AUGUSTA, Ga. — The notion that players who joined the LIV Golf League would risk being sharp and properly prepared for the major championship tournaments doesn’t apply to Brooks Koepka.
It never really mattered how much or how well Koepka was playing. The majors always seemed to bring out his best.
Based on two rounds at the Masters, they still do.
Gaining confidence and a bit of swagger in his step, Koepka breezed around Augusta National without a bogey on Friday for a 5-under-par 67, giving him the lead over U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett and allowing him to take shelter as the weather became a force.
Storms stopped the tournament for 21 minutes in mid-afternoon. Less than an hour after play resumed, it was stopped again as gusts raged through the Georgia pines and felled at least three trees that crashed near spectators along the 17th tee.