Brooks Koepka – Orlando Ramirez

Koepka signed with the brand in 2021, but the relationship never generated much buzz after he bolted for LIV Golf—at least for the equipment-watching crowd that lives for tour validation.

The recent ball change also didn’t help matters. Koepka quietly went back to a Titleist Pro V1x at the Cognizant Classic, the second time he’d switched from Srixon’s Z-Star Diamond—a model he helped develop—since signing on the dotted line.

It’s worth noting: Koepka won four of his five majors as a gear free agent. It’s fair to wonder if he’ll go back to playing without a deal or find a new equipment home in the future.

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Isaiah Vazquez

The post Brooks Koepka and Srixon are no more, partnership concludes immediately appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

In actuality, the route that Reed is taking to put together a full PGA Tour schedule in 2027—he’ll play either through a top-10 finish in this year’s DP World Tour season standings or with past champion status—was laid out long ago in the tour’s regulations that guard against players making unauthorised starts on competing tours.

Adam Scott, a member of the PGA Tour’s Policy Board and Player Advisory Council, made a point to note that on Wednesday while talking to reporters after his morning pro-am round ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

“This was decided long ago; everybody should be comfortable with it,” Scott said. “But it’s the first time it’s really happening.

“In fairness to the tour, they had a pathway back for guys and Patrick might be the first to get back through that,” he said. “The other one [Returning Member] was created for a small group of people. I guess it possibly continues to happen, just with the way the LIV tour is structured under contracts, guys contracts will end. …

“I feel good as part of the tour that we had a policy in place that’s now getting used and hopefully it worked well.”

On the policy board, Scott was part of what he said was a unanimous vote for the Returning Member Program policy that also included Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith, all of whom decided to stay at LIV. For Reed’s return, there was no vote needed. Scott, the past Masters champ, seemed to learn of Reed’s decision when reporters asked him for his reaction.

“I think it’s good things for the tour, and probably maybe more positive things for the golf fan,” said Scott, noting that there’s been a narrative over the past couple of years that fans want to see the best players in world compete in the same tournaments more often.

“My personal opinion is that’s little bit harsh,” he said of downplaying the depth of star power on the PGA Tour. “But I understand what they’re saying … and certainly with Brooks returning [and] Patrick might return soon. They’re no joke. Brooks is an incredible player and Patrick’s a major champion and a feisty competitor. … So, hopefully the fans appreciate that.

“I feel like we’re just dealing with it for the first time in this cycle, but, you know, it’s hard having a crystal ball to look ahead and know how things play out.”

Ben Jared

Harris English, this week’s defending champion at Torrey Pines, said he learned of the Reed development on Wednesday while watching TV in the fitness trailer. He said he knew a bit about Koepka’s return in advance, but not Reed’s.

“As you’re seeing, kind of the dominoes are starting to fall of maybe those guys on the LIV tour are not that happy out there and the grass is not greener on the other side,” English said. “They’re seeing the PGA Tour getting stronger and having more success, and kind of seeing that money’s not the end all, be all. Like that doesn’t fulfill them. It doesn’t fulfill me.

“They’re still competitors; they’re competitive people and they love playing in the biggest events against the best players in the world. For me, that’s out here on the PGA Tour, and I think they’re starting to realize that, that that’s what fulfils them.”

Despite all of the bitter back-and-forth at times between PGA Tour and LIV players and supporters over the last four years, and the debate about possible punishments for those seeking to return to the U.S.-based circuit, at least some players on the PGA Tour seem to be equanimous about the defectors coming back.

Ludvig Aberg, the 26-year-old Swede who won twice on the PGA Tour since turning pro in 2023, has played mostly in majors against the likes of Koepka and Reed. The Texas Tech alum said he had options to go to LIV, but “I didn’t like it; it wasn’t anything I wanted to be a part of.”

In terms of those who are now looking to return, the World No. 14 said, “If you’re doing it the right way and you want to come back, I have no problem.”

Reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun said he believes the PGA Tour is the best in the world and that the return of players such as Koepka and Reed “speaks volumes to where the tour is headed.”

“I think to add even more competition for us that have been here while they left, adding Brooks and Patrick, now, it’s just strengthening our tour, which I think is great,” Spaun said.

Admitting that he might be taking an idealistic view, he said he’s “generally optimistic” about the future of the tour, while laughing about what he sees as golf’s ability to rise above difficult situations. He explained in self-aware dramatic fashion: “Golf always wins in the end. I’m really conscious that a few people can’t mess it up, and if they fiddle too much, they’ll be caught out, and, you know, vanish from the game—like struck down by golf and removed.”

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Andy Lyons

The post ‘The grass isn’t greener’: Players see Patrick Reed’s return as another sign that PGA Tour is on the right track appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

That might seem overreactionary, but the fact is Koepka is back in a spot he has not found himself in at this championship since 2021 at Torrey Pines—inside the top five at the completion of the first round. Sure, there is a whole lot of golf left on a course that produces week-ruining double bogeys and “others” in bunches, but if Koepka’s history in this event is any indication, the mere whiff of being in contention early is all it takes for him to seriously lock in.

An early-round eagle at the par-5 fourth on Thursday put Koepka at two under, instantly vaulting him into the mix at the 125th U.S. Open. So he locked in, polishing off a front-nine two-under 33 with five straight pars and then coming home in even par to post a 68, two off the lead of J.J. Spaun.

It was a vintage Koepka Open round, one that made it feel like old times. That vibe carried over into his post-round presser, where he displayed his classic combination of confident and combative, all with a cheeky smile, naturally.

A moment that stood out in particular came when a reporter brought up his famous quote from a pre-tournament presser at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, which Koepka went on to win, proving his words prophetic. Let’s refresh your memory.

“I think sometimes the majors are the easiest ones to win,” Koepka said in 2019. “Half the people shoot themselves out of it, and mentally I know I can beat most of them, and then from there it’s those guys left, who’s going to play good and who can win? There’s 156 [players] in the field, so you figure at least 80 of them I’m just going to beat. From there, you figure about half of them won’t play well, so you’re down to maybe 35. And then from 35, some of them just—pressure is going to get to them. It only leaves you with a few more, and you’ve just got to beat those guys.”

That, of course, was a long time ago. Koepka’s older and wiser now. Does that quote still resonate with the 35-year-old this week at Oakmont, a reporter asked, leading to this A+ exchange.

Q. Everyone always points back to the comment at Bethpage: Five, 10 players, whatever, can win this week. Do you still think of yourself that way, or has it changed at all?

BROOKS KOEPKA: I mean, I don’t talk about it, you guys talk about it.

Q. It was your quote, though.

BROOKS KOEPKA: It was. I said it once, and now everybody repeats it.

He’s not wrong.

Koepka gave another illuminating answer shortly after, when he was asked about missing each of the last two cuts in majors, something he’s never done in his career.

“Yeah, I would say from the first weekend in April until about last week, you didn’t want to be around me,” he said. “It drove me nuts. It ate at me. I haven’t been happy. It’s been very irritating. It’s a lot … I mean, I had to apologise… I’ve apologised to Ricky [Eillot], Pete [Cowen], Jeff [Pierce], Blake [Smith], my wife, my son, everybody. I wouldn’t have wanted to be around me.”

Cowen, Koepka’s short-game coach, could be to blame, in a good way, for his student’s strong start in Pittsburgh. Koepka said Cowen scolded him during a 45-minute bunker session on Monday, to the point where Justin Thomas, watching nearby, asked him later that evening during a Rolex function if everything was OK.

Koepka declined to specify what was said, but he did note it was needed, even if it wasn’t appreciated in the moment.

“I wasn’t happy with it,” he said. “But it was something I think you need to hear or I needed to hear at the right time. It’s not the first time he’s done it. He’s not afraid. I don’t like having ‘yes’ people around me. I just want somebody to tell me the truth, tell me what’s going on, what they see. If I start swaying from being Brooks Koepka, then I want someone to call me out on it, and he did a helluva job on it.”

