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The post Meet Brooks Koepka’s wife, Jena Sims | Photos through the years appeared first on Golf.

After chatting online for a few months, Jena Sims and Brooks Koepka met for the first time at the Masters in 2015 when she got tickets to Augusta National through a friend. This year, the couple is here at the Masters for the first time as husband and wife.

Sims grew up in Winder, Ga., about a two-hour drive west of Augusta, and was Miss Georgia Teen USA in 2007. She and Koepka now live in Jupiter, Fla., with their dog Cove. Their relationship was one of the storylines in Season 1 of Full Swing on Netflix.

A model and actress. Sims is founder of Pageant of Hope and Investor of Dibs Beauty. She is currently a top-12 finalist in the Sports Illustrated Swim Search.

Earlier this week, Sims appeared on the debut of GOLF.com’s The Scoop with Claire Rogers. You can check out that video here. For photos of Sims and Koepka through the years, keep scrolling.

Sims has been with Koepka for all of his major victories, as well as The Match, Ryder Cups and more.

The couple got engaged in the spring of 2021 and married in Turks and Caicos in June of 2022.

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Greetings, everyone! I got ice cream with Jena Sims on Tuesday of Masters week to discuss Full Swing on Netflix, her husband Brooks Koepka and why the Masters is so special to them.

I interviewed Sims over Zoom just before Masters week in 2022 to discuss her Steve Madden golf shoe line, but this was my first time meeting with her in person. Sims met Koepka via Instagram messages, so I figured why not reach out to her via Instagram to try and set up this interview?

As a big ice cream gal, I was really looking forward to getting a scoop with her while we discussed all things Jena and Brooks. (So, naturally, she was the perfect guest for our new series, The Scoop.)

We went to Big Dipper Ice Cream Parlor in North Augusta, just 10 or so minutes from the course. I went with cookie dough and rainbow sprinkles while Sims went with cake batter ice cream with sprinkles. Sims opened up about Koepka being vulnerable in Full Swing on Netflix, 2022 life changes and injuries.

She also explained how they met for the first time at Augusta National and told me that she ended up having dinner with Koepka’s entire family the night they met. Koepka and Sims travel with a personal chef, Noel “NoGee” Grob, so we talked about what’s on the menu for Masters week and why this was Sims’ first year caddying in the Par-3 Contest.

Sims is also a Sports Illustrated Swim Search top-12 finalist, so she’s spent some time creating content for that this week as well. Check out The Scoop, and enjoy!

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The post ‘Opinions change’: Brooks Koepka explains LIV decision in tense presser appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Opinions change’: Brooks Koepka explains LIV decision in tense presser appeared first on Golf.

NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — Two weeks before he sat down behind a LIV microphone at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, Brooks Koepka scoffed at a reporter at the U.S. Open.

“I haven’t given it that much thought,” he said about the possibility of leaving the PGA Tour for its new rival. “I don’t understand. I’m trying to focus on the U.S. Open, man. I legitimately don’t get it,” he continued.

“You can’t drive a car looking in the rearview mirror, can you?”

On Tuesday, at Koepka’s first press conference as a member of the Saudi-backed LIV breakaway tour, he began with similar defiance.

“My opinion changed. That was it,” he said, asked about the sudden shift that landed him in this week’s LIV event. “You guys will never believe me, but we didn’t have the conversation ’til everything was done at the U.S. Open and figured it out. Here I am.”

Here he was indeed. Of the nine players making their LIV debuts just outside of Portland, Ore., none was quite as surprising or splashy as Koepka. Splashy because Koepka’s four major championships titles have him tied for the most of any player under the age of 45. Surprising because he had spent much of the last two years expressing his desire — both in public and in private — to stay on the PGA Tour.

On Tuesday, flanked by Pat Perez and Patrick Reed at their joint press conference, Koepka partially explained that decision.

“I think definitely speaking to guys that played [LIV’s debut London event] definitely helped,” he said. That meant chats with Dustin Johnson, with Phil Mickelson, with Koepka’s own brother Chase, each of whom was in the inaugural LIV field. But Koepka has also spent the last two years battling injuries, so he admitted that the promise of guaranteed cash and limited starts caught his attention, too.

“Look, what I’ve had to go through the last two years on my knees, the pain, the rehab, all this stuff, you realize, you know, I need a little bit more time off. I’ll be the first one to say it, it’s not been an easy last couple of years, and I think having a little more breaks, a little more time at home to make sure I’m 100% before I go play in an event and don’t feel like I’m forced to play right away — that was a big thing for me.”

Nearly every LIV player has stressed this same talking point of fewer events and more time in between. It will be interesting to see whether that proves true. Koepka will likely play a lighter season the rest of this year; LIV has just eight events on its schedule (seven remaining, including this week) plus the Open Championship, and the PGA Tour has indefinitely suspended LIV participants from its events. It will be interesting to see whether his load is actually lighter in the coming years. Koepka has played between 17 and 22 events each of the last four years and LIV is expanding to 14 events at least by 2024; those mandated starts plus four majors would get Koepka most of the way to his usual total. But each event is just 54 holes instead of 72 and he emphasized the fact that in recent seasons he has rushed back from injury, feeling the pressures of PGA Tour play.

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Despite a couple early jokes and despite his expressed excitement at debuting on LIV, Koepka’s mood grew increasingly defiant as the media session continued. Koepka is often snippy with reporters but his approach was a marked contrast from fellow debutants Matthew Wolff, who said LIV’s team format was a throwback to fond college memories, and Pat Perez, who said he felt like he’d hit the lottery just by being asked (and paid) to play. Instead, Koepka bristled at a series of awkward-but-predictable questions.

Asked about the controversial source of LIV’s funding — the Saudi government’s Public Investment Fund — he bristled.

“We’re playing golf,” he said.

Asked about his own change of heart, Koepka fired back at golf’s media for being slow on the uptake.

“The conversation has been going on for a while. What’s that, three years? So I mean it’s been around a lot longer than you guys have figured it out or when you guys first heard about it,” he said. “And like I said, my opinion changed. I’m allowed to have my opinion change.”

After a tense back-and-forth with another reporter about how LIV will actually grow the game — “Well, considering that the fact that there’s more golf on TV, I mean, yeah, that’s going to grow the game; right?” — the session finished with a reporter from Golfweek, who asked whether the players had undergone media training, knowing they would face tough questions.

“Zero,” Perez said.

Koepka shook his head.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I mean, unless you want to do it yourself.”

“Just asking,” the reporter said.

“I know,” Koepka said, holding his gaze an extra second. “I just gave you an answer, man. Thanks, chief.”

That was that; the press conference wrapped just moments later. The trio stepped down from their podium and walked outside; Pumpkin Ridge, fan-free this Tuesday, was remarkably quiet. The calm before the storm.

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Brooks Koepka made headlines last week when the news broke that he would be the latest PGA Tour defector to Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

The news was surprising, especially because Koepka had chided reporters who asked him about his PGA Tour allegiance at the U.S. Open, only days before LIV Golf’s announcement.

Koepka, who has struggled with a nagging knee injury in recent years, is a four-time major winner and current World No. 19. His brother, Chase, played the first LIV Golf Series event in London.

With the second LIV Golf Series event set to tee off in Portland this week, CBS golf analyst and six-time major champion Sir Nick Faldo was asked to address the LIV defectors on the Travelers Championship broadcast on Saturday — and he painted a gloomy picture of what he believes Koepka has perhaps somewhat unknowingly opted into.

