Brooks Koepka surprisingly lacked a clinical edge in the majors in 2021, finishing a second-straight season without adding to his collection of crowns. The American has become synonymous with major victories due to his exceptional closing abilities under the greatest pressures, winning four titles between a stretch of eight competitions from 2017 to 2019. Koepka produced levels of brilliance at the majors not seen since the days of Tiger Woods at the peak of his powers. However, since narrowly missing out at the US Open in 2019, Koepka has gone seven tournaments without winning a major, and even missed the cut at The Masters in 2021.
The 31-year-old is an outsider in he Masters betting tips at 18/1 for the 2022 competition, which is partly due to his recent lack of form and his own issues at Augusta. The course in Georgia has a psychological hold over many players, even the best in the game. Koepka joined their company in 2019 when he found the creek at the 12th hole and posted a double-bogey. Had the American parred the hole, he would have beaten out Woods for the Green Jacket. However, his misfire has prevented him from adding The Masters to his two US Open and PGA Championship titles.
Koepka missed the 2020 tournament and then failed to reach the final two rounds of the event in 2021, missing the cut and ending a fine record of 24-straight appearances in the late stages of majors. The American bounced back in the rest of the campaign by finishing tied-second at the PGA Championship along with a fourth-place finish at the US Open and sixth place at The Open. The usually clinical Koepka had to take a back seat in the Ryder Cup as he was not quite firing on all cylinders, scoring two points for his four matches, where the USA dominated Europe with a record-breaking win.
It was foreboding for his start to the 2021/22 PGA Tour. Koepka has been off the pace in all the competitions to date in the opening months of the term, recording only one top-10 finish in seven tournaments. Worryingly for Koepka, he has not been competitive in three of those seven competitions, missing the cut at the World Wide Technology Championship, Houston Open and the Farmers Insurance Open.
Since suffering a knee injury during the middle of the 2020 season, he has struggled to find his momentum of the course. It certainly appeared to affect his performance at The Masters in 2021, and although he recovered in the second half of the campaign, the issues have lingered into 2022.
Koepka is a great champion and always seems to raise the level of his game in time for the majors, but Augusta is unforgiving and requires golfers to be at their best throughout their four rounds. Even Koepka cannot turn on his peak form just for The Masters, the demands of the course both tactically and mentally are too overwhelming. He must find his best form to take into the tournament as one false move in Georgia can cost you it all, as he discovered in 2019 like so many before him.