Brooks Koepka got off to a strong start at the PGA Championship on Thursday, and he said the reason went beyond the scorecard. Koepka, chasing a fourth PGA Championship title, was one of 33 players to break 70 in the first round at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia.
The better opening came after a difficult year away from the top of his game. Koepka returned to the PGA Tour this season after four years with LIV Golf, but last year he missed the cut in three of the four majors and finished 31st in the individual LIV standings. He said a lot of family issues took a toll on him and affected his play, adding that it had been easier to come to work when everything at home lined up.
Jena Sims suffered a miscarriage at 16 weeks pregnant in 2025, and Koepka said that was part of what made last year hard to manage. “That was kind of tough to deal with,” he said. He described the season as a stretch when life off the course weighed on him far more than anything he was doing with a club in his hands.
Koepka said the difference now is simple: things are better at home, and that has changed the way he feels walking into work. “Everything’s a lot better. Last year was just difficult personally with what was going on off the golf course, nothing to do on it. It was just off,” he said. Koepka added that the better his life is away from the game, the easier it is to enjoy the game itself.
That shift matters because Koepka has spent much of the past year looking like a player searching for himself. He said last year was the first time in a long while he had not been having fun on the course, and he called himself very frustrated. Last week, he told Golf.com that he had refound his happiness and his love for the game, and on Thursday he echoed that feeling again, saying he was in a better place and that the fresh start had made being out there feel exciting.
The timing is important for Koepka, who has won the PGA Championship in 2018, 2019 and 2023. Walter Hagen, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are the only four-time winners of the event, and Koepka is now trying to join them after a year in which both his personal life and his results were out of sync. His opening round suggested the reset may be taking hold, but the test now is whether it lasts for four days.