The last time Koepka got a similar scolding from Cowen? Erin Hills in 2017. That week ended with Brooks holding the trophy.

Follow Golf Digest Middle East on social media

Instagram

X

Facebook

YouTube

Main Image: Warren Little

The post Brooks Koepka said some vintage Brooks Koepka things after his round at the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Crushers captain shot a seven-under 63 on Saturday to launch himself up to eight-under overall and in T-4 on the leaderboard. That has him lurking just four strokes behind his old rival Koepka.

The pair underwent a back-and-forth verbal feud in 2021, but have since buried the hatchet — as evidenced by the pat on the back as DeChambeau gave Koepka  after the latter’s press conference on Saturday evening in Jeddah.

“It was about shooting low today, as low as I could,” DeChambeau said after that pat on the back. “I knew Brooks and a few others were going to play well, and I needed to get it deep today.  I did that, but I would have liked to have finish off with a birdie or two coming in, have a better chance. But being four back as it is, this golf course, you can definitely do it.”

The Crushers are the trending team at the minute, coming off a win in Chicago and leading at 22-under ahead of the final round in Jeddah ahead of next week’s Team Championship final in Miami, and are second in the standings behind last year’s winners, the 4 Aces. DeChambeau has a simple plan to claim the crown this year.

“I just want the boys [Paul. Casey, Anirban Lahiri and Charles Howell III] to keep playing the way they are,” he said. “They’re a special bunch of guys, and they know how to get the job done when it matters.

“This year is going to be a lot different than last year, I believe, if we bring this form into next week. Very excited for the guys and seeing what we can do next week in Miami.”

DeChambeau was very clear on team-before-individual success.

“It’s about the team,” he insisted. “I definitely want to win the team championship [in Jeddah] and be first in the points list going to Miami. We’re that good of a team, and my boys have worked really hard this year. If we play well tomorrow, we definitely deserve to be up in that No. 1 spot. I’m definitely focused on that, focused on playing well tomorrow individually for the Crushers, and just going to give it my all.”

A win over Koepka probably wouldn’t go amiss either, though …

Main image: Bryson DeChambeau. LIV Golf

The post Bryson DeChambeau sets priority on Crushers victory in Jeddah over chasing down Koepka appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Ryder Cup is less than three months away and it’s still unclear if LIV Golf members will be allowed to compete for the United States team. Which is why eyebrows were raised on Monday when discovering Brooks Koepka was practising at Royal Liverpool with a certain influential person on the matter.

The person in question was American Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson. The two-time major winner has said as recently as May that “no decisions have been made” regarding what to do with LIV Golf players. “As far as personally making decisions, no,” Johnson said at the time.

But Koepka is currently third on the United States team rankings, with the top six automatically qualifying for the team. Speaking to the media on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Open Championship, the reigning PGA champ explained his Monday round with Johnson was unplanned.

“Walked on the first tee right behind Scottie [Scheffler]. He didn’t have a tee time, neither did I and neither did Zach and neither did Cam [Smith],” Koepka said. “There was a good little wait, so we all played.” When asked if the Ryder Cup came up at all, Koepka replied in the affirmative. “Yeah, it was fun. We got to talk about it a little bit, just what’s going on, I guess how the team is shaping up. It’s kind of interesting.

“Yeah, it was just hearing his perspective and all the stuff he’s got to do,” Koepka later added. “The PGA of America does a really good job in easing it for him, and just kind of talking about the preparation for it, what our team is going to do, where are we going to be, and just a little bit more about the shuffle of guys and the stuff they have kind of behind the scenes stats, stuff like that. It’s quite interesting just hearing about it all.”

