Brooks Koepka returns to golfing prominence as he jumps out to Masters lead

There’s something bordering on dangerous about Brooks Koepka when that light starts to click.

You see it, subtly. It’s in the way he fires at pins with little regard for potential pitfalls. It’s how he struts around a golf course when he’s bludgeoning the course with birdie after birdie — and knows it. It’s that “I don’t give a damn what you think,” stone-cold killer mentality he flashes when blasting a 3-iron from 256 yards to inside 25 feet for an eagle putt.

Koepka is a freight train, volcano and wizard wrapped into one. It’s a combination that, under most circumstances, would debilitate normal human beings. It’s also the cocktail that makes Koepka capable of the most dominant golf in the world.

His play is fearless. It’s violent. It’s scary. And — after firing a 5-under-par 67 to move to 12-under on the week and take a three-shot lead over Jon Rahm, who will finish his second round at Augusta National on Saturday mornining — we can’t stop watching it.

“I don’t think Brooks has ever lacked confidence,” quipped Gary Woodland, Koepka’s first- and second-round playing partner. “It shows in his game. He plays aggressive. He plays super quick, which just shows you how confident he is. There’s no question to anything he’s doing, which is awesome to see.”

To understand this version of Koepka took serious mental gymnastics as recently as two days ago. He’s among the stars that departed the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in search of a fat pay check for less play on Saudi Arabia’s dime. He struggled with confidence before his departure as knee and hip issues caused his form to fade. Not exactly a winning formula.

Walking out toward the caddie hut just off the 18th green at Augusta National in 2022, Koepka reared back and punched the back window of the Mercedes awaiting his arrival. Twice.

He’d missed his second consecutive Masters cut. He would finish the year shooting 30-over in his 12 rounds at majors. Injuries hampered his ability to compete in the only tournaments he genuinely cared about.

Koepka said Friday he felt “like glass, always breaking” at the time. That back window didn’t break.

Heavy stuff.

But this version of Koepka —the confident, dominating one whose candidness is often hidden by his monotone voice — can be introspective about such moments. Shooting 12-under at the most famous venue in professional golf affords one such abilities.

“I guess Mercedes makes pretty good back windows,” Koepka said, a smirk running across his face.

Throughout Friday’s round, patrons took take notice of his play. The galleries grew as Koepka, Woodland and Danny Willett made the turn toward the back nine.

The gallery behind the 10th hole ballooned to as many as 30 patrons deep in spots. Amen Corner was flooded with onlookers — that was before the crew following Koepka’s group descended on golf’s most iconic three-hole stretch.

Koepka rarely acknowledged the added attention. A few subtle nods of appreciation. A couple waves. He otherwise hid under the lowered brim of his hat bill, walking with a heavy, confident stride as his arms swung loosely.

The four-time major winner had that look in his eye — equal parts laser focused and at ease.

Koepka hit all nine greens on the back. His birdies on 13 and 15 were tap-ins. His pars rolled into the middle of cups, and he finished bogey free on the day.

He only briefly showed a smidge of squirreliness when he hit his drive on the par-4 17th up the left side and toward the ropes. In the bulk of his rounds the past two years, the ball may well have ended up in the 15th fairway. Instead, it clicked off the heel of 21-year-old Christian Fiest, an arborist at Augusta National enjoying his first Masters.

Crisis averted for Koepka. And now Fiest has a story — and, perhaps, a sore foot — for his troubles.

“It was pretty crazy,” Fiest said, grinning. “I definitely wasn’t expecting it.”

Koepka has always been largely blunt with reporters. It’s in his DNA. He’s not one to mince words. Yet he also comes off as disinterested at times. It made him a villain in his pre-LIV Golf lifetime. His feud with Bryson DeChambeau drew plenty of headlines. He also blasted reporters at the 2022 U.S. Open for questioning whether he’d defect from the PGA Tour.

But unlike the general indifference that’s met LIV frontman and formerly beloved golf figure Phil Mickelson this week, Koepka appeared a more endearing, empathetic person than past showings.

He cracked a joke here and there. He laughed about some of the “chirps” sent his way by galleries. (He thought one taunt a few weeks ago mimicking the sentimentality he showed during Netflix’s “Full Swing” documentary series was particularly good.)

Koepka was also willing to open up.

He conceded that, at just 32 years old, there were times he considered giving up golf entirely as injuries lingered. “If I wasn’t going to be able to move the way I wanted to, I didn’t want to play the game anymore,” he said.

Koepka was later posed a hypothetical question: If you quit, how often would you play?

“I think I probably would have picked them up (clubs) occasionally, a couple times a year, but that would have been about it,” Koepka said. “To me, it’s my job. I love it, yeah, but it’s not my life. It’s very difficult to say. I think if I definitely put them down, I would have been lucky to play maybe twice a month.”

Woodland, of all people, has seen Koepka at his best — the venom-spewing, drive-mashing version that made him one of the best major players in the world for a five-year stretch.

The two were paired together for the final round of the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive just outside St. Louis. Woodland walked alongside Koepka as the latter shot a final0round 66 to hold off a leaderboard that included Jon Rahm, Adam Scott, Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods.

“It seemed like if he was not winning, he was in the top five of every major there for a couple of years,” Woodland said. “He’s definitely back in that form right now.”

The Masters feels increasingly like it could tilt toward a Koepka coronation. One round at 7-under 65 was impressive. Following that with a 5-under 67 suggests a gap is brewing after thirteen groups weren’t able to finish their second rounds when three trees fell near the 17th tee box, causing play to be suspended for the day.

Koepka insists his elite play has been coming since January. He told reporters a handful of off-the-course adjustments made him feel confident again. Winning LIV’s event in Orlando last week also certainly helped with momentum this week.

It’s not inconceivable Koepka eventually won’t qualify for the Masters and Open Championship when his exemptions from past major wins run out. LIV doesn’t currently generate points in the Official World Golf Rankings and, outside of a lifetime exemption into the PGA Championship and a 10-year pass at the U.S. Open that runs until 2028, it will take high-level efforts at majors to garner enough points to receive invites to all four in a given year.

Then again, there’s another avenue.

“If you win one here, it kind ticks a lot of boxes,” Koepka said. “Doesn’t it?””

Koepka is halfway to checking that box. And his enthralling, face-melting and downright terrifying play means we’ll hanker for every second of it.