Brooks Koepka takes the lead at The Masters, a year after trying to smash his car window after a miss
CNN
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What is the difference per year.
Brooks Koepka leads Masters three strokes later storms suspended the second round. The American’s previous Friday at the Augusta National, having missed the cut, ended very differently.
“I think last year, I don’t even know if I should say this, but I’m sure I tried to break the rear window with the fist of a car,” Koepka told reporters.
“Not once, but twice. I didn’t go the first time, so I decided to try again. There were a lot of disappointments last year, very annoying, but I’ve come a long way since then.”
Koepka added that much of that frustration was health related.
Multiple injuries, including a torn patellar tendon and a broken knee, compounded the former world number one’s painful fall from the top. 1. Having won four major tournaments between 2017 and 2019, two years later Koepka admitted to wondering if his career could be over.
The LIV Golf star’s struggle to come to terms with passing away was revealed in the Netflix documentary series “Full Swing,” but in March, Kepka told CNN that he had lost his temper. “funk” and focused on a fifth major title.
The goal was to keep up with The Masters, and Kepka kept his word, setting a furious pace in his eighth Augusta appearance.
Starting at seven to 65 to take the lead with John Rahm and Viktor Hovland, Kepka took advantage of Friday’s earlier start time to get ahead of the duo with a second round of 67.
Rahm cut the gap to three shots before the horn blew midway through his round, while Norway’s Hovland was six shots behind the leader with eight holes to play.
An eagle in eighth helped Koepka become the third-highest two-round score in Masters history, just two points short of Jordan Spit’s 2015 record of 130, according to the PGA Tour.
A two-time winner of the US Open and the PGA Championship respectively, the first green jacket will bring the 32-year-old Floridian closer to “the very goal”: a career Grand Slam tournament.
“I feel like all the greats have won here and they have all won the British Open as well,” Kepka said.
“I think that’s one more checkbox that I have to tick to really feel like I did what I had to do in this game.”
Only six players have ever won all four majors, and that number should remain unchanged for at least another year after Rory McIlroy endured another painful day at the Augusta National.
The Northern Irishman arrived in Georgia in the green jacket short of the conclusion of the career tournament, but went on a mountain after an even par of 72 left him in 37th place after the first round.
Things went from bad to worse on Friday as seven battles dropped McIlroy to five for 77. When the game was suspended, McIlroy was tied at 61, three shots short of the predicted cutline, and almost guaranteed to miss the weekend with a third. time in his 15 Masters appearances.
Tiger Woods’ hopes of reaching the third round remain in the balance. The five-time Masters champion is on the predicted two-over-par cut line with seven holes to play in the second round.
The amateur Sam Bennett once again played a major role, hitting a second straight under-68 four to end the day four hits behind Koepka. The 23-year-old Texan stole hearts at Augusta National by playing with a tattoo that illustrates the last piece of advice from his father, who died after a battle with Alzheimer’s in 2021.
Play will resume∂ at 8:00 AM ET on Saturday, but further delays are possible due to expected rain.