Despite bad outings at the ANGC and Quail Hollow, Brooks Koepka seemed to have returned to his form with a T12 finish at the US Opens. The things, apparently, got so bad that he still continues to say how “you wouldn’t want to be around me” and how “I had to apologize — I’ve apologized to Rick, Pete, Jeff, Blake, my wife, my son, everybody.” Still, when it came to some family and me time, Koepka was all up. After spending some time with his son at the park and then later cheering on his favorite NHL team, the consecutive champions– the Florida Panthers– he was back on the greens. Now you would think the physical and mental rest would help his play improve, but the story entering Dallas wasn’t so.

At the Maridoe Golf Club during the LIV Dallas event’s round 1, Koepka started strong with a birdie on the opening hole, but things went decidedly downhill from there. A triple bogey on the par-4 4th and the par-5 7th was enough to get him frustrated. But just then his emotions flared on par-4 9th. As soon as he hit his tee shot, he knew the shot wouldn’t go the way he wanted. Unhappy and annoyed, he smashed his driver right there only to turn and hit the tee marker into the crowd lining the tee box. Fortunately, no spectator was hurt. But with the poor shot ending as a bogey and his name at a +6 on the leaderboard, Koepka withdrew from the round citing illness.

Now things may have gone wrong again for the 35-year-old, but priority to be with the family has not. Only minutes ago, Jena Sims shared stories, giving her followers a glimpse of her happy family.

One of them showed Koepka holding Junie, a kitten, in his hands as Crew walks by, rolling a toy grass mower with a caption “lol.” The last time around, the 5-time major winner avoided his family after disappointing performances at the Masters and the PGA Championship. However, he has chosen an alternate path this time after the conclusion of LIV Golf Dallas 2025, which saw Patrick Reed beat the field to lift the title.

Another story showed the kitten scared which apparently was because of their black Labrador as she shifted the blame writing, “Cove has that effect.” And finally was a reveal of who the kitten really was of. In that story, Sims wrote, “Meet Crew’s new niece, Junie.” Sims further added, “She’s @sammmtini and @chasekoepka new baby. ” Looks like the Koepka family has just grown by 1 as Crew has a new “cousin,” as a fan corrected Sims in DMs, in the house.

While the events at the Maridoe Golf Club might be over, Brooks Koepka will have a few more opportunities to make up for the mistakes he made in Dallas with his upcoming schedule.

Brooks Koepka’s next big challenges

Two main goals lay ahead for Brooks Koepka: the 2025 Open Championship at Portrush and making the squad for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage. A strong performance in Northern Ireland will certainly help convince Keegan Bradley to consider the Jupiter local as a captain’s pick. However, Koepka will also have other opportunities to showcase his abilities before the final squad is decided.

LIV Golf will have 4 more events before the last day of qualification on merit for the Team U.S. squad in the Ryder Cup. Koepka & the Crushers GC will visit Andalucia, the U.K., Chicago, and Indianapolis, the last of which will end on August 17, 2025. According to the Ryder Cup Team U.S. leaderboard, that will be the last date the top-6 will be confirmed. There won’t be any changes in the points after that.

A win in the Open Championship will certainly help Brooks Koepka’s cause. But if he still doesn’t make the top 6, then his fate in the 12-man squad will also be up for grabs in the days that follow. Considering that the 35-year-old was invited by Keegan Bradley to the Team U.S. Ryder Cup dinner a few weeks ago, he’s still a firm favorite to make it.