Last week, we saw Brooks Koepka showing us a glimpse of his old form at the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Finishing tied for 12th for the week, this was a solid performance. He failed to make the cut in the first two majors of 2025 and was also experiencing a slump on LIV Golf, with his last victory in 2024. With things seeming to have turned around, Koepka deserved a celebration. And what better way to celebrate than cheering for your favorite team in the NHL?
Brooks Koepka’s love for the Florida Panthers
We all know Brooks Koepka has always been a fan of the Florida Panthers since he was a child. So much so that in 2023, following his PGA Championship victory, Koepka donned a Panthers jersey and received loud applause from the crowd when he hoisted his Wannamaker trophy at the Eastern Conference finals, where the Panthers took a commanding 3-0 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes. He was even spotted at the Stanley Cup finals the same year and in 2024.
Even this year, Koepka was spotted at the Stanley Cup finals on Tuesday to watch the Florida Panthers go against the Edmonton Oilers, and he was not alone. To accompany him were fellow LIV player Dustin Johnson and his wife, Paulina Gretzky. While Koepka had a decent finish at the major last week, Johnson failed to find his form at Oakmont and missed the cut. But cut or not, Johnson didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to spend some time with his good pal, Koepka, as the two watched the Stanley Cup finals and ultimately watched their favorite team win dominantly. With this win, the FLAPanthers are back-to-back Stanley Cup winners.
While the trio caught up with the game, Koepka’s wife, Jena Sims, was missing from the picture. We know Sims and Koepka often spend a lot of time together. She was also with Koepka at the U.S. Open’s glamorous opening night at Oakmont Country Club last week and was spotted with their son at the range while they watched Brooks Koepka fine-tune his swing for the weekend. Before going to the game, Koepka spent some time with Crew in the pool.
LIV Golf stars Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson are in attendance for game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/YWLSYbq3pr
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) June 18, 2025
Koepka’s love for the Panthers is a known tale, but it hasn’t been without controversy.
When Koepka attended a Florida Panthers game last year, the team’s defenseman, Aaron Ekblad, had his sweet revenge on Koepka when he called out the major champion during the Stanley Cup Parade. “F–k you, Brooks Koepka,” was Ekblad’s slogan while he posed with a traffic cone, screaming at Koepka. But this was only in response to Koepka’s incident in 2023, when he showed up to a Panthers’ game with a few buddies and held up a traffic cone while he screamed at Ekblad. He hinted at Ekblad’s performance being terrible in that game and used a traffic cone to imply that he was serving no purpose on the ice other than being in the way of other players. The two eventually cleared out their differences, and we can only hope that Koepka maintains decorum this time around.
While Sims missed the Stanley Cup finals this time, as she probably wanted to spend some time with her son, who is barely two years old, she has never failed to support her husband’s NHL passion in the past.
Jena Sims’ experiences with the Panthers in the past
In 2023, when Jena Sims was pregnant, she was there to support Koepka, alongside Dustin Johnson & Paulina Gretzky, while he watched the NHL game with his favorite team play against the Dallas Stars. This was the next day after Koepka had won his fifth major at the 2023 PGA Championship. While Jena Sims did come out in support of her husband’s favorite team, she also secretly hoped that the Dallas Stars won the game so she could get back to focusing on her work. “Secretly hoping Dallas hockey advances so we have an excuse to come see y’all soon,” Sims jokingly captioned a photo on her Instagram.
A few weeks before this, Koepka could not catch one of the Florida Panthers’ games against the Boston Bruins in person because he was away from home playing at LIV Golf’s Far East Adventure in May 2023. However, he managed to catch some moments from the game mid-flight, and his wife captured the hilarious scenes of Koepka’s changing expressions. She posted a series of stories, capturing Koepka’s desperate moments from hoping his favorite team wins, and captioned it—”Somebody is a happy man,” as the major champion continued to watch the game in peak anxiety.
Did you catch the Panthers play?
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