"It s*cks, not a lot of fun" - Brooks Koepka on implementing 'punishment workouts' after disappointing 2024 Masters finish
Last year, Brooks Koepka tied for second at the Masters before going on the next month to win the PGA Championship. This year, he did not start the same way and has reportedly begun exercising to ensure he doesn't have a bad outing any other time going forward.
After a good performance in Singapore that resulted in a victory, Koepka followed it up with a trip to Augusta that, in the golfer's eyes, was an embarrassment. He reportedly apologized to his teammates and vowed to do better.
Koepka revealed via the PGA Championship:
"I just apologized. Everybody put in a lot of hard work. Dedicated a lot of time and effort and then for me to go out and play like that is not what I expect of myself, I don't think what they expect of me."
He then went on to add that he and his team implemented punishment workouts to ensure that everything stuck and that they didn't have any other disappointing outings:
"So yeah, just we had a good talk and just kind of put our nose down and kept grinding. You know, had some difficult punishment workouts. It was long hours on the range. Just worked with everybody and really tried to go back to the fundamentals, and I think that was the important thing."
Koepka also specified that he's not particularly enjoying these workouts:
"It sucks. It's not a lot of fun. A lot more running. Very up-tempo, no rest. Ara Suppiah, basically he kind of oversees my program with Hamish and Kolby, and they talk and they figure it out."
He came back home and was immediately informed that a 45th place finish was going to result in some penalization:
"I think I had like four or five days in a row of just -- I turned white, I wanted to throw up in a few of them. But yeah, got through it."
This will be Koepka's first time on that level of stage since the Masters, where he shot nine over and finished in a tie for 45th. He will hope to defend his crown in 2024 at Valhalla and give LIV Golf its second-ever Major victory.
Brooks Koepka looking to defend crown in Valhalla
If the workouts successfully scared Brooks Koepka enough to never finish 45th in a Major again, then he will have a much better shot at defending his crown at the PGA Championship. However, history isn't exactly on his side in this endeavor.
There have just been four players to defend their Major titles in golf history. Tiger Woods won back-to-back PGA Championships in 1999 and 2000. Padraig Harrington won the Open Championship in 2007 and 2008, and Nick Faldo won the Masters in 1989 and 1990.
Brooks Koepka is actually the only other player to ever defend and he won the U.S. Open in 2017 and 2018. Banking on him to become the fifth instance of someone defending a Major title in golf history may lead to disappointment.