Forget the 54-hole jokes that Brooks Koepka had to endure at the Masters. Overcoming some stumbles along the way, Koepka responded when he had to and never lost the lead on the final day at Oak Hill Country Club in winning his fifth major and third PGA Championship during a thrilling final round that saw him hold off a resilient Viktor Hovland and a hard-charging Scottie Scheffler.
Koepka made seven birdies on the final day, all from 11 feet or closer as his irons were on target. His birdies on holes two to four were from four, four and nine feet, respectively, and then he rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th. An 11-footer for birdie at the 12th followed but it was the 10-footer for par at the 13th that kept the momentum, perhaps spurring Koepka to blast his drive at the uphill 290-metre, par-4 14th onto the fringe, leading to another birdie before adding one more after a pitching wedge from 143 metres at the 16th stopped a few feet away and sealed the deal.
Koepka’s irons are Srixon’s ZX7 Mk II, the follow-up to the ZX7 irons Kopeka first put into play at the 2021 American Express. “I Just felt like the irons were going a little bit higher,” he said when asked at the 2021 Waste Management Phoenix Open, which he won, what he liked about the clubs. “The ball flight was pretty good. The way the sole goes through the turf. They don’t stick, [which is good] because I do come in pretty steep on it.”
The new version features a face that has 12 percent less face displacement, leading to more consistency. The irons also feature a lower blade height to allow players the ability to flight their short irons lower with more control.
Changing to the new irons was probably not a big deal for Koepka, who told Golf Digest several years ago his attitude on the topic. “We’re trying new clubs all the time, new shafts all the time. When you have access to all this it’s not a big deal, even when switching brands. At least not for me. After a couple of hundred balls I don’t even notice it.”
Kopeka was solid on the greens as well, with no three-putts all week and several clutch makes. His putter remains the Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport 2 SLT T10 he put back in the bag after Nike exited the equipment business in August 2016. The putter, which boasts a T10 Terylium insert and has BK stamped on the front toe, helped Koepka tie Rory McIlroy’s US Open scoring record of 16-under par and has been in the bag for all five of his major championship wins.
It was the huge tee shot at 14, however, that was most impressive. Koepka’s driver is a Srixon ZX5 LS Mk II driver at 10.5 degrees with a Mitsubishi Diamana White D+ 70TX shaft. Koepka switched from the company’s ZX7 model at the LIV event in Tucson earlier this year and for the Masters bumped up the loft a degree from 8 to 9 degrees and then later added more loft to avoid hanging back during his swing to get elevation on his tee shots, which was important to hold the green at the 14th. For the week Koepka picked up nearly 14 shots on the field tee-to-green, ranking fourth.
All of which allowed Koepka to elevate the Wanamaker Trophy for a third time.
What Brooks Koepka had in the bag at the 2023 PGA Championship:
Ball: Srixon Z-Star Diamond
Driver: Srixon ZX5 MKII (Mitsubishi Diamana White D+ 70TX shaft), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade M2 (2017), 16.5 degrees
Irons (3): Nike Vapor Fly Pro; (4-9): Srixon ZX7 MKII; (PW): Cleveland RTX ZipCore
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 6 (52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport 2 SLT T10
