Brooks Koepka admitted his game feels “pretty close” but refused to describe his PGA Championship defence as “progress” following his lacklustre Masters showing.
The 34-year-old was hypercritical of his performance at Augusta National after a T45 finish and revealed at Valhalla that he was given “punishment workouts” to complete as a consequence.
Koepka won his third PGA Championship and fifth Major at Oak Hill 12 months ago but there will be a different name etched onto the Wanamaker Trophy this year after he finished nine-under for the week in Kentucky and well off the pace.
Asked to assess his week, Koepka said: “Not very good. I think it's pretty obvious, isn't it.”
He added: “I don't think finishing 30th is progress. Played good today, played good the other two days. Yesterday just didn't have anything. Was kind of disappointed with the way I finished.”
Koepka opened with rounds of 67 and 68 to put himself within five of the lead at the halfway stage but dropped out of contention with a disappointing three-over 74 on Saturday.
He finished strong with a Sunday 66 that featured six birdies against just a lone bogey but was left perplexed as to why his game deserted him during the third round.
“Yesterday I don't think I did one thing good at all,” he continued. “Usually when you play bad, you've got one thing that you do okay, and you might putt bad or you might drive it bad. Yesterday was just a combination of everything.”
Nevertheless, the outlook is mostly positive for the five-time Major champion ahead of next month’s US Open at Pinehurst and The Open in July at Royal Troon.
“I feel like I'm playing good,” said Koepka. “It's just yesterday was kind of unfortunate timing. But I felt like I'm playing all right.
“I missed a bunch of putts on Friday from inside like five feet, and then yesterday's round was unfortunate. But other than that, I think I'm pretty close to right there.”
