Brooks Koepka Press Conference | 2024 PGA Championship Pre-Tournament

Watch Player Brooks Koepka’s pre-tournament press conference during the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. 

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Contested each May, the PGA Championship is the second major championship in golf’s annual rotation, and perennially features the strongest field in the men’s game based on the Official World Golf Rankings. Known for dramatic finishes and notable champions, the Wanamaker Trophy—which has been awarded to the winner since 1916—is inscribed with names such as Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player.

The 2024 PGA Championship is set to take place between 13-19 May at Valhalla Golf Club. The reigning champion is Brooks Koepka.

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welcome back to the 106 PJ Championship where three-time PJ Champion Brooks kka is joining us Brooks welcome to bajala where you’ll be playing in your 12th PGA Championship how you feeling about your game as your title defense begins tomorrow yeah feel good um feel like my game’s in good shape right now it’s be interesting to see how the course plays uh it’s a little wet right now I don’t know if we’re going to get any rain this afternoon looks like it so um but yeah it’s it’s great shape just as I remember obviously changed the uh the grass and the fairways um I think it’s made a little easier to chip off of but uh yeah it’s a good track Big Boy golf course that’s great thanks we’ll open up for questions starting with Jeff hey Brooks uh you made a nice tradition here of being the the host for the Champions dinner last night you had a nice turnout looked like cool venue what um what does it mean for you to be able to host that dinner and what were a couple of highlights of the evening uh yeah look it’s it’s awesome I’m not able to go to to the one at Augusta yet um but this one is is super cool um it’s the only one I’m able to go to it was great to be a church old Downs um I’ve always wanted to go uh to the race I think we were going to go in uh 20 but you know the co we couldn’t uh couldn’t get to go so it was uh it was super special and we had a great time it was good dinner really cool some cool uh some cool things my chef was able to cook up the menu help help the guys that Churchill down so we had a good time mik G hey Brooks um after Singapore you said that Augusto was a bit of an embarrassment in your eyes and you kind of had look your team in the eye and say sorry what have you done to reset since then and and what did you have to actually tell your team there uh not much I just apologized um we put in everybody put in a lot of hard work um dedicated a lot of time and and effort and then for me to go out and play like that not uh not what I expect of myself I don’t think what they expect of me um so yeah just we had a good talk and just kind of put our nose down and kept grinding um you know had some difficult punishment workouts it was long long hours on the Range um just worked with everybody and really really tried to go back to the fundamentals and I think that was that was the important thing over to Mike five for a couple hey Brooks Brooks you mentioned you referenced punishment workouts when and Adelaide I think you mentioned it first what how are those different what do you do to yourself in those workouts and then what what what do you have to do what causes that is it you’re uh are you upset at your approach or are you upset the way you played what what makes you think I mean I’m not I’m not looking for the punishment workout I just get told that it’s uh it sucks it’s not a lot of fun a lot lot more running um very uptempo No Rest uh Aura uh saaya who basically he kind of oversees my my program with uh heish and Colby and they um you know they talk and they figure it out but I I walked in and AA told me that you finish 45th you’re going to get you’re going to get penalized so um I think I had like four or five days in a row of just I wanted to I turned white I wanted to throw up in a few of them but um yeah got through it Brooks what what exactly was wrong at the Masters what happened was it was your swing off was your you know your Technique putting uh you know what what led to the the disappointing finish uh it was a bit it’s kind of funny it’s been windy down in uh in Jupiter at Grove it’s been feels like it was blowing 20 mph every time we hit balls from pretty much February on and then every time we seemed to play it was blowing 25 or 30 and ball position just got back um back with everything all the way through the bag even with Potter um so just wasn’t able to see the start lines um I like to see it start a little bit left to the Target then kind of fade back and it was kind of on um starting on target or a little bit right and I’ve kind of had the both way Miss which uh which isn’t good but just had to go back to fundamentals that was it up to 18 hey Brooks right back here uh when you look ahead to this tournament how do you feel like this golf course plays to your strengths and the success you’ve had particularly in major championships uh it’s a long golf course so you got to be able to hit the ball far um Fairways I wouldn’t say they’re generous I don’t think they’re overly generous but uh you can take advantage of them um the rough steak if you’re going to miss Fairways you’re going to be in trouble I think that’s that’s pretty much Theo of a major championship got to hit Fairways got to hit greens um but yeah I think I think it’s just a great golf course you can kind of tell by the past champions too Mike one uh Brooks with what Scotty’s done and Rory’s done the last couple of weeks are you excited at all to get a chance to to go up against them I mean I’m just looking forward to major championship that’s kind of my gets my excitement going um something I look forward to all year um so yeah look I I always enjoy competing against these guys and um anytime you get the best it’s uh it’s always good and you just want to want them to play their best too you want to go out and win it let’s go 14 15 and six Brooks when and why did you switch to the Mal putter uh I switched believe it was oh maybe a week and a half before gusta um just needed need to look that was that was really what uh what I was looking for maybe a little bit more forgiveness um I think you can kind of you kind of see it right there’s there’s Trends in golf and everyone starts using a mallet and it just it’s a little bit more forgiveness I noticed that uh the dispersion pattern is is a little tighter um and that’s that’s kind of the big thing with me hey Brooks did the the win in Singapore say to you you know I’m I’ve got it figured out after what happened in the Masters um I took the week off after uh Augusta didn’t touch a club so Adelaide was kind of the first time we were um able to work on it and just kind of just went back to basics it’s kind of the thing it’s never my swing is Never Off it’s always either something with um alignment or ball position and just kind of get back to those fundamentals and that’s that’s kind of the key for me Alex yeah Brooks when you first started with live obviously the schedule’s different everything’s different come to major championships four rounds seeing the guys you haven’t seen in a while I’m assuming now after a couple years you’ve kind of gotten more and more comfortable with it I’m just want to know if that’s true and and how did you get to that Comfort level comfort with what like what do you mean with being playing out there and then coming out and playing in the majors well I think the majors are different than everything else so um the majors are they just have a different feel um than any other golf tournament it’s always been i’ I’ve always enjoyed it they’re always tough for golf courses so that’s it’s something I get up for but there’s really I don’t see it’s the same thing right it’s always the peak of our sport um or the four times a year we play a major so that’s kind of the only thing but there’s no real difference okay and the other thing is is a lot of times people learn maybe more from losses or poor performances than they do from wins do you feel that way from what you learned at Augusta yeah yeah I mean I’ve said it multiple times I think winning you don’t really look back at anything um you just kind of celebrate it and kind of move on but when you lose you’re kind of forced into trying to figure out why and and what happened and you know whether that be second place or missing a cut doesn’t really matter um you got to figure it out Mike 11 then eight yeah Brooks saw you got to play practice round with JD today crew got to meet Uncle John as well too last night what’s that relationship for the two you like being past champions here reuniting yeah JD is a man um I’ve always loved uh being around him he’s gotten he’s gotten close with my dad as well I think um what was it Beth Pig um him and my dad hung out for a while I think my dad even forgot to come out and watch me for till it was probably about the back nine so he probably should have stayed with JD otherwise it wouldn’t have been as close but uh no look he’s he’s been great we text a lot we have we have pretty good communication and um it’s always fun try to play with him at least once I think played with him at the British um last year and then obviously here try to try to get nine holes in with it um Brooks it seems like out here on tour there are guys who can go out down the stretch execute the shots they want and then there are guys that just don’t have it um do you think that that’s a skill or ability that can be learned yeah I think you can learn it um um you’re always adapting to kind of your surroundings so you the more times you put yourself in that position it’s easier to learn from um but you really have to dive in deep to the issue and really kind of look yourself in the mirror as to why if you can’t cross that line why why can’t you or uh when you did what what was your thought process what was your um what were the misses what you go you just go down that line of what what really went wrong and um I think you definitely can learn it but I mean some guys definitely are born with it well next to Mike six Follow by seven and 17 Brooks when you decide after the Masters that you need a week away from the clubs you put the clubs down is that easy or hard for you to do no it’s pretty easy it was kind of always planned um I think no matter how I play in the majors I feel like I’m I’m not physically exhausted just mentally um just a grind of um what I put myself through or what you know what goes on for the previous weeks of the prep it’s just a lot more intense and um I mean I enjoy taking the week off after it’s uh it’s kind of enjoyable Brooks when you struggle in events is competitive mindset ever the issue uh yeah I think so I think sometimes you can um be looking so far ahead Maybe maybe um you know beginning of the year just kind of you know you’re focusing on different things maybe like for Augusta or for this whatever um that you kind of just forget where you’re at instead you’re still supposed to go out and go win and go go compete and um it’s definitely happened to me I’m sure I don’t know if it happens to everybody else don’t ask them but um it’s it’s definitely been the case sometimes but um try not to let that happen has that ever happened to you at a major or no I’m pretty pretty locked in once I get here Brooks what are the common traits among the three courses that you’ve won at previously on the PGA and U what do you see out here that would be common to those three um I would say this probably has more in common with Beth pagee um than it does bel Reef um just for the fact of I think Lan’s very important here um yeah it’s a major championship you got to you got to put the ball in the Fairway I think that’s the big thing you look at those two it’s um here in Beth Page if you missed a fairway I think if you had a five iron in there’s a good chance you’re not reaching the green maybe maybe you can if you catch a great livee but odds are you really not so um I think that’s that’s the common tradeit against or with PGA or or with most recently what they’ve been doing than we’re at things up with Mike nine and 18 yeah uh you’ve won this event three times it’s the most successful major for you can you think of a reason why you’ve had success in the PGA Championship no idea man I just like Majors Brooks back here at 18 you talked about the the mindset that the mental exhaustion that you have after a major how would you describe your mindset when you get into one of these tournaments what kind of switch flips for you um I don’t know I I mean I’ve heard from just kind of the people around me it’s just different my like demeanor my my focus is just different I I can’t explain it I don’t really know how to or what I’d really do different um but everybody on the team can kind of see it and they kind of know I can walk right past them and I don’t even know that that they’re there sometimes um it’s just it’s a grinding week You’ you’ve got to be fully locked in I feel like you can’t take one shot off um and I I love that it’s it’s always you’re one shot away from making a double Bogey and it’s that’s that’s what I love all right thanks for your time Brooks we appreciate it appr