Brooks Koepka underlines Masters credentials with victory in Orlando
Former world No1 Brooks Koepka has welcomed his return to form ahead of this week’s Masters after becoming the first player to win two individual LIV Golf titles.
Koepka beat Sebastian Munoz by one shot at Orange County National, Orlando, on Sunday night to boost his hopes of winning a fourth major at Augusta National this week.
“I’ve been playing good for a few weeks,” said Koepka, whose Smash outfit were edged into second in the team competition by Joaquin Niemann’s Torque.
“It just hasn’t really shown on the scorecard, making dumb mistakes. It was nice to come out this week and play mistake-free pretty much.
“I’m very happy to get the win. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the team win, which is a little bittersweet. But look, I’m happy the way I’m playing going into Augusta.”
Koepka shot a final round of 68 to finish on 15 under par for the three rounds, just enough to beat Munoz, who piled on the pressure with a 66.
While it wasn’t enough to force a play-off for the individual crown, Munoz’s five-under-par last 18 holes did swing the team battle in the favour of Torque, who also include Mito Pereira and David Puig.
“It’s pretty awesome,” said skipper Niemann. “The chemistry between the four of us is pretty good since day one. All the practice rounds, the games we do, it’s pretty easy for the four of us to hang out together.
“I think we knew we could win since the first week. It just came a little bit later than we thought, actually.”
Koepka’s victory in the third event of the new LIV Golf League format was his second overall in the big-money breakaway circuit, having also won in Bangkok during the Invitational Series last year.