Brooks Koepka’s knee hasn’t gotten much better over the past several months.
The former top-ranked golfer in the world, however, isn’t planning on undergoing surgery anytime soon.
He’ll compete both this week at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and at next week’s PGA Championship — events he won last season — and wait until the season ends before making any decisions.
“The tear has to be worse to go under the knife, but we’ll see how it goes,” Koepka said Wednesday. “We’ll see when my season ends and go get stem cell again, most likely, and then figure it out from there.”
Koepka underwent a stem cell treatment on his left knee to repair a partially torn patella tendon right after last season ended. He tried to make his season debut a few months later, though withdrew from The CJ Cup in South Korea in October after he slipped on wet concrete and re-tore the tendon.
Koepka has struggled since play resumed after the COVID-19 hiatus, missing the cut in two of the five events he’s played in — including last week’s 3M Open. He finished T62 at the Memorial Tournament the week before, too, and fallen outside of the top-125 in the FedExCup standings.
He’s running out of time to make a move into the FedExCup Playoffs, too. There are only three events left before the first of three playoff events, and Koepka needs to find a way back into the top-125 to extend his season.
“It’s definitely been frustrating,” Koepka said. “It will test you mentally, but at the same time I’m looking at it as a challenge and something where I know it will turn around eventually. It’s going to turn around. You don’t work that hard for nothing. “[I’m] starting to see signs of [improvement]. Now it’s just about going and doing it.
If there were ever a time to make a move, it’d be this week — at an event he won by three strokes last year.
And even though his play hasn’t been great, his confidence level is still sky-high.
“I’m defending [this week], aren’t I?” Koepka said with a smile.
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