Brooks Koepka makes major equipment change ahead of Masters
Multiple major champion Brooks Koepka has made a surprising change to his setup ahead of the first major of the year.
Brooks Koepka has put a new putter in the bag ahead of the first round of The Masters at Augusta National on Thursday.
Traditionally, the five-time major champion uses a trusty Scotty Cameron Teryllium Tour Newport 2, but having struggled on the greens so far this season, he has switched to one of Scotty Cameron's mallet models, the Phantom X 5.5.
Koepka put his new flat stick into play for the first time at LIV Miami, and it endured a torrid first outing, with the big-hitting American finishing tied for 45th after shooting back-to-back rounds of five-over on Saturday and Sunday.
Koepka finished the week -4.4 strokes gained with his new putter in the bag.
So far this season, he is ranked 35th on LIV Golf for putting, averaging 1.61 putts per green.
The change comes as a surprise so close to the first major of the year, and Koepka will be incredibly motivated to win it following his disappointing finish in 2023 when he relinquished a four-shot lead in the final round to the eventual winner, Jon Rahm.
The change has notably seen Koepka move away from a traditional blade design to a higher MOI mallet profile, a switch similar to the current world number one Scottie Scheffler made earlier this season.
Scheffler also moved away from a traditional blade made by bespoke putter company Logan Olson in favour of a TaylorMade Spider Tour X
The change instantly paid off for Scheffler and helped him secure back-to-back victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship.
Elsewhere in the field, Sergio Garcia has also changed his putter ahead of the Masters. The Golfyr Maker 3 has been replaced by a refurbished 1999 Scotty Cameron Del Mar Prototype that Garcia used as a rookie on the PGA Tour.
Garcia enjoyed a great week in Miami with the new putter, narrowly missing out on victory to Dean Burmester in a playoff
His new putter was in red hot form and helped him 7.1 strokes on the field putting during the week.
With several practice rounds remaining before the first tee shot is hit on Thursday, it will be interesting to see if both players stick with their new putters.
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