Brooks Koepka’s 72 on day one at Augusta now looks incredible after what he discovered on the range

Koepka was heavily fancied to win The Masters and while that may not happen, a top 10 finish at Augusta National would be a sign that he is definitely making progress.

Rory McIlroy‘s six-shot lead looks insurmountable, and the nine deficit that Koepka faces with just 36 holes left to play means that winning the Masters will be almost impossible for the American.

However, perhaps he would be a lot closer to McIlroy right now, if he had been more diligent ahead of his opening round.

Why Brooks Koepka’s 72 on day one at Augusta now looks incredible

Koepka hit the ball so much better off the tee during his second round on Friday than he did on day one at Augusta National.

And that was clearly not a coincidence.

The 35-year-old failed to notice something absolutely crucial ahead of his first round on Thursday.

Koepka spoke to reporters after his round and explained why his driving was so much better.

“Yeah, just drove it better,“ the five-time major winner said.

“Some of my settings on the driver switched if A1 to B1. No one noticed it.

“Switched back to A1, which is what we usually had it, and just driving it better.“

Major Masters error from Brooks Koepka

Firstly, it’s utterly bizarre how his driver settings changed in the first place. It’s not as if you can change them accidentally.

He must have changed it at some point while on the driving range and forgot to move it back to its original setting.

Secondly, the fact that Koepka didn’t check the setup on his driver before he teed off on day one of The Masters was a really big error for someone so experienced.

If he shoots a couple of rounds in the 60s at Augusta over the weekend and misses out on a green jacket by one or two strokes, the error he made with his driver on day one will seriously haunt him.

The only positive is that he will undoubtedly learn from the mistake that he made on Thursday at Augusta National.