GENESIS SCOTTISH OPEN

July 8, 2026

Brooks Koepka

The Renaissance Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Brooks Koepka, making his Genesis Scottish Open debut. Tell us your thoughts on being in Scotland this week.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Excited to be here. It's always exciting to play links golf. It's so much fun. You have to be so creative. I enjoy that part of it. Looking for a good week. Golf course seems to be in good shape. It's a good setup, and it's good prep for next week.

Q. Just wondered what it was like coming back here and what memories it evoked from your younger days in golf? You had some great times in Scotland carrying on around this area. Can you tell us about some of them?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, 2012, I think came over. That was really -- I enjoyed it. I've said it a million times. Some of the funnest times I've ever had playing golf was on The Challenge Tour.

Yeah, travelling the world and played really well in '13, won, I believe, Aberdeen. Yeah, I love links golf. It's so, I just said it a minute ago, it's so fun and creative. You can stand over a shot and see six shots that you want to hit. It's always fun.

It's something I enjoy, coming to this part of the world, and playing in wind and playing in different conditions. I wish we played it more.

Q. And was it a social aspect as much as anything. Helped you grow up quite a bit, I believe?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, that was start of the great run on The Challenge Tour and European Tour. Propelled me to why I feel like I'm in the position that I'm in now. It was a great start.

Q. Where is your game coming into this week, and can you talk about the challenge of this golf course compared to some of the other links courses you've played in the U.K.?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, I think this place is definitely more demanding on certain holes. I think there's -- if the wind direction is like it was today, some of the longer holes can play quite long, and short holes can play very short and you can be very aggressive. Especially if you drive the ball well here, you're going to have a good look at being able to get the ball close and shoot a good score.

Q. Could still be some bumps in the road to come but we have Jon Rahm and Tyrrell and other LIV players playing here this week. Is this the start of us hopefully getting back to normality, so to speak?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I'm not a part of those conversations, so I don't know.

Q. Would you like to see that?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I don't have an opinion either way. I'm more focused on myself. I think that's the one thing I think I've learned through all of this is if I can just focus on myself and be the best golfer, best father, husband, whatever, I'm doing more than I want to do right now, and being present with them and play good golf.

I feel like that's all that matters to me. What happens to everybody else, I'm not so concerned with.

Q. When did you find out you had WD'd from this tournament?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, there was a bit of a panic, I guess, on Sunday. I called my agent, Blake Smith, in a bit of a panic. Because I got a few text messages that I had withdrawn, and then I went on the -- what do we call it, like the PGA TOUR, our little app?

THE MODERATOR: Central.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Use it a lot.

Q. You don't use it a lot.

BROOKS KOEPKA: Yeah, probably first time I used it in a while, since it got downloaded in my phone. I didn't see any name, either, and I was in a little bit of a panic. I knew he was out in Vegas. It's 7.00am in Vegas. Probably not going to reach anybody. There was a few, probably two hours of complete panic of what had gone on. I couldn't figure it out.

So, I'm here.

Q. To go back, you mentioned this earlier but this would have been your first Tour event after you got the instant promotion. What do you miss about those days? As much as the success you've had and so much about your life that's changed, is there something fun about those days when you were just travelling and scrapping and the people you met?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I think there's multiple aspects of that. I think maybe one reason why the Europeans do so well in maybe the Ryder Cups is the team atmosphere.

When I was over here in, let's just call it '12 to '15, there's probably two plane flights that every player is on. Everyone is travelling together. Getting cars together. Whether it be taxis or some kind of car service, you kind of pile in, and whether you knew them or you didn't, you knew they played on Tour, and you got to know guys quite a lot better.

Obviously as I've gotten older, things have changed a little bit. It's tough, right. I know the older you get, your family might be travelling or around a little bit more. I know mine is, which is fantastic and I love.

But I just remember in those days, it was just the player or the caddies or whatever it might be, and everybody was very, very close. I don't know, there's something to be said; everybody hops in the courtesy car, hops on the private jet and goes to the same place, and there's probably five planes with five individual guys going to the same place. So it's a little different.

Q. I wondered about your own situation right now. You're still on the outside looking in to those Signature Events for next year. How focused are you on that and how does that impact what you're going to do here coming up?

BROOKS KOEPKA: It's not going to impact anything I do. I feel like, I've said it multiple tiles, good play takes care of itself. I've got an opportunity to go out there and go play well this week.

And next week is a major, so it's a lot more opportunity to kind of move up the board, I guess, and just looking forward to that, and then hopefully kind of finish out the year pretty strong.

Q. What have you been -- given your transition, what have you been pleased with and what have you been disappointed with?

BROOKS KOEPKA: My transition?

Q. You got a better word for it?

BROOKS KOEPKA: Word play --

Q. You're doing it well.

BROOKS KOEPKA: What have I been most pleased with? I think -- yeah, I think I've been most pleased with -- this is probably going to come across a little selfish, but just the happiness that I have. Maybe a weight lifted off my shoulders, or it's not -- kept it a secret for a little while. So it's not the easiest thing.

But I just see the happiness. I look at I'm able to be around my son a lot more. Jena is able to be around and they are able to travel to a lot more events. Things like that, that stuff brings me happiness.

Whether I play good or whether I play bad, I walk off the 18th green, my wife and son are standing right there and, it's cool, no matter -- my son doesn't care if I shoot 80 or 65, he doesn't know the difference. It's "Da-Da"; he goes that way and runs towards me. That's cool. Having them around has been amazing, and takes a little bit of the pressure way from when you're playing.

And then most disappointing thing? My putting. Listen, I played great. I feel like last year I wasn't in the head space to actually play good golf, and now that everything is kind of cleared up and I'm in a better -- we all have that, right? It's life.

Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's difficult. There's a lot of stuff, like I said, off the golf course, on the golf course, didn't matter. Didn't feel like I could catch a break, as a player, as a person, as a family. Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Perfect. On that, we will wrap it up. Brooks, thank you for the time.