Houston homecoming for Brooks Koepka at course with his imprint

Brooks Koepka already has a number of accolades to his credit, but signature golf course designer would be a new one.

Yet that nomenclature isn't far off, because when Koepka returns to former home Houston this week for the Texas Children's Houston Open, he'll be teeing off on a course he helped redesign at Memorial Park.

"It's cool to see," Koepka said. "This is the first time I've seen it in kind of the overseed, and the golf course a little more mature, so it's fun to see how much it's developed.

"This is kind of how I envisioned the golf course being played when we were walking it and doing it."

A nine-time winner on the PGA Tour, Koepka is quick to minimize his role in the redesign, which came about through his friendship with Houston Astros owner Jim Crane.

Crane and his president of the Astros Golf Foundation, Giles Kibbe, brought Koepka in to consult with lead architect Tom Doak on the $34 million project.

That included input on specific holes. Koepka recalls the par-3 15th in particular was a point of conversation.

"We were down there and (Doak) kind of talked about some things that I see in the modern day golf stuff today. I think one thing that drives me nuts is these par 3s are all 250 and they're made for a 7-iron. But then again, you look at all the iconic par 3s, the best par 3s in the world and they're all 150, 160 yards. The best par 3s in the world that you can think of are all in that range or shorter.

"You make a difficult green with some trouble, you've really got to control your flight, spin. I think that was kind of the idea behind it. I didn't want much of the 3-iron and above, or 4-iron and above par 3s. We see enough of those."

That course familiarity can't hurt the 35-year-old as he looks to build off of three straight top-20 finishes and get into top form as the Masters looms right around the corner.

Most recently, he finished in a tie for 18th at the Valspar Championship a week ago. That came on the heels of a tie for 13th at The Players, and a tie for ninth at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

Despite boasting five major championships -- PGA Championship in 2018-19, '23 and U.S. Open in 2017-18 -- Koepka has yet to break through at Augusta, finishing as runner-up in 2019 and 2023.

The elusive green jacket is top of mind.

"Yeah, I do feel like (my game) is ready," he said. "The only thing is I really haven't put myself in contention with nine holes to go. That's really the last missing piece that I feel like I need to accomplish here before Augusta.

"I just need to be able to put myself and get those feelings again. And especially out here, competing against unbelievable players on a difficult golf course would be what I need to do for the final prep for Augusta."

--Field Level Media