By Matt Smith
Brooks Koepka and his longtime friend Peter Uihlein starred during a thrilling day at the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah on Saturday to set up a final-day showdown between the two Smash teammates.

Captain Koepka and Uilhein traded blows all day — Uilhein starting on hole 2 and Koepka on 1 in the shotgun start at Royal Greens. Uilhein got off to a flying start to draw level with his team skipper and then they went round in almost identical scoring, both even making a double-bogey on 13.

It was a decisive eagle-birdie finish on 18 and 1 for Uihlein that allowed him to break the deadlock and take a one-stroke lead into the final round on Sunday.

After the ding-dong battle, Koepka was thrilled for his teammate and was relishing playing alongside him in the final pairing for the first time on Sunday.

Speaking to the media together after the round, the camaraderie between the two was clear to be seen

“I don’t think we’ve played together in a tournament, have we?” asked Uilhein.

Koepka replied: “Yeah, I don’t think so. I can think all the way back to Challenge Tour days, and I don’t remember anything. When you play with a teammate, it’s always fun, and then competing for the team thing and the individual thing, I think it’ll be exciting. I haven’t been in this position, so it’s exciting. Got the juices flowing, and it’s always good.”

And so it went on when they discussed the double-bogeys.
Uihlein: “Yeah, I fatted it in the water.”
Koepka: “Yeah, I watched that.”
Uilhein: “I drove it quite well other than one hole [13]. I was on the wrong hole. Yeah, that was left. That was an accident.”
Koepka: “I thought it was on purpose.”

On a more serious note, Uilhein is hoping to finally converting getting into a good position on Sunday into a victory.

“This will be the third time I’m in the final group in these LIV events, so just trying to keep getting comfortable, keep putting myself in these situations to have a chance to win,” he said.

“Obviously I’ve got a world-class player [Koepka] over here, one of the best out here chasing me down, so it should be fun. That’s the stuff you want.”

The team element is also playing on their mind as a win in Jeddah will help their seeding for the Team Championship in Miami at the end of the month.

“I think the team thing is really cool,” said Koepka, whose brother Chase and Jason Kokrak make up the Smash quartet. “In Chicago I was out of it individually, but when you’re not playing well, you’ve still got to fight for the team and be competitive. It’s one of those things where you have a bad day, you’ve still got two more and try to help the team and do what you can.

“I’ve found myself staring at the leaderboard, seeing how these guys are doing more than anything. I’m a leaderboard watcher. I always look at it, see what’s going on, but I’m always trying to figure out what Pete is doing, what Jay is doing and my brother. It makes it fun and entertaining when you’re out there and you’ve got someone to root for.”

Uilhein added: “We can’t get into the fourth spot that would mean a first-round bye in Miami, but getting into the fifth spot, at least that puts a lot of power in our position that we can kind of choose who we want to play, which is pretty important in that first round.

“We have a lot to play for on Sunday.”

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