There’s currently an odd LIV dynamic heading into the Ryder Cup. Most LIV members with European ties surrendered their DP World Tour memberships, thus disqualifying them from playing in the biennial event. However, American LIV players have a separate prerequisite for United States Ryder Cup eligibility, with their PGA of America membership allowing them to compete despite being suspended by the PGA Tour. At least, that’s the current belief, as the US Ryder Cup team has not stated with authority that LIV members will definitely be allowed to compete.

Complicating matters is the recently announced joint venture between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — LIV Golf’s financial backer — which has ended the litigious battles between the entities and hopes to return unification to the sport.

Though he’s third in the US rankings, this will be Koepka’s last chance to earn automatic points, while his PGA Tour counterparts have until the end of the second FedEx Cup playoff event, the BMW Championship, to qualify. Captain Johnson will then have six wildcard picks at his disposal, which he will name following the Tour Championship. Three US players from the 2021 Ryder Cup — Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau — are current LIV Golf members, as is former US assistant captain Phil Mickelson. Five European players from the 2021 squad left for LIV Golf in Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Bernd Wiesberger.

Koepka has been a part of three Ryder Cups, including wins in 2016 and 2021. He is 6-5-1 in 12 matches.

The 44th Ryder Cup begins on September 29 in Rome. The Americans are the defending champs, but have not won the cup on foreign soil since 1993.

The post The Open Championship 2023: Brooks Koepka had a very interesting playing partner at Royal Liverpool appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Paired up to start the US Open, perhaps Brooks Koepka’s recent strong showings at majors have rubbed off on Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman, with a fifth major title within reach, looked cool, calm and collected entering Los Angeles Country Club before his final round on Sunday.

"I'm kind of a big deal."

Rory McIlroy jokes with Brooks Koepka on arrival of the final day of the US Open. pic.twitter.com/IFTsBCEU2A

— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 18, 2023

“Kind of a big deal,” McIlroy states to Koepka’s delight. And we have to wonder if this is an Anchorman reference or an off-the-cuff remark from McIlroy. Just one shot back of the leaders, this is the perfect one-liner to start his day. Very cinematic, which makes sense for the location.

In the second-to-last group paired with Scottie Scheffler, a loose McIlroy was a scary sight for Rickie Fowler and Wyndham Clark. It’s also nice to see the former PGA Tour-LIV Golf rivals leaving the past in the past. A good line is a good line and Koepka already has two US Open trophies, so a nice paycheck and a round of golf, even if he doesn’t like the course, isn’t the worst way to spend a Sunday.

The post US Open 2023: ‘Kind of a big deal’: Rory McIlroy makes grand entrance (featuring Brooks Koepka) at LACC final round appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Brooks Koepka left no doubt about that on Sunday, closing out the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club for his fifth major title and third in the PGA. He also made history as the first player to win a major championship as a member of LIV Golf with his two-stroke victory over Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland.

Koepka, who closed with a three-under 67 to post nine-under 271 on Oak Hill’s East Course, became the second LIV player to currently hold one of the four major titles. Cam Smith is the other, winning last year’s Open Championship at St Andrews the week before he left the PGA Tour for the new circuit.

Koepka’s victory is a huge development for the league, but Koepka wasn’t thinking big picture when he was asked if his win validated LIV Golf, even after it was suggested by his rival, Bryson DeChambeau that it did. In the immediate aftermath, he was looking inward, which he had a perfect right to do.

“Yeah, I definitely think it helps LIV, but I’m more interested in my own self right now, to be honest with you,” said Koepka, who didn’t reveal whether he had yet heard from LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman. “It’s a huge thing for LIV, but at the same time I’m out here competing as an individual at the PGA Championship. I’m just happy to take this home for the third time.”

Captain @BKoepka secured the win#PGAChampionship SMASHED
https://t.co/0OnE5zREfF

— Smash GC (@SmashGC) May 21, 2023

Well, that answer wasn’t going to hold, so he was asked about the pride he felt on behalf of his LIV peers. Again, Koepka wasn’t interested in furthering the cause or that narrative.

“Look at it, I think I was the first guy to win two LIV events. To win a major is always a big deal no matter where you’re playing,” the 33-year-old Floridian said. “All it does, I just think, I guess, validates it for myself. I guess maybe if anybody doubted it from Augusta or whatever, any doubts anybody on TV might have or whatever, I’m back, I’m here.”

Team golf resumes this week for LIV in Washington, DC. For Koepka, the PGA was all his, and he clearly didn’t feel like sharing.

The post PGA Championship 2023: A giant win for LIV as well as Koepka? appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“I thought it was interesting,” Koepka said during an Instagram Q&A with Smash, his LIV Golf team. “Obviously, when you do something like that, it never shows the full picture … a lot of stuff wasn’t seen, but it is what it is.”

But those same fans will certainly find Koepka’s comments about a couple of his highly publicised relationships with other tour pros even more interesting. Let’s start with that big feud with Bryson DeChambeau.

In case you don’t remember, the two US Open champs traded subtle — and not-so-subtle — verbal jabs over a two-plus-year period that included the hardest eyeroll in golf history. With both dealing with injuries and the shifting landscape of pro golf, this rivalry — which even included a made-for-TV match — has simmered down, though, something that Koepka confirmed.

“Believe it or not, we squashed it,” Koepka said. “We’re good. I actually talk to him quite frequently because of what’s going on here at LIV. Pretty much on an every-other-day basis. So we’ve got a good open line of communication. We’ve figured it all out and we’re good.”

Apparently, guaranteed contracts cures all. And same is the case with Brooks and Dustin Johnson. At one point, the two stars comprised golf’s most powerful bromance, but they haven’t seemed as close since a rumoured “scuffle” at the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris. Koepka addressed that as well:

“Yeah, this one makes me laugh,” Koepka says in the video. “We were just horsing around, messing around. We were in the European team room. We were just having fun. We actually went out in Paris later that night so if there was a scuffle it wasn’t too bad. Just horsing around, it’s what guys do. But we still play a lot of golf when we’re back home hanging out with each other. So no issue, and he’d say the same thing.”

There you go, folks. Just horsing around. Because that’s what guys do.

Anyway, Brooks, Bryson, and DJ are all getting the 2023 LIV season under way at Mayakoba. And if you’re disappointed about a lack of tension between them, well, there still promises to be plenty of drama between the LIV and PGA Tour guys at the majors this year.

The post Brooks Koepka addresses rumoured Ryder Cup ‘scuffle’ with Dustin Johnson and current status with Bryson DeChambeau appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Shane Ryan
Let’s put aside all moral and ethical concerns, just for a second, and judge the feud between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau like we’d judge a boxing match. Do that, and it’s a unanimous decision: Koepka won. Definitively, emphatically and completely, Koepka won.

The condensed story of what happened here is that the two golfers disliked each other from the start, DeChambeau pissed Koepka off after they reached an uneasy truce, and Koepka unleashed the dogs of war. Once he did, it was never a fair fight. The end result is that even as DeChambeau continues to find success on the course—which is pretty impressive under the circumstances, by the way—he’s being ritually bullied to the point of frustration and rage. In fact, if this were a real boxing match, you wouldn’t even need judges; there’s no need to deliberate over a TKO.

There’s a popular meme taken from “The Simpsons,” and it depicts a horrified boy pointing a finger at an unseen spectacle (it’s Homer Simpson dressed as Krusty the Clown beating up a hamburglar, but that’s not important right now) and shouting “Stop! Stop! He’s already dead!” That’s where we are with the Koepka-DeChambeau feud; Koepka made his point, and he made it unmistakably. It’s incumbent on him now to realize that he can stop the fight without losing face, and to realize that every moment he remains silent and allows the abuse of DeChambeau to continue without even an attempt at intervention is a moment that is unnecessarily cruel.

I want to be abundantly clear on one point, which is that I’m not sure we can blame Koepka for reacting the way he did initially. Repeat: Initially. (For a recap of the complicated feud, go here.) There’s no law that says he has to like DeChambeau, and let’s be honest, from where Brooks and others sit, there’s a lot about Bryson not to like—how he blames his equipment; his, ahem, controversial opinions on public health matters; his recent refusal to talk to the press; and on and on. With Koepka, part of what makes him such a great competitor is that it’s not in his nature to take an insult on the chin. Until this past June, he was more or less just holding his ground.

Then came Koepka’s post promoting Michelob Ultra in which he implicitly encouraged fans to heckle DeChambeau, and the whole episode crossed a competitive line. It emboldened and enabled the worst people in a golf gallery, and made every round for Bryson DeChambeau a battle with far more than the golf course.

Like everything else Koepka has attempted in this feud, it worked. I noticed the sadistic nature of the attacks from the gallery for the first time in Memphis, and Memphis is also when I first realized that the “Brooksy!” routine wasn’t trivial or good-natured. It can certainly read that way in print, which is why it’s so difficult to explain to those who haven’t seen it in person how ugly it feels out on the course. That’s part of the problem with this whole feud—the natural reaction to hearing all this is to wonder why calling someone “Brooksy” matters. On the surface, it’s not profane, it’s not personal, and it’s not even an insult. But when you see the mob in the flesh, and when you hear the cascading shouts for hours on end, the intent becomes clear, and the intent is to harass and humiliate. They’re yelling “Brooksy” because they don’t like him. More importantly, they want him to know they don’t like him. The word itself is just a messenger, but the message it carries is potent. With dozens of fans peppering him on every hole, it’s a brutal spectacle.

It’s also effective. DeChambeau was visibly upset during his final round in Memphis, staring daggers at fans and finally yelling back at a woman who joined the fray. He swore angrily to his manager in the aftermath, ostensibly about the unlucky breaks of his round, but the origins of his rage were abundantly clear. At The Northern Trust in New Jersey, undercover cops roamed the crowds, by turns lecturing and booting fans who shouted abuse, but it made no difference. There was silence on the far reaches of the course, where the gallery was too sparse to shout at him anonymously, but in the thick crowds nearer the entrance, entire sections of fans in the stadiums abused him en masse. And Sunday at Caves Valley, the rancour of the fans and the constant heckling broke him down to the extent that ESPN’s Kevin Van Valkenburg witnessed him confront a fan in an encounter that seemed to be on the verge of real physical aggression.

The word ‘Brooksy’ itself is just a messenger, but the message it carries is potent. With dozens of fans peppering DeChambeau on every hole, it’s a brutal spectacle.

On Tuesday at a press conference ahead of the Tour Championship, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan addressed the matter, stating that the tour would be updating its fan code-of-conduct policy so that anyone engaging in “unsafe, disruptive or harassing behaviour” could be removed from a tournament. Asked specifically if shouting “Brooksy” was such behaviour, Monahan said yes it was.

“And the reason I say yes is that what we are all using is the word ‘respect,’ and to me, when you hear ‘Brooksy’ yelled or you hear any expression yelled, the question is, is that respectful or disrespectful?” Monahan said. “That has been going on for an extended period of time. To me, at this point, it’s disrespectful, and that’s the kind of behaviour that we’re not going to tolerate going forward.”

We need to be realistic and admit that it’s gotten so bad that the tour, or Koepka himself, might not be able to change anything at this point. Even if Koepka came out tomorrow and released a video asking all his fans to ease up on DeChambeau, who’s to say they’d listen? I think it would make a positive difference, but there’s an obvious glee on the part of the hecklers that goes beyond the control of one person. We should also note, in the interest of fairness, that Koepka is not solely to blame for the subset of fans who don’t like DeChambeau. To walk with DeChambeau on the 18th hole at Caves Valley (the first time) this past Sunday was to see an atmosphere that was heavily pro-Cantlay. It didn’t reach Ryder Cup levels of partisanship, but it was strangely one-sided for a “neutral” PGA Tour clash between two Americans, particularly when the favoured American isn’t really known as a beloved figure. The fans were delighted at every Cantlay highlight, including a bogey putt at 17 that earned a louder cheer than any bogey putt I can remember, and they were almost equally delighted at DeChambeau’s failures. There is something about DeChambeau that rubs galleries the wrong way. It transcends Koepka, and there’s no use denying it.

