Masters 2023: Brooks Koepka gains major advantage in Augusta; Woods, Hovland survive, McIlroy crashes out

Brooks Koepka gained an early advantage in the ongoing Masters 2023 after stamping his authority with some clean finishing. Koepka scored five-under par 67 and take a four-shot lead into the weekend. One year ago, on Friday of the 2022 Masters, Brooks Koepka was so frustrated with the state of his golf after missing the cut that he tried to smash the window of his courtesy car with his bare fist while still inside the Augusta National Golf Club premises.

Not content with his first effort – which could not break the glass – Koepka had another go at it. The window somehow survived the onslaught.

“I guess Mercedes makes a pretty good back window, or I am not strong enough. I think there was just a lot of frustration,” recalls Koepka, who shattered his right kneecap after falling down in 2021, and also faced hip issues.

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Unable to bend his knee, it affected his ability to crouch on the greens and read the putts and also hampered a key move in the swing where the legs push down on the ground to generate power in any golf shot.

Cut to 52 weeks later to the day, the 32-year-old walked the golf course with the same swagger that made him such a ‘major beast’ between 2017 and 2019. In that period, he won two US Opens and two PGA Championships and was also a runner-up at the 2019 Masters.

On Friday, Koepka made the most of the better playing conditions in the morning, shooting a bogey-free five under par 67 to add to his overnight 65. That gave him a four-shot lead in the clubhouse over the reigning US Amateur champion Sam Bennett (68-68).

Among players on the field when play was suspended at 4:22 pm local time – after three massive pine trees were uprooted next to the 17th tee, but miraculously did not cause any injury – were Jon Rahm, who had moved to nine-under par through nine holes and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who had dropped one shot and was at six-under par through 10 holes.

Australian Jason Day seemed poised to get close to Koepka, but after reaching nine-under par, he dropped four shots in his last four holes, including a double bogey on the par-5 15th where he hit his third shot in the water.

Battling to make the cut was the five-time champion Tiger Woods, who was at two-over par after being even-par for the second round through 11 holes. World No2 Rory McIlroy was sure to get a weekend off after finishing on five-over par for his first two rounds.

Koepka is proving he is as tough and unbreakable as his car window. He feels he is close to his best form after enduring a couple of terrible years as he struggled with his knee injury – which he admitted led to him accepting an offer to join LIV Golf.

“I don’t think too far ahead. I just take it as it is right now, but the feeling is pretty similar. I feel really good. I like the way I’m swinging the golf club, putting it, chipping it, driving it, iron play is solid. It feels similar,” said the American, who has fallen to No118 in the world rankings.

Greenshoots started appearing in his game towards the end of last year when he won the LIV Invitational – Jeddah in October and then added another title at LIV Invitational – Florida last month.

“Even when I played and won in Saudi, I still didn’t feel like I had it fully back. I thought my game was just okay. I somehow got it around really well,” said Koepka.

“But the Saudi win came at the perfect time. I definitely needed it. I don’t know if that spurred a little bit of confidence or what else it did, I felt some momentum starting to build. I stopped thinking and feeling I can't do this anymore. And it has led me to this.”

On Friday, Koepka exploited the par-5s of Augusta National to the hilt, making birdies on three of the four, and adding an eagle on the remaining eighth hole.

“It was really solid. Didn’t do too much wrong. Maybe, the speed kind of got me on a few putts as I wasn’t hitting them hard enough towards the end. But I was striking the ball really well and leaving it in good spots,” added Koepka.

“That’s what you’ve got to do here. You've got to make birdies on these par 5s…take advantage of them. And I did a good job of that playing them 5-under.”

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Koepka said winning major championships remains his biggest motivation and he did not want to miss playing any of them.

“The whole goal is to win the Grand Slam, right. I feel like all the greats have won here and they have all won British Opens as well. Look, I guess it’s one more box for me to tick to truly feel like I’ve done what I should have accomplished in this game,” said Koepka, who started his professional career with a Challenge Tour event in Ahmedabad in 2012.

“I’ve missed enough majors. I missed this one when Patrick Reed won. I missed the US Open that Bryson (DeChambeau) won. I missed like three or four through that whole stretch of 2016 to 2020. I am just tired of missing majors. It’s not fun. But I feel a lot better now. To be here is special. The Masters is a special event.”

Phil Mickelson, a three-time champion in Augusta and another LIV Golf star, shot a three under par 69 on Friday and was just outside the top 10 at a four under par total.

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