“He’s a wonderful example of the challenge of playing the Tour,” Faldo said of Koepka. “I mean, we have one thing called missing the cut, which is what, suddenly, they don’t like. But that’s part of our sport, to commit to an event. And Brooks is a wonderful example. He started way out, I believe, on the Asian Tour, then he wins in Europe. We were there on CBS to watch him win in Phoenix. He wins four majors, he’s climbed his way up. Last week he’s saying, ‘Get out of my face, all I want to do is play golf and go and win.’ And somebody then hit his number, and off he goes.

“And I’m really surprised at that, because I know when he’s out there, it’s a boatload of cash. It’s also a boatload of mandatory personal appearances and that sort of thing they’re gonna be doing. I’m sure he’s gonna find that gets very old very quickly,” Faldo continued. “And you know, the other very important thing is enjoyment. You’ve got to enjoy what you do in life. You can’t be standing on the golf course and thinking, ‘I don’t know the reason why I’m out here.’ You can’t — you just can’t fake that. It’s an important thing in life to know what you’re out there for and you think, I love this, I’m really loving it. And I cannot see how these guys right now think it’s a serious challenge.”

The LIV Golf Invitational Portland at Pumpkin Ridge features a no-cut field of 48 players and begins on June 30th. It’s the first LIV Golf tournament set to be staged in the United States, and will be contested the same week at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois.

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After five days of relative quiet as the U.S. Open consumed the attention of the golf world, the LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour battle has taken center stage again with the announcement of another brand-name commitment: Brooks Koepka.

The four-time major-winner is set to join the LIV Golf series just days after finishing 55th at the U.S. Open and one day after removing “PGA Tour” from his Twitter bio. Koepka’s involvement was first reported by James Corrigan of the Daily Telegraph and later confirmed by GOLF.com.

Koepka joins a growing list of major champions who will be on the LIV circuit as soon as next week, when the second event visits Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Ore. Abe Ancer, who withdrew from the U.S. Open last week, is also expected to be announced as a LIV participant this week, which was reported by ESPN Desportes.

Koepka made waves last week when he was asked about LIV during a pre-U.S. Open press conference. Like many of the top players at The Country Club, he was asked various questions about his potential involvement; Koepka responded with the most emotion. He was asked, point blank, “Why have you decided to stay on the PGA Tour, and is that a permanent decision?”

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“There’s been no other option to this point,” Koepka said, “so where are you going to go?”

To the LIV series, the reporter replied. 

“As of last week. That’s it,” Koepka said. “I wasn’t playing last week. I’m here. I’m here at the U.S. Open. I’m ready to play U.S. Open, and I think it kind of sucks, too, you are all throwing this black cloud over the U.S. Open. It’s one of my favorite events. I don’t know why you guys keep doing that. The more legs you give it, the more you keep talking about it.”

Koepka had not been asked to speak about LIV Golf for some time. He took time away from the Tour after the Masters, where he was hurt and missed the cut. He then withdrew from the AT&T Byron Nelson before it began, in mid-May, and finished tied for 55th at the PGA Championship a week later. He got married in early June and showed up to Brookline for his first press conference in four weeks. 

Koepka is following in the footsteps of his brother, Chase, who played at the LIV Golf London event earlier this month. When asked if he had spoken with Chase about the LIV event, Brooks said he hadn’t. And when asked if there was a monetary figure that would make him consider leaving the PGA Tour, he said he “hadn’t given it that much thought.”

To his delight, Koepka only had to answer a few more questions about LIV Golf. He once again called the media’s scrutiny “a black cloud” over the U.S. Open, and soon headed off to compete in the event. His next press conference in Brookline was all about the golf.

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The post ‘People hate confidence’: Brooks Koepka’s U.S. Open mindset is working again appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘People hate confidence’: Brooks Koepka’s U.S. Open mindset is working again appeared first on Golf.

BROOKLINE, Mass. — If Brooks Koepka is surprised to be in contention again at the U.S. Open, he’s hiding it well.

Through two rounds at The Country Club, Koepka sits at even par. He rebounded from an opening 73 with a second-round 67 to work his way from the cut line to the top 20. He enters the weekend no more than a handful of shots off the lead. His reaction?

