Koepka keeps alive Masters chances with Saturday 69

Brooks Koepka knows what it’s like to go head-to-head against Tiger Woods on Sunday at a major. And, more importantly, how to hold off Woods when he is making a charge.

That experience could come in handy at the Masters on Sunday.

Koepka shot 3-under-par 69 on Saturday at Augusta National and remains within striking distance at another major. At 10-under par for the tournament, he is three shots behind leader Francesco Molinari and one back of Woods and Tony Finau.

“Same situation,” he said, referring to last year’s PGA Championship, which he won by two strokes over Woods.

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So, how will he handle Woods being the sentimental favorite?

“Not worry what he’s doing or what anybody is doing,” he said. “I just have to go out there and worry about myself and play a solid 18 holes.”

Koepka had four birdies and three bogeys in the first eight holes, running into trouble with his putter, missing an 8-footer on No. 1 and a 5-footer on No. 7. But he settled in, hanging around the leaders by playing even par for the next six holes.

“I felt like I played pretty well, but just some sloppy mistakes, a couple short missed putts, but overall played well,” he said. “Even the putts I missed on the last three holes I thought I made, so rolling it well, just need to give it a little bit more pace.”

On the par-5 15th, his tee shot went 332 yards before he hit a three-quarter 8-iron that landed 10 feet from the pin. The eagle assured him of being within a reasonable striking distance of the top.

“You can really take advantage of the par-5s if you put a good drive into play and hopefully … you need to make birdie there on these par-5s and really give yourself a chance and then try to sneak in one or two on the par-4s,” Koepka said.

Now, the man who has more success at the majors than any other the past two years is in a familiar spot.

“I'm pretty comfortable being up there on the leaderboard in a major come Sunday,” he said. “So I enjoy it, it's fun, getting definitely more comfortable with it as every major goes by. But I feel good and I like my chances tomorrow.”