Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler miss cut at The Honda Classic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Brooks Koepka didn’t seem concerned with missing the cut in his hometown event at The Honda Classic. The penal nature of PGA National’s Champion course was the culprit, he said.

Koepka hit four shots into the water over two rounds and racked up three double bogeys and a triple. He signed for consecutive 74s to finish well outside the cut line.

“I struck it really well. Really pleased with how I’m hitting it,” said Koepka, who made just one birdie Friday. “I just haven’t putted well, and every time I have missed (a shot), … I just end up in the worst place possible. It is very easy out here to turn a decent round into what can be a little bit of a disaster.”

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This was Koepka’s fourth start of the season. He’s completed 72 holes just once, a T43 at The Genesis Invitational. The Honda Classic is the first of five consecutive starts for the four-time major champion.

Koepka lost more than four strokes on the greens this week and lost nearly two strokes with his approach play.

He said his putting struggles started at the end of last year, leading him to change putter grips.

“It feels great, and I struck it really well on the putting green, but then it's another thing when the gun goes off,” Koepka said. “I think every golfer kind of knows that, and you can feel a little bit different.”

He was hardly the only big name to go home early. Rickie Fowler (76-68), the 2017 Honda champion, Justin Rose (72-74) and defending champion Keith Mitchell (75-72) also missed the cut, as did the winner of last week’s Puerto Rico Open, Viktor Hovland (77-73).

Fowler made the turn in 2 under but his rally was derailed with bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14. He birdied 15 and 18 but fell one shot short of the cutline.

Rose also struggled on the back nine. He was just 1 over for the tournament through 12 holes, but played his last six holes in 5 over par. That includes a double-bogey at the par-3 15th.