“Maybe a little bit disappointed where I’m at just because of how poorly my iron play is, and usually that’s the best part of my game, and it’s just not even close to even average,” he said.

This is a very Brooks Koepka thing to say. His preference seems to be that you’d never see him surprised nor impressed. “Nonplussed” is his ideal state. Of course, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe what he said. That doesn’t mean he’s surprised to be contending. Koepka is a four-time major champion. He’s won this tournament twice. In his last four U.S. Open starts his worst finish is T4. It makes sense he’d have high standards.

But golf hasn’t looked nearly as easy for Koepka of late. He’s battled injury and uneven play. There have been bright spots — he made it to the quarterfinals at the WGC-Match Play and finished T3 at the WM Phoenix Open — but there have been nagging injuries and missed cuts, too. He finished 2018 and 2019 at World No. 1. He’s slipped to World No. 19. For four years he’d been among the game’s elite from tee to green; this year he’s 123rd on Tour in that category. If his iron play was below average on Thursday and Friday, that actually lines up with his season to this point.

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One area where Koepka has gotten more honest with the media is in admitting how hard he works when there’s something that has gone wrong.

“I just start beating balls, man. Start practicing. Try to figure out what’s wrong, where,” he said. “You have to be honest with yourself. I think that’s something I’m pretty good at. Just assess what really needs to be done and what areas can improve. Just been grinding away.

“I feel like it’s been really close. Maybe the scores haven’t reflected it, but it’s only a matter of time.”

When Koepka’s playing well, that’s the sense he gives off. It’s only a matter of time. When Koepka shows up at a challenging major championship test, it’s twice as true. I often wonder why Koepka projects so much confidence. Is it because that’s what he feels? Is it because he wants to speak it into existence? Or is it because he wants everybody else to think that’s what he feels? I asked him whether it’s all real or whether, in fact, doubt creeps in. He stayed in character.

“I don’t come here hoping for second place. I think if you are a good player, you want to come in here and win. That’s why everybody is teeing it up. Nobody has a goal of just making the cut or anything like that,” he said. That last bit isn’t quite true, but I understand why it would be helpful for him to think so.

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“I mean, I’m pretty confident, but I feel like everybody should be confident in themselves, and if you’re not — people hate confidence. That’s why people aren’t a big fan of me.”

There’s plenty in that last line. Koepka thinks people don’t like him. He thinks it’s because of the confidence he projects. He’s keen on projecting confidence. Put those three things together and it’s fair to assume that Koepka doesn’t much care if you’re not a fan.

It’s worth noting that most people are Koepka fans. People like his edge and they like that he doesn’t give in to golf’s forced gentility nor its cliches. Koepka may not be universally beloved in the same way as Rory McIlroy or Jordan Spieth, but he’s plenty popular. It helps, of course, that he finds himself in the mix at the world’s biggest tournaments.

And here he is again.

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Fully Equipped’s Jonathan Wall and Ryan Barath, recording live from GOLF’s Clubhouse event in Boston, talk what gear changes Brooks Koepka may be making ahead of the U.S. Open.

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Brooks Koepka had no interest in the topic du jour.

He might have thought he’s be spared from commenting on Tuesday at the U.S. Open in Brookline, Mass., but his take on all things Saudi golf league wasn’t getting past question No. 11. His brother, Chase, played in the first LIV Golf Invitational Series, a reporter pointed out, and what were his thoughts on the current landscape of professional golf?

“Obviously, LIV is trying to make a big push for golf,” Koepka said. “Look, I mean, I love my brother. I support him in anything he does. It’s family. I’ll always love and support him. Whatever he does, I’m cheering for him.”

Pressed on the issue, Koepka wasn’t interested in discussing it much further. He also accused the media (twice) of putting a “black cloud” over the U.S. Open by using player press conferences to ask them about the new Saudi-backed golf league, which completed its first event on Saturday in England.

“I’m here. I’m here at the U.S. Open,” said Koepka, who won the national championship twice. “I’m ready to play U.S. Open, and I think it kind of sucks, too, you are all throwing this black cloud over the U.S. Open. It’s one of my favorite events. I don’t know why you guys keep doing that. The more legs you give it, the more you keep talking about it.” (Collin Morikawa, who met with the media after Koepka, also called the LIV chatter a distraction.)

On Monday, Phil Mickelson was unsurprisingly peppered with questions about LIV Golf, of which he has become the de facto face. Earlier on Tuesday, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were asked similar questions about the disarray in the pro game. McIlroy called it “the right thing to do” to emerge as the game’s most prominent pro-PGA Tour spokesperson. Rahm provided one of the most thorough and thoughtful defenses of staying on the PGA Tour.

“Truth be told, I could retire right now with what I’ve made and live a very happy life and not play golf again,” Rahm said, in one of his comments. “So I’ve never really played the game of golf for monetary reasons. I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I’ve always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that.”

Koepka was asked if the new league was appealing to him, due to the fact that he could enter less events and still (assuming it doesn’t change) play the majors, which he has long said are really the only things that matter to him.

“I can come out here and play as little weeks as I want,” he said. “I choose my own schedule regardless what tour I play.”

The lighter schedule has attracted some pros to LIV, but money has always been king — in business, in life, in pro golf. Some players have reportedly accepted enormous deals to join. Koepka, when asked, said he hadn’t given too much thought of a number that might be enough to convince him to make the move.

“Really?” a reporter responded.

“I don’t understand. I’m trying to focus on the U.S. Open, man,” he said. “I legitimately don’t get it. I’m tired of the conversations. I’m tired of all this stuff. Like I said, y’all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks. I actually do feel bad for them for once because it’s a sh—y situation. We’re here to play, and you are talking about an event that happened last week.”

Told there’s events coming in the near future, Koepka added: “I know, but you can’t drive a car looking in the rearview mirror, can you?”

The press conference ended. The divide in golf won’t anytime soon.

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BROOKLINE, Mass. — Brooks Koepka made headlines earlier this year when he walked away from free agency and signed an equipment deal with Cleveland/Srixon that included the “underrated” ZX7 driver and Z Star Diamond golf ball — two pieces of gear he wasn’t using prior to the move.

Both have been bag staples since the deal was consummated, but that could be set to change at the U.S. Open.

Situated next to the practice green on Tuesday morning, Koepka was spotted hitting deft chip shots with a Titleist Pro V1x — the same ball he used for all four of his major titles.

During a brief conversation with Justin Thomas, who was situated a few feet away, Koepka inquired what version of the Pro V1x ball he was playing as the two finessed different shots into the green. The conversation went back and forth on the golf ball for several minutes before the two went back to their practice routines. (It should be noted Thomas also plays the Pro V1x.)

In addition to the ball, Koepka was also spotted using a TaylorMade M5 driver during a practice round. For those who don’t know Koepka’s gear history, it’s the driver he used for his last major win at the 2019 PGA Championship.

The sight of Koepka essentially breaking contract to play a competitor’s driver and golf ball less than six months after inking a deal might be cause for concern, but according to a Cleveland/Srixon rep, the manufacturer has been aware of the situation and temporarily granted Koepka the opportunity to use both pieces of gear at the U.S. Open.

“In this early stage of our partnership, Brooks Koepka has validated the performance of the Srixon driver and golf ball,” a Cleveland/Srixon representative told GOLF.com in a statement. “Though performance has been promising, the characteristics are not a perfect fit, yet.”

