Brooks Koepka back to full strength after knee injury

LAS VEGAS – Brooks Koepka won three times last season, including the PGA Championship. Even more impressive, it turns out he was nursing a knee injury and wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

Now he’s back to full strength.

Look out.

Koepka makes his season debut this week at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and revealed that shortly after the FedExCup Playoffs, he had a painful procedure done on his left knee.

“I wasn't healthy. I had some stem cell (therapy) done on my knee. My patella tendon was partially torn,” Koepka revealed.

“Got to go in there and inject it. I was watching it on the screen as they were doing it and it was probably one of the most painful things. I was screaming when they did it.

“I limped out of there. I was limping for probably two, three days after, and then it's just about trying to grow the muscles around it. Try to get strong again, rest it. That's kind of how we went with it, doing a little rehab. The important thing was to not walk with a limp. Those three days you're kind of off your feet.”

Koepka began hitting full shots about a week and a half ago. He is excited about dedicating some time to practice, having not done so last season. Most assumed he didn’t practice on purpose; Koepka now says he had no choice.

Last week, he spent time with his putting coach and swing coach and believes he’s ready to fire right out of the gate this season.

“Last year I didn't practice at all. I mean, I vocalized that, said I hadn't practiced... I can finally practice again, which is nice, without pain,” he said.

“My game feels really good right now. I'm prepared for a tournament for once. If you look at my results it's always been the first week out I struggle, and that's because I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing because I haven't been able to practice. Second week out is a lot better and third week is good, but it's nice to hopefully break that trend.”

It is also the first time Koepka has been seen since losing the PGA TOUR Player of the Year vote in a battle with FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy. Having often looked for perceived slights to elevate his focus, Koepka was matter-of-fact.

“I don't play for awards. I just play to win, win trophies, win tournaments,” he said in his Wednesday press conference.

“Yeah, it would've been great, but I think everybody in this room knows LeBron (James) has only won four MVPs and I'm pretty sure he's been the best player for more than just four years.

“I've got five, six years left of probably my prime I guess you could say. I want to see how far I can take it. I'm a little extra motivated. Feeling 100% is nice, but extremely motivated to see how far I can push it.”