Brooks Koepka says everything should be fine, despite admitting that his knee is still broken ahead of this week’s 85th Masters.
The world number 11 will bid to earn his first Green Jacket playing through the pain, insisting his knee only hurts when going downhill, not great news on a course as undulating as Augusta National.
“Yeah, it puts all the pressure on the patella, so considering I dislocated and I’ve got a bunch of — I don’t know even what they put in there, but there’s a bunch of stuff going on in there that can cause a pain right where the brace is,” Koepka explained. “It’s probably the most sensitive spot, so it’s going to pull. It’s going to hurt downhill.”
“There’s like an internal brace they put in there right where the screw is. I don’t even know if it’s a screw. I don’t even know exactly what it is. It’s probably the most sensitive part of the knee, the kneecap. They had to put it there just because it’s still broken.”
Koepka, who has four Major titles to his name, still insists that the battle this week will be a mental one and not a physical one.
“I’ve told Doc, I told everybody, the whole rehab process is all mental,” Koepka added. “Two days after trying to go around on a bike, you know your knee can actually do it, it’s just whether you allow it to do it. All the connectors from your brain to everything, so you’ve just got to push yourself, and it’s painful at times. The rehab was strenuous, but I’ll be all right.”
That’s not to say there won’t be precautions. Although Koepka can go through his practice routine as normal, his knee has been prone to swelling in between practice, something that will need constant managing this week, while expect some interesting poses from Koepka around the greens in Georgia given he’s struggling to bend down because of the injury.
“Yeah, I can’t bend down,” Koepka said. “My knee doesn’t go. I mean, that’s the most stress you’re going to have on your patella. I don’t have that much motion in my knee. Prone I can get it to about 90 degrees and that’s about it. But getting down, I’m not going to be — it’s going to look funny, I know that. But what are you going to do.”
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