Instead of requiring Koepka to use a driver-ball combo that hasn’t been a “perfect fit,” Cleveland/Srixon confirmed they’re shifting the focus to yet-to-be-released products specifically designed for Koepka’s needs

“To work through this adjustment period most efficiently, we decided to focus our energy on fitting Brooks into the next generation Srixon driver and golf ball prototypes that will debut on tour in the near future — products developed with Brooks’ input and needs in mind,” the statement continued. “While we get this organized in the next couple months, Srixon is temporarily allowing Brooks to use his previous driver and ball. Of course, he will continue playing Srixon irons and Cleveland Golf wedges. Both parties are fully committed to the partnership, and we are confident Brooks will be back in a Srixon driver and golf ball soon.”

As for the ZX7 irons and Cleveland RTX ZipCore wedges Koepka has been using, both will remain in the bag at The Country Club. What remains to be seen is how long Koepka plays the TaylorMade driver and Titleist balls. Equipment manufacturers typically wait until later in the year to release new products on Tour ahead of the new year, so the temporary change has a TBD expiration date.

When Koepka does decide to put a Srixon driver and golf ball back in play, it’s very likely it will be something we haven’t seen before.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below.

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This article originally appeared in the June 2022 issue of GOLF Magazine. It has been lightly edited for clarity since shipping time.

The walk up the 18th hole at Augusta National is supposed to be enjoyable. But on the second Friday in April of this year, the hike could not have been fun for Bob Koepka. 

The wind whipped 25 miles per hour as we trudged up the treadmill-worthy incline. His son Brooks was five over par for the tournament, searching for his tee shot among the pines and about to miss a second straight cut at the Masters. Bob had no reason to be smiling, but he was, lost in the memory of the first time Brooks beat him on a golf course. 

Twenty years ago, when Bob was a club champion, he was a perfect match for 12-year-old Brooks. And one day, with Brooks ahead after two holes of their typical nine-hole jaunt, the little guy danced around the green, giddy as ever. Ninety minutes later, when the kid missed a 5-footer for par, his eyes welled as he came to grips with another loss to Dad — and with the loser’s prize of doing the dishes after dinner. 

“He would have been doing dishes no matter what,” Bob says, “but I wanted him to think that the putt meant something.”

It was an important precursor, Bob thinks. Two weeks later, Brooks took him for the first time, but there was no fist-pumping and definitely no tears. No surprise, either. Brooks hadn’t even realized he’d won. “Because he was so focused on himself,” his father says.

Now, Bob’s grin was brimming with pride. He talked about raising his son the same way his parents raised him, in a house where you “had to earn everything.” He then turned our chat to everything Brooks has taught him over the years. 

The lessons. They’re a common thread you find when talking to the people in Koepka’s inner circle. Some he’s learned, others he’s taught. This time of year — U.S. Open season, Brooks Koepka season — we should pay attention.

LESSON 1: Extraordinary self-belief. What’s the harm?

Ask Chris Malloy, a former assistant coach at Florida State, about his finest pupil and he doesn’t talk victories or what the kid looked like coming out of high school. What comes to mind first is Koepka’s self-belief, of the mildly delusional variety.

The Seminoles were competing in the 2010 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships in Tennessee, and, in their downtime, they were watching the Korn Ferry Tour on TV. Journeyman Tommy Gainey, then 34, with nearly $1 million in career prize money, was polishing off a win in Maryland and earning his way back to the PGA Tour. Koepka wasn’t impressed. 

“I’m better than him,” he said to his teammates at the time. 

“We just kind of laughed and said, ‘Yeah, sure, whatever,’” Malloy recalls. “But he wouldn’t let it go. He said, ‘I don’t care what it is. I’ll beat him right now. There is no doubt.’ It was one of those moments where you go, all right, this isn’t even worth arguing about because you’ll never be able to tell this guy anything different. When he first got out [on Tour], there is zero question that he thought not only was he going to beat Tiger Woods, but he could do it right then and there.”

LESSON 2: Learn from your mistakes. Immediately.

