Talks between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf have hit another impasse, raising questions if professional golf’s cold war is about to heat up. But, as witnessed in Tuesday’s practice round at Augusta National, least one schism-related beef has been put to bed.

Last month, former Masters champ Fred Couples asserted on a radio show that one of LIV’s marquee attractions was not long for the Saudi-backed circuit. “I talk to Brooks Koepka all the time. I love Brooks Koepka, and I’m not going to say anything extra except I talked to him all the time,” Couples said in a radio interview on KJR 93.3 FM in Seattle before adding a bit more that started speculation about Koepka’s status on LIV Golf. “He wants to come back. I will say that I believe he really wants to come back and play the tour.” Couples has not been shy of throwing the occasional haymaker at the defector league, although this one was not unfounded. There have been rumors of Koepka’s interest in a return for years, and Koepka hasn’t exactly been the biggest advocate of LIV has of late, saying as recently as last week that he thought the league would be further along than it is. Even at the 2023 Masters, after Koepka returned from the competitive wilderness, the bruiser admitted that—had he known his physicality would be revived after fearing his body had betrayed him—he didn’t know if he would have left for LIV.

Still, Koepka was quick to dismiss Couples’ remarks.

“I don’t know where I’m going, so I don’t know how everybody else does,” Koepka said at LIV’s Singapore event. “Right now I’m just focused on how do I play better? How do I play better in the majors, how does this team win? And then we’ll figure out next year and how to play better again. It’s the same thing. It’s just a revolving cycle.

“Yeah, Fred texted me after, I guess, the comments came out,” he continued. “I don’t know when it was. Sometime last week. Yeah, everybody seems to have their own opinion, and no one asks me. I talk to Fred quite a bit, but we don’t go too much into detail about what’s going on. Like I’ve said before, I’m not in those rooms. I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens.”

Which is why it was interesting at the Masters on Tuesday that Koepka and Couples played their practice rounds together, with Justin Thomas and Adam Scott rounding out the foresome.

Speaking after the round, Couples explained how he and Koepka have been planning this session for a couple weeks.

“Brooks and I were going to play and then Tiger and JT and I always play, so when Tiger couldn’t, I called JT and then Adam Scott and I had talked, so we got a nice little foursome,” Couples said. “And then Brooks and I wanted to play a few more and the course is awesome, so it was nice to go play 1, 2, 8, and 9, too. But it was a great foursome. These guys all hit it amazing. And then to meet Nick Hardy the last couple holes was fun too.”

Couple clarified that after the comments came out that he and Brooks discussed the headlines, and maintains that he and Brooks are good.

“A lot of times at Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups I sit with Brooks and his wife and my wife. I love Brooks,” Couples said. “Basically what I said was is what everyone else is saying, but then someone else turned it into like I wanted him to leave the LIV Tour and come play the PGA Tour. I just basically said, you know, Brooks would like to play the PGA Tour; not leave the LIV Tour.

“So anyway, he and I are great. We had a good time. We talked basically a little bit about his brother and then we were talking little bit about clubs. He just hits it so far and he hits it so solid. But basically it was a one-minute thing, but I had already talked to him before. And he’s a good man. I like Brooks.”

As one of the negotiators between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia, Scott’s presence in the group is notable. Given that Thomas and Couples are close friends with Woods, who’s leading these talks, Koepka’s inclusion might seem worthy of analysis. But that is a discussion for another day.

Main Image: Richard Heathcote