AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | If the Masters truly does have everything a golf tournament can offer, that means there is a touch of chaos in the mix.
Enter the Brooks Koepka swagger wagon.
Say what you will – and we all have – about what LIV has done to the game and the cast of characters it recruited away from the PGA Tour, but one of the blessings of this Masters is how it has gotten the band back together, in a sense.
It’s like the world’s most elegant lost and found department.
No one who should have been in this Masters was denied a spot because of his fealty to LIV Golf. If they earned it, they are at Augusta National. And through one steamy Thursday, their names are speckled in the upper portion of the leaderboard.
Joaquín Niemann, Cam Smith and Patrick Reed are still relevant after 18 holes, but it is Koepka, with his biceps and brooding visage, who threw a provocative twist into the emerging storyline, and not just because of the aggressive lemon-lime colored shirt and matching shoes that he wore on Thursday.
It wasn’t that long ago that Koepka was a major-championship beast, winning four in 23 months, going all John Wick on any player who dared get in his way.
He was menacing, whether intentionally or naturally, and he had the game to back it up. Consecutive U.S. Open titles in 2017-18. Consecutive PGA Championships in 2018-19.
Hello, World Golf Hall of Fame.
Then he was gone, and not just to LIV.
A bad knee and too many bad rounds relegated Koepka to a bad place. It was just over a year ago that Koepka the Victorious had turned into Koepka the Vulnerable.
“I’ll tell you exactly how I’m feeling at the time, how I’m feeling in the moment, and that’s – I’m pretty vulnerable, too, away from the golf course.” – Brooks Koepka
In the Netflix documentary series “Full Swing” about the PGA Tour, Koepka confessed his self-doubt, suggesting that he couldn’t do what Scottie Scheffler was doing. Bravado had been replaced by bad mojo.
“People probably don’t think I’m as open as what I really am,” said Koepka, 32. “I’ll tell you exactly how I’m feeling at the time, how I’m feeling in the moment, and that’s – I’m pretty vulnerable, too, away from the golf course. I’ve always said what you see on the golf course isn’t what you get behind closed doors.”
His right knee, which he dislocated and shattered the kneecap when he slipped at home, was potentially career-ending. It required what Koepka said was a first-of-its-kind surgery and more than a year before he could fully bend his leg.
“I dislocated my knee and then I tried to put it back in, and that’s when I shattered my kneecap and during the process tore my MPFL (the medial patellofemoral ligament, which stabilizes the kneecap).
“My leg was sideways and out. My foot was turned out, and when I snapped it back in, because the kneecap had already shattered, it went in pretty good. It went in a lot easier,” Koepka said with a smile.
“Getting out of bed takes 15 minutes just to even kind of feel right. I wouldn’t even say ‘feel right.’ Just feeling like you can’t get around for the day isn’t exactly fun,” Koepka said, explaining what he’s been through.
“It’s probably the closest I can be to Tiger without his leg. I’m not saying it’s anywhere near his, but I understand how painful it is and how just mentally grueling it is.”
Koepka’s struggles were set against the LIV backdrop. Having said publicly that someone eventually would sell out and join the Saudi-backed league, Koepka turned out to be one of those guys who are all about growing the game, playing less and lining their pockets.
Everyone makes their own decisions, and Koepka’s was met with a collective eye roll.
But now that Koepka is healthy again and has found the thread that ran through his game in its prime, he has raised the question of what would happen if a LIV golfer were to win the green jacket?
There would be a lot of awkward smiles at the green jacket ceremony, for starters.
It could feed the chaos machine, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing and, remember, the tournament is just one round old. There is still an Augusta weekend and a storm-drenched weather forecast ahead.
And, if the skies aren’t too cloudy, there might be a team of skywriters celebrating the biggest moment in LIV Golf’s short but tumultuous existence.
Greg Norman would chirp, but from afar.
Traditionalists wouldn’t just shudder. They would go all Chicken Little, swearing that the sky is falling, and they would be wrong.
It could feed the chaos machine, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing and, remember, the tournament is just one round old. There is still an Augusta weekend and a storm-drenched weather forecast ahead.
But Koepka having a share of the first-round lead with Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland at 7-under 65 is the juiciest part of a Thursday when scores tumbled like the temperatures are expected to fall this weekend.
Koepka has won twice on the LIV tour, including last weekend, and though that’s not the same as winning the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills or the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, it’s better than sitting at home wondering whether he ever might play to the level that he did before wrecking his knee.
Koepka may never have been the most beloved player on the PGA Tour, but for a time he was the most feared because of the way he attacked and conquered major championships.
It brings to mind the old adage about not knowing what you’ve got until it’s gone. It can be said of Koepka’s abilities and his presence in professional golf.
“Once you feel good,” Koepka said, “everything changes.”
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