PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Brooks Koepka has a lot on his mind these days: He’ll play in The Players Championship in a couple weeks, part of his buildup to get ready for the Masters.
Also in his thoughts: the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And no, he isn’t giving up on his Florida Panthers.
Koepka — a South Florida native, a big Panthers fan and someone who has made no secret of how much he has enjoyed their runs to the last three Stanley Cup Finals and the last two championships — said Sunday that he still thinks they can make a playoff run this season, even though the current standings suggest that’s unlikely.
“I hope so,” he said Sunday after finishing his round at the Cognizant Classic, about an hour up the road from the arena that the Panthers call home. “It’s going to be tough.”
Koepka, playing only a short drive from his home, shot a final-round 65 on Sunday, finishing at 10 under for the week at PGA National. It was his third tournament and second made cut since he returned to the PGA Tour after about four years playing LIV Golf.
The Panthers have been crushed by injuries this season, with captain Aleksander Barkov yet to play because of knee surgery, defenseman Dmitry Kulikov limited to two games and Olympic gold medalist Matthew Tkachuk missing 47 games while recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor. They entered Sunday eight points out of a wild-card spot with 23 games remaining.
Koepka, like many fans, wonders if all the games over the last four seasons are taking a toll.
“I think with three years in a row making the Stanley Cup (Final), it’s tough to stay healthy that long, and then riding a high of the Olympics, too,” Koepka said. “I hope they do, but I’ll be there if I can.”
That wouldn’t be a surprise. It’s not exactly an unusual occurrence for him to go to Panthers games when his schedule allows.
Koepka has been to plenty over the years, including one of Florida’s Eastern Conference finals games in 2023 — the day after he won the PGA Championship. He brought the Wanamaker Trophy with him to that game, then watched the Panthers hoist their own big, silver trophies in each of the last two seasons. (He also famously used a traffic cone at a Panthers game in 2023 to mock defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who got a profane bit of revenge at the team’s championship parade a year later.)
That all said, Koepka still seems confident in his club.
“Don’t worry,” he said.
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