LIV Golf could not have chosen a worse spokesperson to stand before the global media with both hands around a major championship trophy.
But make no mistake, after the two major men’s tournaments this calendar year, golfers who left the PGA Tour and headed to the rival Saudi-backed circuit turned out to be part of the discussion on the sport’s biggest stages – and not just because of the tour they’re playing on.
Brooks Koepka, the captain of the LIV team “Smash GC”, won his third Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday by two strokes over Viktor Hovland and world No. 2 Scottie Scheffler. It put him in a rarefied air – only five men in the history of the game have won three or more PGA Championships and only two (Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus) have done so in the modern era. Koepka is one of only 20 male golfers to have won five or more majors – and he’s just 33.
There’s nothing to take away from his impressive, outright and dominating efforts in major leagues over the past five years. Especially with how he recovered his way to the top of the golf mountain.
“It’s damn good. This one is really special,” Koepka said on Sunday night, the Wanamaker trophy to his left. , all the crazy stuff from the last few years.”
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Some of that ‘crazy stuff’ (Koepka has suffered myriad injuries since his last major triumph in 2019 and said he also felt lost with his swing – even admitting he considered retiring s couldn’t play the way he wanted) however, was taking a salary of over US$100 million to join LIV.
At the Masters, Koepka – who finished tied for second after entering the final group on Sunday – was asked if his decision to join the rival league would have been more difficult if he had been fully healthy.
It would have been, he said, adding that he missed competing against the best from week to week. Its South Florida neighbors in particular.
“It’s just the competition that you miss playing against them, isn’t it?” Because you want Rory (McIlroy) to play his best and Scottie (Scheffler) to play his best and Jon (Rahm) to play his best and go along with them,” Koepka said. “I miss it.”
However, the major championships will have to suffice for the moment.
Koepka finished tied for second at the Masters, alongside Phil Mickelson, who shot a sizzling 7-under 65 in the final round. Mickelson is the captain of ‘HyFlyers GC’ on LIV. Patrick Reed, part of the ‘4 Aces’ team, tied for fourth at Augusta National.
In Oak Hill, there were a few more LIV faces on top of the board when the dust settled. Crushers GC captain Bryson DeChambeau, who was paired with Canadian Corey Conners in the final round, tied for fourth. Cameron Smith, who is the defending Open champion and captain of LIV’s “Ripper GC,” shot a record 65 on Sunday to tie for ninth.
Reed and “Torque GC” member Mito Pereira tied for 18th.
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“It validates everything we’ve said from the start: that we compete at the highest level and have the ability to win major championships,” DeChambeau told reporters on Sunday.
“We are still there. We haven’t forgotten how to play golf,” Smith said. “We’re all great golfers and we know what we can do and I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”
While LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman praised Koepka on Twitter (“I’m so proud of you,” he wrote in part, “As for the @livgolf_league players, they belong to both the majors and the golf know”), the PGA champion did not hear directly from Norman, at least as early as Sunday night. He only spoke to his wife, Jena, who is pregnant with their first child.
Standing on the podium in front of the assembled press and the eyes of the golfing world, Koepka didn’t push the narrative. Did not express enthusiasm for the rival league. He was more concerned with his own accomplishment.
“I really think it helps LIV, but I’m more interested in myself right now, to be honest with you,” said Koepka, who hasn’t been wearing his team-brand clothes this week or during the Masters. “It’s a huge thing for LIV, but at the same time I’m here competing as an individual in the PGA Championship. I’m just happy to bring this home for the third time.
“I just think (the win) validates it for me. I guess maybe if anyone doubted Augusta or anything, doubts anyone on TV might have or anything, I’m back. I am the.”
Koepka is one last-round choke (his words) away from winning the first two majors of the season. The US Open is next – the other great Koepka has already won twice. Next is the Open Championship, where golfer LIV Smith will defend.
Has the story of the rivalry between the two tours died down? Well, that depends on who you ask.
Rory McIlroy said earlier in the week that he was done talking about it. Smith too – “I dropped that narrative about six months ago” – and certainly Koepka.
But there is Mickelson.
Arguably the one who started it all, Mickelson spent 10 minutes with reporters after finishing his week at Oak Hill, where he finished tied for 58th. There’s an ongoing anti-trust lawsuit that LIV Golf has filed against the PGA Tour, so the back and forth hasn’t completely died down. Barstool Sports’ Dan Rapaport asked Mickelson, who made his 100th cut at a major championship last week, why he keeps calling people online. He is 52 years old and there is very little left to prove in this game.
“I guess it’s because I know things that a lot of people don’t,” Mickelson said. “So I want to make sure everyone is held accountable.
“Things that will come out soon.”
The US Open is less than a month away. Koepka will probably be the favorite. Mickelson will also be present. The leaderboard may have a lot of LIV guys, or it may have none.
Golf is a whimsical game with no guarantees. But there are two things certain about LIV – the funding comes from a murderous scheme that cannot be celebrated while the proceeds have diluted the landscape of men’s professional golf, and, with two major championships in the rearview mirror, those who have made the leap are still forces to be reckoned with at the game’s biggest events.
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