Chase

Koepka

The 27-year-old Koepka, younger brother of world No. 15 Brooks Koepka, will make his first PGA Tour start of the new season this week in Houston, and he arrives off a disappointing showing last week in the PGA Tour Latinoamerica’s first Qualifying Tournament, where he failed to finish among the top 40 to earn any status. Koepka started strong in what became a 54-hole event due to heavy rains, carding a 6-under 66 during the first round and highlighted by six birdies on his back nine. While playing for the University of South Florida, Koepka won the 2016 Mission Inn Spring Spectacular at the El Campeon, finishing at 9-under 207 to record his fourth career title -- a USF record that still stands. Last season, he made two cuts in three Tour starts last season with a best finish of T-30 in the Honda Classic. He also played four Forme Tour events, making two cuts.

The 27-year-old Koepka had Monday qualified for the 2020 Travelers but withdrew prior to the tournament’s start due to coronavirus concerns after he had played in a practice round with his brother Brooks and Brooks’ caddie, Ricky Elliott, who tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, the Travelers Championship offered him a spot in the 2021 tournament. The PGA Tour also awarded him a spot in the Workday Charity Open last July, where he missed the cut. “I just felt bad for my brother. I don’t think people really understand how hard it is to Monday into a Tour event,” Brooks Koepka said Wednesday regarding last year’s events. “He was playing so good, too. … Hopefully he can put together a good week and somehow find his way into contention.” In two other starts on Tour this year, he’s made the cut both times finishing T-30 at the Honda Classic and T-63 at the Valspar Championship.

The 31-year-old Koepka has come back strong after taking time off to rehab his surgically repaired right knee. He shot 69-73-71-69 at Torrey Pines to finish at 2-under 282, four short of champion and new World No. 1 Jon Rahm. It marked his fourth top-four finish in the U.S. Open in his last four starts. He also was T-2 in the PGA Championship, two back of winner Phil Mickelson. Koepka’s previous best finish at the Travelers was T-9 in 2016, and last year, he withdrew just prior to the start of the event when his caddie, Ricky Elliott, tested positive for the coronavirus. But what might have been toughest about last year’s situation was that it impacted his brother, Chase Koepka, who also had to withdraw due to contact tracing protocols after earning his spot in the field through Monday qualifying. “I just felt bad for my brother,” he told media on Wednesday. “I don’t think people really understand how hard it is to Monday into a Tour event. I’ve said it multiple times: I think if I went out and tried to Monday into every PGA Tour event, I might get two or three of them.” Chase is back in the field this week on a sponsor exemption.

The 27-year-old Koepka, who is three years younger than brother Brooks, finished T-30 at The Honda Classic last month (69-69-74-67) in what was just his sixth career start in a PGA Tour stroke-play event. For the record, he’s made the cut in four of those events including three last season when he recorded a T-26 at the 3M Open in July. His 63 on Sunday tied for low round of the day and featured a clean card with eight birdies and no bogeys. Also in 2020, he made three appearances in the inaugural LOCALiQ Series where he made two cuts and finished the season tied for No. 134 on the points list. In one start on the Latin American tour last year, Koepka finished T-43 at the Estrella del Mar Open. He played primarily on the European Challenge Tour in 2019, making three cuts in 12 starts.

Koepka was one of two players to Monday qualify into this week’s 156-man field at TPC River Highlands, but the joy of earning his third PGA Tour start of the season was short-lived. Koepka played a Tuesday practice round with his brother, Brooks, and Graeme McDowell, then followed both players by withdrawing after their respective caddies, Ricky Elliott and Ken Comboy, both tested positive for COVID-19. Chase Koepka himself had tested negative but decided to pull the plug “in an abundance of caution.” Tournament organizers have rewarded that altruistic act with a spot in next year’s field, should the younger Koepka need it. His previous Tour starts this year came in Las Vegas and South Korea, and the 26-year-old last teed it up on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in March, where he finished T-43 at the Estrella del Mar Open.

Brooks Koepka was on-hand earlier in the week to watch Chase earn one of two Monday qualifier spots available for this week’s event, but now both brothers won’t be around for the opening round after Brooks’ caddie, Ricky Elliott, tested positive for COVID-19. After crashing the field, Chase Koepka opted to stay with his brother Monday night and came in contact with Elliott, which led to his decision to pass along a hard-earned spot to alternate Robert Streb. Chase was in line to make his third PGA Tour start of the season, having also played in Las Vegas and South Korea. He last played on PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where he finished T-43 at the Estrella del Mar Open in March. Unlike his more decorated sibling, the younger Koepka doesn’t have another PGA Tour start confirmed at this time.

Koepka himself has tested negative throughout the week, but Elliott came up positive Wednesday after an initial test Monday was negative. Elliott spent time last week with Ken Comboy, Graeme McDowell’s caddie who also tested positive. While there were reports that Elliott’s result may have been a false positive, Koepka opted to pull out of the field and was replaced by New Zealand’s Tim Wilkinson. Koepka was coming off a seventh-place finish at the RBC Heritage that marked his first top-10 result since last year’s Tour Championship. He wasn’t the only Koepka to withdraw, as his brother also pulled the plug days after Monday qualifying into the field. The elder Koepka added that he was already planning to take the next two weeks off, meaning that fans and gamers likely won’t see him in action until the Memorial at the earliest.

The younger Koepka shot a 5-under 67 during Monday’s qualifier to share medalist honors, then survived a 5-for-2 playoff to earn one of the last spots in the field at TPC River Highlands, along with David Pastore. Koepka will now make his third PGA Tour start of the season, having also finished 67th at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and T-46 at the CJ Cup. He last played in an OWGR-sanctioned event before the pandemic hit, finishing T-43 at the Estrella del Mar Open on PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He’ll join his decorated brother in this week’s field, as Brooks Koepka makes his fifth appearance in Connecticut. Older brother was on hand Monday to watch his sibling finish his qualifier, and now the two will tee it up together in a PGA Tour event for the fifth time. They also joined forces at the Zurich Classic in both 2018 and 2019.

Playing on a sponsor’s invite this week, Koepka can’t afford a middling finish. He needs the Ricky Bobby mentality in order to secure crucial Non-Member FedExCup Points that would help him earn some status on the PGA or Korn Ferry Tour. Today was the perfect start as he landed 12 greens in regulation and went to work with his short game with +1.7 strokes gained around-the-green and +2.1 strokes gained putting. Earlier in the week, older brother Brooks talked about dissecting the course for Chase and so far that game plan is working well for the younger sibling. Chase Koepka went just 11-for-28 last season on the European Tour and did not retain his tour card with that effort.

This is the younger Koepka’s third career TOUR start. He finished T5 here in 2017, teamed with Brooks, which got him an exemption into the following week’s Wells Fargo, where he missed the cut by four on 5-over 149 (75-74). The duo’s debut in the inaugural team edition in 2017 featured alternate-shot rounds of 69 (R1) and 73 (R3), and 65 (R2) and 62 (R4) in best ball. Their 19-under total was eight adrift of a two-team playoff for the title. Brooks played this event last year as well, missing the cut by six paired with then-World No. 1929 Marc Turnesa. Chase lost his European Tour card last season (182nd in Race to Dubai standings) and has no status on any tour, while Brooks was the 2018 PGA TOUR Player of the Year and checks in off a T2 at the Masters.