The Masters: Revitalised Brooks Koepka shares lead

On episode two of Netflix smash hit ‘Full Swing’, Brooks Koepka is shown forgetting that Scottie Scheffler won The Masters. 

Three more days like today and there’s a good chance he’ll be taking the Green Jacket from him on Sunday night. 

Koepka, 32, produced his four-time major winning best as he carded a seven-under 65 in the opening round at Augusta National. That has the American tied for the lead alongside Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland. 

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Cam Young, runner-up in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship a fortnight ago, is two shots adrift alongside former world No.1 Jason Day. 

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is in a group of players on four-under that also includes the champion from a decade ago, Adam Scott, the 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, and amateur Sam Bennett. 

It’s a leaderboard packed with quality and intrigue – but, truly, the day belonged to Koepka.

A runner-up here in 2019, he has struggled for fitness and form over the last couple of years and, following his decision to join the LIV Golf League last summer, has tumbled down the world rankings. As of this week, he’s No.118 on the standings.

However, he won the LIV event in Orlando last week and has continued to ride that momentum into the opening major of the season.

“I got off to a good start,” said Koepka. “Anytime you’re two-under through three, it’s a good start. So I felt good and kind of just piggybacked off that momentum. I’m very happy the way I played. Drove the ball really nicely. Left it in some good spots. Even missed quite a few putts.

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“I think I missed a short one on six, eight, nine and ten. They were all kind of inside ten feet. So it could have been really low but I’ll take it. Seven-under’s pretty good.”

Chasing his first major title is Hovland. The Norwegian hasn’t had his best stuff of late but believes he turned a corner with his game last month.

“I would say at Bay Hill, I kind of started to feel like the pieces were coming along,” he admitted. “The back nine at Riviera was very big for me, even though, you know, it was a 20th finish I think that week, so it wasn’t something to jump too high in the air about.

Three tied for the lead. Brooks Koepka birdies No. 18 to match the leaders with a 65. #themasters pic.twitter.com/7Z4XWIsRFR

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 6, 2023

“But that back nine, I felt like something clicked, and ever since then, I’ve just felt better and better about my game.”

Rahm, meantime, is hunting his second major victory. With four top-10 finishes in six career starts at the Masters, his game would appear to be a good fit for the golf course.

The Spaniard got off to the worst possible start, double-bogeying the opening hole before staging a magnificent rally.

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“If you’re going to make a double or four-putt or anything, it might as well be the first hole,” he admitted. “You’ve got 71 holes to make it up. After that, I was focused. The strokes were good. The reads were good. The roll was good. Obviously, the speed was off on the first two putts, so once I kind of accepted that there was nothing really to look into, I just got to work.”

Five-time champion Tiger Woods endured a difficult day, finishing on two-over-par, whilst the 1987 and 1988 champions – Larry Mize and Sandy Lyle – look almost certain to bid an emotional farewell to the tournament at the halfway stage.

The pair, who have confirmed that this will be their final Masters, prop up the standings on seven-over and nine-over respectively.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor