Copying Scottie Scheffler Pays Off as Brooks Koepka Finds Form Again on the PGA Tour

Mar 2, 2026, 4:07 AM CUT

At the 2026 Cognizant Classic, Brooks Koepka redefined his recent pattern of finishes by earning his best finish since his return to the PGA Tour. Koepka, a five-time major champion, has started to look dangerous again on the Champion Course.

This comes after Koepka had been struggling with the flat stick. As a result of being dead last in putting stats at Torrey Pines, he decided to put his legendary Scotty Cameron blade putter in the bag.

Feeling the need to change his mallet putter, some hypothesized that he would begin to mirror Scottie Scheffler. Koepka ended up putting the TaylorMade Spider Tour X mallet in the bag, which Scheffler plays.

Koepka was able to turn his poor play around after a Thursday night putting session during a tournament at PGA National. Koepka changed some of his hand positioning while practicing to make the feel of the putter more consistent.

Koepka was able to put his lack of confidence to rest when he stated, "Putter obviously has gotten better. I have not looked at the stats, but just that little adjustment Thursday night made a huge difference. Finally found some confidence. I think that is the one thing that's been lacking."

Koepka ascended the leaderboard and finished tied for ninth after noting the statistical turnaround was immediate.

The Blueprint for a Major Comeback

In addition to a new putter, Koepka has made the surprising change to the Titleist Pro V1x golf ball. This change is exciting, as he attempts to adopt the technological advances that top players are now using.

The gear change has also become commonplace among top pros, where the shift to high-MOI mallets changed a ball-striking specialist into a dominant winner. Koepka is also getting similar stability in his stroke.

The new mallet gives him the "conservatively aggressive" stability he needed to return to that part of his game.

As for his confidence going into the Florida swing, Koepka stated, "It will carry over for sure. Honestly, it was just the putter." After working through his first comeback, he feels at home within the ropes again.

With the primary season getting closer, the ex-World No. 1 is focusing on his rhythm for the time being over results. The Cognizant Classic showed that his winning form should be just around the corner.

Written by

Abhishek Sharma

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu