02/25/26 01:28:00
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02/25 13:26 CST Brooks Koepka returns to the Cognizant Classic for his first
start there since 2022
Brooks Koepka returns to the Cognizant Classic for his first start there since
2022
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) --- There are countless comforts of home for
Brooks Koepka this week when he plays the Cognizant Classic. That doesn't mean
everything is necessarily comfortable.
His son watched plenty of hockey from the Milan Cortina Olympics over the last
few days, which means there was quite a bit of hockey playing inside the Koepka
home. Evidently, Crew Koepka --- in his defense, the kid isn't even 3 yet ---
hasn't exactly mastered the art of stickhandling. And his father learned that
the hard way.
"Took a stick to the face the other day at the house, so that was interesting.
It's been a while since that happened. It definitely hurts," Koepka said. "I
feel Jack Hughes and his pain a little bit, but didn't lose a tooth,
thankfully."
Hughes --- after losing some teeth against Canada --- scored the game-winning
goal for Olympic gold last Sunday. Koepka would happily settle for a win this
Sunday, in his third tournament since returning to the PGA Tour after nearly
four years with Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
"Just want to put myself in contention here a few times before Augusta," Koepka
said, "and see where everything lies."
Koepka is a Palm Beach County native, and this is his home tournament. He came
to it as a little kid, carried the scoring sign for some players when he was
learning the game, and now is about to play in it for the eighth time as a pro
and the first time since 2022.
He'll have plenty of friendly faces in the crowd on Thursday and Friday ---
some of them people he rarely gets a chance to see because of his schedule ---
and he's hoping to stick around for the weekend at PGA National so he can see
them on Saturday and Sunday as well.
"This is a true hometown event," Koepka said. "Like I said, (I was) coming to
it for years when I was a kid, and then I don't think anybody in my family or
really anybody has got more than like a 25-minute drive, my friends. It's nice
to be able to be this close to home and to have everybody come out."
It's a different tournament than when Koepka last played at PGA National.
First off, it was still The Honda Classic then. PGA National played to a par 70
in those days; par is 71 now. The winning scores the last three times Koepka
played this event were 10 under, 6 under and 9 under; the winning scores in the
last three years were 14 under, 17 under and 19 under --- and Jake Knapp shot
an opening-round 59 last year, something that didn't seem remotely possible at
PGA National just a few years ago.
"It was a little bit too easy last year, I thought," said Ireland's Shane
Lowry, who now calls the Palm Beach area his full-time home and, like Koepka,
will be sleeping in his own bed this week. "I don't want to exactly see 59s
around here. I hope the scoring is a little bit more difficult this year and it
plays like it used to."
There are no players in the field who are currently in the top 25 of the world
rankings; Ryan Gerard, at No. 26, tops that list. Meanwhile, 11 different top
25 players --- including four of the world's top five --- appeared in TGL
matches on Monday and Tuesday night, just a few miles away from PGA National.
It's been an issue for the Cognizant for years. The current tour schedule has
it wedged into a spot that kicks off the Florida Swing --- with Bay Hill and
the Players coming up in the next two weeks.
"I'm sure every tournament, bar the signature events, don't get the fields that
they'd want," Lowry said. "I think it is in a very tough spot in the schedule,
probably one of the toughest spots in the schedule, and I don't think it's
anything to do with the course. The reason players don't play is players don't
want to play that much. It is a tough stretch of golf. ... I do wish a lot of
other players would play, but that's their choices."
Koepka couldn't play it when he was with LIV. He seems very appreciative of the
chance to be back.
"It's a nice event," he said. "It's definitely weird staying at home. You just
get so accustomed to living out of a suitcase or hotel or whatever. But it's
enjoyable. It's nice to come back and just feel your own comforts when you get
home."
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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