Koepka’s circuitous route to the PGA Tour — first, through the Florida mini tours, then the Challenge Tour in Europe — has placed all kinds of people in his orbit. Brad Gehl, who bounced through many of the same tours Koepka did, recalls crumbling on the final hole of a Minor League Golf Tour event, losing thousands of dollars that would have covered caddie fees, hotels and travel for a blissful few months. 

“Brooks and I went out to dinner that night, and I was kind of bitching about it,” Gehl says. “I remember he grabbed me on the shoulder, looked me square in the eyes, and he’s like, ‘Do you know how much money I’ve lost on the last hole of a tournament?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know.’ He’s like, ‘More than you can count. You’ve got the second phase [of Korn Ferry qualifying] in a couple of weeks, right?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve got two weeks.’ He goes, ‘Well, when you get on the 18th hole at second stage, when you’re about to get through, you’re not going to do what you just did. And that’s all that matters.’“

I’ve never forgotten that was so inherently his mentality,” says Gehl. “It wasn’t about making a mistake; it was about not making it again.”

LESSON 3: Transparency trumps all.

Koepka might not be on the cover of GOLF were it not for Pete Cowen’s short-game expertise and blunt dose of reality.

As the story goes, in June 2017, Koepka, then the 22nd-ranked player in the world, was dragging his heels at the St. Jude Classic. He was T-11 through two rounds but made two doubles on Saturday and five bogeys on Sunday to finish tied for 37th. He responded with a lot of “poor me” vibes, as Cowen remembers it, so the short-game coach pounced on him. His message: “If you want to be a champion, you have to have the attitude of a champion.”

A week later, Koepka became a major champion — at the U.S. Open at Erin Hills.

Those thorny conversations — a bollocking, as Cowen put it — work particularly well with Koepka, the Tour leader in Strokes Gained: Keeping It Real. 

“His staff has to be totally honest with him,” Cowen says. “We have meetings every year, and you can say what you want. It’s not personal; it’s purely professional. If it’s going to make him a better player, he wants to hear about it.”

And that bluntness is rewarded. “On the flight home from Erin Hills — I’ve still got [the text message],” notes Cowen. “It says, ‘Thanks for the bollocking. I couldn’t have done this without it.’”

LESSON 4: Confrontation is a good thing.

Put a microphone in front of Brooks and you’re bound to get something in return. It could be cockiness, it could be an eye roll, it could be a peek into the mind of an uncommon champion. But almost always it’s fueled by candor. 

“I’ve always told him, just be honest,” his father says. “It doesn’t always have to be the most popular opinion. It’s your opinion and you believe it. Hold true to your word until someone proves you otherwise.”

After the third round of the 2020 PGA Championship, Koepka was asked to assess the leaderboard. He was tied for fourth and saw that Dustin Johnson was a few strokes ahead of him. But he shrugged him off: “He only has one [major win].” It was catnip for the Koepka haters and his most ardent fans. 

Was he wrong? No. Was he being himself? Yes. Was he vilified for the quote when, on Sunday, he shot 74? You bet. For Koepka, it’s the cost of doing business. 

“It backfired on him,” Bob says. “But that is his persona. They asked him a question, and he answered it. You might not like the answer, but he gave you what’s on his mind.”

That is how Koepka operates, and though it might not sit well with everyone, we’re better for it.

“He’s taught me a lot about communication, and I’ve taught him a lot about communication,” says Jena Sims, Brooks’ bride as of June 4. “But you can have really constructive conversations if you just have those uncomfortable conversations. It’s worth it on the other end. He’s not going to let anything pass by if he doesn’t agree with it. He speaks his mind, and people know exactly where he stands.”

LESSON 5: Push the boundaries.

Good luck finding golf clothes in the House of Koepka. They’re hidden in a separate closet in the laundry room, far from the sneakers and designer brands that fill Koepka’s actual wardrobe. “He wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of khakis,” Jena says, laughing.

Why? 

“He loves to make his outfits count,” she continues, chuckling a little more. 

