2023 Masters: Brooks Koepka finally breaks free of the misery

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Episode 2 of Netflix’s golf documentary “Full Swing” is, in a word, depressing. It follows the travails of Brooks Koepka at the 2022 Masters where, presumably, the producers of the series expected him to be a contender.

And why not? Koepka had finished second at the 2021 PGA Championship, fourth at the U.S. Open and sixth at the British. When he wasn’t battling injuries (which he had for much of 2020 and 2021), he was the most feared golfer on the planet whenever it came major time.

But those finishes at the ’21 majors were a bit of a mirage. In March of that year, Koepka slipped and fell, dislocating his right knee in gruesome fashion.

“I tried to put it back in and that's when I shattered my kneecap and during the process tore my MPFL,” he explained.

He had surgery, he played shortly thereafter, but he hadn’t yet healed. He couldn’t bend his knee. His doctor told him it would be a year and a half before he’d feel right.

That’s the context behind Episode 2, behind the funk, behind the depression that came across on the screen.

“I have to figure out how to get the f*** out of this thing before it’s too late,” he said at one point in the episode.

Well, he finally has.

In Thursday’s Round 1 of the Masters, Koepka looked like the major killer of old, carding eight birdies to a single bogey to post a 7-under 65 and plant himself atop the leaderboard in a three-way tie with Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm. Koepka did it with power, he did it with precision, just like he used to.

“Once you feel good, everything changes,” he said after his round Thursday. “ … I don't think I've rediscovered anything. I just think I'm healthy.”

Koepka is, in some ways, playing for his golfing life. Back in 2019, in the midst of winning four majors in a 23-month span, he made a startling but honest admission.

"I just practice before the majors," he said. "Regular tournaments, I don't practice. If you see me on TV, that's when I play golf."

If he wasn’t taking non-major events seriously back in 2019, how does he approach 54-hole, no-cut events with zero historical significance, the kind he’s now playing on the LIV Golf tour?

For Koepka, it was, is and always will be about the majors. But his jump to the LIV Golf tour means the Masters could soon be out of reach. His invite to this year’s tournament is based on his 2019 PGA Championship victory. That five-year exemption, however, runs out following next year’s Masters, meaning if he doesn’t win or finish in the top 12 between now and then, his playing days at Augusta National may be over.

The only way to secure an invite is to play well this weekend or at any of the three remaining majors on the schedule. Translation: if the majors carried importance before, now it’s turned up to 11 for Koepka (and all LIV golfers, for that matter).

“I don't really think about it,” he said. “It's just a major. It's Augusta National. So, you know, it's the Masters. You'd better show up. I kind of just count out the last two years, not feeling good. But yeah, if you win, you're fine.”

Astute viewers of “Full Swing” will have noticed that the series does not air linearly. It begins with Justin Thomas’ celebration at the PGA Championship in May, not Koepka’s misery in April. Best to premier a new show shiny and happy than beaten and battered.

Beaten and battered — that was Brooks Koepka a year ago, a man on the verge, not because he couldn’t do it, but because his body wouldn’t let him.

Now, a year later, his knee is mostly back to where it was and so now is his game.

“If your body won't allow you to do the things you want to do, it's frustrating and all of a sudden you create a lot of bad habits and then try to work out of the unhealthiness, takes a while, and then all of a sudden you have to get out of those bad habits,” he said Thursday. “When you break free, it's kind of nice.”