Brooks Koepka's Masters preparation rocked by horror start at Houston Open

Brooks Koepka endured a nightmare start to the Texas Children’s Houston Open, dealing a blow to his momentum heading into The Masters.

The five-time major champion arrived at Memorial Park Golf Course in encouraging form, having recorded three straight top-20 finishes. 

With his involvement in the course redesign, there was quiet confidence he could build further momentum in his final start before Augusta.

Instead, Koepka stumbled to a disappointing opening round of 5-over 75 — a performance that leaves him with significant ground to make up and, more importantly, questions to answer as he fine-tunes his game for the season’s first major from 9-12 April. 

It didn’t all start badly for him. Koepka looked sharp early on, picking up two birdies through his opening six holes to briefly settle into a rhythm.

But from there, his round quickly unravelled.

A disastrous stretch began at the par-3 7th, where Koepka found water off the tee and ran up a double-bogey. Things went from bad to worse just two holes later at the par-3 9th, where another poor tee shot again found the water, leading to a second double-bogey in quick succession.

The problems continued into the back nine. On the par-4 10th, Koepka needed two attempts to escape a fairway bunker, resulting in a third double-bogey in the space of just four holes — a costly sequence that effectively derailed his round, and tournament. 

Koepka managed to steady the ship somewhat and picked up a third birdie of the day at the par-5 16th, but any hopes of a late recovery were short-lived. Back-to-back bogeys at the 17th and 18th ensured a disappointing finish and a round that never truly recovered.

The 75 marks his joint worst score since returning to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf this season.

At the end of Thursday’s play, Koepka found himself a staggering 12 shots adrift of the early lead, currently held by Paul Waring. The Englishman, competing this season on a medical extension, produced a superb bogey-free 7-under 63 as he chases a maiden PGA Tour victory.

Koepka’s 75 stands as the second-worst score of the opening round, leaving him languishing outside the top 125 on the leaderboard. It’s a position that piles pressure on the former World No.1, who now faces a battle just to make the cut heading into Friday.

There had been optimism in Koepka’s camp prior to the event. He spoke confidently about rediscovering elements of his dominant 2018–2019 form, particularly with his iron play. 

While there have been recent signs of improvement on the greens — an area that has troubled him in recent seasons — those gains quickly unravelled in round one.

Koepka lost three strokes to the field with the putter, ranking 129th out of 135 players — a costly performance that underpinned his struggles.

He will tee it up in round two at 8:53 a.m. on Friday alongside Jake Knapp and Michael Thorbjornsen. 

His playing partners fared significantly better in round one, with Knapp posting a 69 and Thorbjornsen carding a 68.

Koepka declined to speak to reporters after his round.

Gary Woodland closed the final round with two birdies to move into solo second on 6-under par and one stroke behind day-one leader Waring. 

Two weeks ago, Woodland let the world know he was battling PTSD after brain surgery.

Elsewhere, defending champion Min Woo Lee made a steady start with a 2-under 68. 

Lee was one of GolfMagic’s pre-tournament selections, alongside Sam Burns and Marco Penge.

Both Burns and Penge justified that backing with strong opening rounds, shooting 5-under 65 and 4-under 68 respectively to keep themselves firmly in contention.

For Koepka, however, the story is very different — and unless there’s a sharp turnaround, his final tune-up before Augusta has already taken an untimely hit.