Breaking tradition in golf is no laughing matter, but Koepka insists on it. The bleach-blond ’do this spring. The three-piece suits at dinners. This year, he became the first pro to outfit his fans with player T-shirts that read “Koepka” across the back, like the kind you see at baseball stadiums across the country. 

Koepka’s goosing of golf tradition reached its zenith at the 2019 Tour Championship, when he wore a pair of Off-White X Nike Air Max 90 golf shoes custom designed by Virgil Abloh, the Louis Vuitton creative director who passed away unexpectedly in late 2021. Koepka and Abloh shared a texting relationship, messages that Koepka still holds dear. 

“Virgil took a liking to Brooks,” Jena says. “I think it’s because of how much of a black sheep he is in this golf fashion world. He had some special things in mind for Brooks that may or may not still be in the works.”

LESSON 6: Bet on yourself. 

Koepka was miffed in 2018. He’d just won major No. 3 over Dustin Johnson at Shinnecock and major No. 4 against Tiger Woods at Bellerive. He was No. 1 in the world but not making a single dollar from an equipment deal. 

Koepka knew his worth in sponsorship value and was unwilling to accept an offer of anything less. Playing whatever clubs he liked best for the next three years, he continued to power through at the majors, racking up three more top 10s and a fourth win in 2019, at the PGA Championship at Bethpage. It wasn’t until January 2021 that the equipment free agent was wooed sufficiently to sign on the dotted line. As Srixon-Cleveland Tour rep Rob Waters remembers it, all it took was one swing. 

“He fell in love with the irons the very first shot he hit with them,” Waters says. “He was like, ‘This is the best-feeling iron I’ve ever hit in my life.’” 

Koepka walked away with a set of ZX7 irons that day. Two weeks later, he won with them in Phoenix, then posted T-2 at the PGA, T-4 at the U.S. Open and T-6 at the British Open. Just a typical Brooks Koepka summer. 

He “wanted a home,” Waters says, and Srixon-Cleveland turned out to be a natural fit. Koepka has since added the Z-Star Diamond ball and ZX7 driver to his bag. While most players make equipment-deal announcements in January, Koepka’s came in November 2021, immediately preceding his high-profile, made-for-TV match against Bryson DeChambeau. That’s good business. 

LESSON 7: Silence is an art form.

On the eve of this year’s Masters Tournament, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee did as we all do: assessed Koepka’s chances differently than we do most players’. Koepka is, after all, a major championship anomaly, with top-10 finishes in half of his appearances. 

Which version of Koepka will show up?

Chamblee spoke for all of us when he said, “We want a cocky Brooks Koepka.”

Why? Because a cocky Koepka is a fun Koepka. A contending Koepka. A can-you-believe-he-said-that, can-you-believe-he-did-that Koepka. 

The problem: At this year’s Masters, we didn’t have a healthy Koepka. His hip labrum tear flared up that week in Augusta, to the point where he considered withdrawing. Rather than go public with his injury, he grinded silently, eager not to make it sound like an excuse. After back-to-back 75s on Thursday and Friday, not a single member of the media asked to speak with Koepka, so we didn’t hear about it. We didn’t hear from him for the next four weeks. He traveled to Turks and Caicos to finalize wedding plans and barely looked at his phone. He calls it “going dark” — shutting up and shutting down.

In fact, he’s enjoyed the power of silence recently, like the way he barely said a word to DeChambeau during The Match, where he let his clubs do the talking in a 5 and 3 drubbing. More ominous withholding followed a week later, in December 2021, at the Hero World Challenge.

He was asked a simple question: Have we seen the best of Brooks Koepka? Was 2018 your peak?

“That wasn’t peak,” he replied, shaking his head. “That wasn’t peak. Just wait.”

And with a wink, Koepka walked off the stage. What, exactly, was he trying to tell us? Maybe nothing, maybe everything. There’s a lesson in that. 

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