Smylie Kaufman has assessed Brooks Koepka’s chances of contending at The Masters after following him for a number of holes at the Valspar Championship this past week.
It definitely appears that Koepka’s game is moving in the right direction after a slow start to his PGA Tour return.
Koepka has now finished inside the top 20 in his last three starts, including at The Players Championship. And there was a spell at the Valspar Championship where the 35-year-old appeared set to make a charge.
Ultimately, he finished in a tie for 18th at Innisbrook. Nevertheless, it seems that there is reason for real optimism about Koepka’s game heading into the first major of the year.
Brooks Koepka backed to be a real contender at The Masters
Koepka looked extremely rusty on his first start of the year, at the Farmers Insurance Open. He seemed to have no touch at all on the greens.
However, he gained 0.52 shots on the field with the putter at the Valspar, according to Data Golf. Meanwhile, Koepka is first on the PGA Tour for strokes gained approach this season.
And speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman insisted that he is expecting to see Koepka in the mix when the world’s best get to The Masters next month.
“He’s going to play Houston next week which is awesome. Co-course designer. But man, he was rolling through 45 holes. I was like, gosh, he might win this golf tournament. He was at seven under par through 45 holes of this tournament. He’s only got 27 more holes, if he just goes and shoots four under par throughout the rest of the way, he’s in a playoff with Fitzpatrick which I think he would have taken any day of the week,” he said.
“He lost the ball-striking on the back nine on Saturday. I was walking with him a little bit, he was like, ‘man, I can’t find a fairway’, just kind of joking around, just frustrated that he couldn’t make a fix. But looking at his overall stats for the week, and how we can say alright, where is he right now in regards to winning at Houston or contending at Augusta? I still think he can win soon. I really believe that he’s going to contend at Augusta. I think he’s going to contend in Houston, mainly because I believe in the work that he’s doing with Mike Kanski on the putter. It just looks so much better to me.
“His iron game is very interesting to get into. When you look at the whole season, and we’re obviously seeing a lot of good shots, but he was third in approach to the green heading into the Valspar Championship. We already talked about the stats that Brandel [Chamblee] brought up about Augusta. He’s always been a very good chipper, but his iron game is very good, great around the greens. The putter is coming back. And if driving distance is the last on the chart, I think we need to be circling Brooks as a potential Masters guy.”
Smylie Kaufman praises Brooks Koepka after a scary incident during the Valspar Championship
There was a terrifying incident during the third round of the Valspar, with a young fan being struck by a golf cart.
Thankfully, it appears that the spectator avoided serious injury. However, play was rightly halted while she received medical attention.
Koepka was one of those who made his way onto the scene after the incident. And Kaufman also explained how impressed he was by how the five-time major champion conducted himself.
“I think everybody was so scared. There were kids around. It was a frightening scene. Medics were immediately called. You just didn’t know the severity of the injuries. Her parents were there. Other kids were around that were really scared,” he said.
“Brooks, he came up very soon right after I had gotten there just to check on what was going on, what was happening. Once he realised it was a child, he sat there for four or five minutes just talking with the family, talking with little girl. I believe her name was Shay. I just thought it was very kind and truly a good human deed that he did there. He could have walked up to the green and just let the medics take care of everything, but he felt as a dad, you just think man, if that was my kid in that situation, I would want to try to help as much as I can, and I think Brooks did a great job.”
It is a huge relief that the young girl seemingly did not sustain any serious injuries. As Kaufman notes, the incident could have easily ended very differently.