Saudi success kick-started Koepka recovery toward Masters lead

AUGUSTA: A winning trip to Saudi Arabia seems to have reawakened the major beast inside Brooks Koepka as he snatched a commanding lead midway through the 87th Masters Tournament.

The 32-year-old American shot a 7-under-par 65 on Thursday, and as dark clouds gathered over Augusta on Friday ahead of a dangerous weather system moving in which could hamper scoring later in the day, he added a bogey-free 5-under 67.

That gave him a 4-shot lead over second-placed Sam Bennett, the US Amateur Champion, who has proved to be a surprise package with two consecutive rounds of 68.

The man who won the PGA Championship in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019, and the US Open in 2017 and 2018, said he is very close to his best form after enduring a couple of terrible years as he struggled with an injury when he shattered his left knee in a fall.

Koepka had thought of quitting golf more than once and exactly one year ago at the same Augusta National Golf Club, he was so frustrated with the state of his game and physique that he tried, not once but twice, to smash his fist into the back window of his courtesy Mercedes-Benz car after missing the cut.

Signs of recovery started appearing in his game toward the end of the year following a difficult surgery, and he won the LIV Invitational Jeddah when it was played in King Abdullah Economic City in October.

Koepka admitted he was not in the best of form during that week, but somehow managed to put together a solid performance and then beat his closest friend Peter Uihlein in a playoff.

Koepka, who also won the LIV Invitational Florida a couple weeks ago, said: “I started working with Claude Harmon after the LIV Invitation in Bedminster and there were a few moments where it was like,