at Valhalla, making two birdies on his way to a one-under 35 to get his title defense underway.
Jack Hirsh is the Associate Equipment Editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.
