Brooks Koepka shoots bogey-free 63 at Kapalua to jump into 2nd
Brooks Koepka dominated the Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui on Saturday, to the tune of 10 birdies and no dropped shots. The 63 was the round of the day, one better than Jimmy Walker.
“I didn’t miss a shot all day,” he said, according to Golf Digest. There was the one.
“Well, there was the near-shank on 18. But that was about it.”
Koepka, who was one of the high-profile players to swap equipment staffs in the off-season with a move to Nike, is already feeling confident with his new equipment, suggesting he’s actually gotten even longer off the tee wih his new sticks than he had been in the past.
The Florida State product, who got in this winners-only event with a win last year in Phoenix, closed the front nine with six consecutive birdies, then added four more on the back side. The tally left him one off the course record.
And yet, Koepka was only able to make up two shots on leader Jordan Spieth, who, after a third-round 65, leads the new Nike Golf staffer by five shots heading into the final round of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
Koepka will get to try to stare down Spieth playing alongside him on Sunday. However, down by five, Koepka knows to have any chance, the game plan has to look a lot like Saturday.
He said, “Just got to do it again tomorrow.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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