But it doesn’t have to be this bad. Koepka could step up, make a public statement, and attempt to put an end to a sad episode in professional golf. He could step up because no matter how much you may dislike a fellow competitor, and no matter how good your reasons are, it’s wrong to allow him to be psychologically abused by galleries. Nobody is lining up to canonize Bryson DeChambeau, and in fact Koepka may not suffer very much if he remains silent. Still, he has an opportunity to do the right thing. It may go against his competitive instincts, it may be hard, and it may not resonate with the attack dogs, but it will be noticed and appreciated in the right places. He’s already won the fight; now it’s time to extend a hand and lift his rival off the canvas.

The post It’s time for Brooks Koepka to call off the dogs appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
One man’s pleasure is another man’s pain. That was certainly true for Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka as they were swallowed by the masses on the 18th hole Sunday at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, where the throng of fans tried to get as close as possible to Mickelson as the 50-year-old secured his improbable and history victory at the 103rd PGA Championship.

But Koepka found little jubilation in the swarm that enveloped the duo; rather it was a painful trudge.

“Yeah it would have been cool if I didn’t have a knee injury and got dinged a few times in the knee in that crowd because no one really gave a sh-t, personally,” he said. “But if I was fine, yeah, it would have been cool. Yeah, it’s cool for Phil. But getting dinged a few times isn’t exactly my idea of fun.

“[I was] trying to protect my knee. I don’t think anybody really understands until you actually you’re coming out of surgery how—even when I was doing rehab and there’s five people kind of standing by your knee, you get a little skittish.”

Koepka added that his caddie, Ricky Elliott, got “drilled in the face” as he tried to work his way through the crowd. Then Koepka said he got dinged by the bag because Elliott at one point had to stop quickly and unexpectedly. As for the knee? “It feels like sh-t right now,” Koepka said.

Gather around, folks.

A major champion will soon be crowned. #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/7WuWjHLxKT

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) May 23, 2021

Perhaps just as painful was the outcome.

One back at the start of the day, Koepka quickly grabbed the lead with a birdie to Mickelson’s bogey on the opening hole. But a few minutes later, Koepka found himself in trouble off the tee on the par-5 second, was forced to lay up, airmailed the green with his third then duffed his fourth. A double bogey later, and the lead was again Mickelson’s. Back and forth they went in an exhilarating front nine before Mickelson seized the lead for good with a birdie on the seventh.

While Mickelson accelerated, though, Koepka stumbled.

Seeking a third Wanamaker Trophy in the past four years, Koepka, who underwent surgery in March after he dislocated his kneecap and sustained ligament damage, hit just half his fairways, struggled mightily with his putting and made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch to open his back nine. That included one on the par-5 11th, where his second shot came up well short in a sandy area and his third also failed to reach the green. Then he missed a five-footer for par.

“Just how bad I putted the last two days,” said Koepka when asked what was hardest to stomach. “Three days, actually. It felt like tap-ins I was missing. Never felt comfortable, and you’re not going to win if you do that.”

Jamie Squire
Phil Mickelson soaks up the scene with the sea of fans swarming the 18th—while Brooks Koepka certainly did not.

He also said his surgically repaired knee was not an issue in the final round and that he was able to push off it all week.

Still, he will now have time to rest it. The year’s next major, the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, is a month away and it’s unclear whether Koepka will play before then.

“Yeah, [I’ll] take some time off, relax a little bit and start practicing again,” he said. “Keep doing rehab. Keep doing everything I’m doing and hopefully come out and play well.”

The post Brooks Koepka definitely didn’t enjoy the sea of fans on the 18th hole as much as you did appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.