Brooks Koepka is back in the fight at the 2026 Masters after resolving a strange issue with his driver, which almost compromised his initial performance. The five-time major champion surprised by revealing that an inadvertent change in his driver’s settings affected his first round, but the correction paid off in the second round, putting him back in the spotlight at one of the world’s most prestigious golf tournaments.
On Thursday, during the first round at Augusta, Koepka failed to shine, recording a below-par performance that left him off the pace. However, in subsequent practice, the American discovered that his Titleist GT3 driver, with 16 possible settings, was incorrectly adjusted. Instead of the usual A1 setting — which maintains the club’s standard lie — the driver had been changed to the B1 setting, which tilts the lie by 0.75 degrees for a more open face, favouring a fade. This unauthorised change, which Koepka does not know how it happened, seriously hindered him off the tee, causing him to lose 0.41 strokes on average per shot, according to Data Golf.
“Yes, I just started driving better,” admitted Koepka. “Some of my settings on the driver changed from A1 to B1 and nobody noticed. I went back to the A1 setting, which is what I normally use, and started driving better.”
The result of this correction was immediate and impressive: on Friday, Koepka signed for a round of 69 strokes, regaining ground and putting himself in contention for victory. The golfer emphasised that since the adjustment, he feels he is hitting the ball exactly as he intends. “Obviously, with the driver, we adjusted to the right settings and now I know where I can miss. Everything is solid,” he explained. However, Koepka lamented that his putting game has not yet been perfect: “Just the putter… sometimes I feel that if I hit some putts with a bit more force, they would go in, and I could have gone 5 or 6 under today.”
Since winning the 2023 PGA Championship, Koepka has been away from the spotlight in majors, missing three consecutive cuts last year. But this episode at the 2026 Masters seems to have given the player a new lease of life, as he is now officially back on the radar of favourites — as long as no one tampers with his driver again.
With this unexpected turnaround, Koepka shows that in golf, even the tiniest technical detail can make the difference between being out of the race or being a serious contender for the title. In Augusta, every shot counts, and the American is proving he is ready to fight to the end, with his driver finally tuned to perfection. The 2026 Masters promises to be a spectacle, and Brooks Koepka is gearing up to shine.
