DeChambeau hopes for showdown with Koepka
SAN DIEGO » Bryson DeChambeau made a concerted attempt on Tuesday to put a light-hearted spin on his public feud with Brooks Koepka, describing it as “great banter” and welcoming a potential oncourse showdown between the pair at this week’s U.S. Open.
Defending champion DeChambeau and 2017 and 2018 winner Koepka between them have won three of the past four U.S. Opens, and their recent feud could hardly have come at a better time for anyone looking for a bit of acrimony in a sport with a staid public image.
Further down the track, DeChambeau and Koepka face the intriguing prospect of being American Ryder Cup teammates in September.
Their feud continued from a leaked interview Koepka recorded with Golf Channel after the PGA Championship last month. As DeChambeau walked behind the camera, Koepka rolled his eyes and made obvious his distaste for the player.
Though the video did not air on the Golf Channel, it soon popped up on social media.
DeChambeau was heckled at the Memorial tournament in Ohio two weeks ago by some rowdy spectators who yelled out Koepka’s name, and could face the prospect of similar treatment at Torrey Pines.
Koepka kept the feud alive by subsequently posting a video on social media thanking the fans who had yelled his name in Ohio, and promising free beer for their support.
The notoriously slowplaying DeChambeau, who is sometimes described as the “mad professor” because of his much-publicized understanding of the physics of golf, has rubbed the fast-playing Koepka the wrong way in the past due to the time he often takes to play a shot.
“To be honest, people saying Brooksy’s name out there, I love it. I think it’s hilarious,” DeChambeau said.
“I think that as time goes on I hope on the weekend we can play against each other and compete. I think it would be fun and would be great for the game.”
DeChambeau and Koepka both said they had not been sounded out by the U.S. Golf Association about whether they would be happy to play the first two rounds here together.
“I don’t care who I’m paired with. It doesn’t matter to me,” said Koepka, sounding completely unfazed.
“I’m out there trying to play my own game. What happens inside the ropes, it won’t bother me.”
DeChambeau, who has transformed his body and is the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, sees no reason to do away with that aggressive strategy at Torrey Pines.
“It’s a little bit similar to Winged Foot, albeit the grass and the rough is a little thicker. It’s a different type of grass, so you can’t get through it as easily,” DeChambeau said.
“For the most part, I’m going to be trying to bomb it as much as possible and try to gouge it out when I don’t hit it in the fairway.” RAHM SAYS HE REGRETS NOT PRIORITIZING CORONAVIRUS VACCINATION » Jon Rahm acknowledged that not prioritizing a coronavirus vaccination proved very costly, but he has been cleared to play again and vowed to be ready for the U.S. Open starting at Torrey Pines on Thursday.
Rahm had a six-shot lead after 54 holes at the Memorial
tournament in Ohio 11 days ago when he was ruled out of the final round after a coronavirus test from the previous day came back positive.
Though Rahm had been vaccinated a few days previously, he admits that he dilly-dallied by not getting it done way earlier.
“Looking back on it, yeah, I guess I wish I would have done it earlier, but thinking of scheduling purposes and having the PGA (Championship) and defending Memorial, I was just, to be honest, it wasn’t in my mind,” the Spaniard said.
“I’m not going to lie; I was trying to just get ready for a golf tournament. If I had done it a few days earlier, probably we wouldn’t be having these conversations right now. It is what it is. We move on.”
After the Memorial disqualification, Rahm flew back to his Arizona home on a private jet and spent last week quarantined, hitting some shots on the simulator but not getting in the type of work he would like the week before a major.
But he could hardly ask for a more ideal major venue than Torrey Pines, where he recorded his first PGA Tour win in 2017 in his favorite city in the whole world. He even proposed to his nowwife Kelly on a nearby hiking trail.
SPIETH REVEALS FOOT INJURY » Jordan Spieth, who is one of the top favorites for this week’s U.S. Open, revealed that he hurt his foot recently but expects to be fine when the year’s penultimate major gets underway.
The three-time major champion, who has enjoyed an impressive resurgence in recent months, had medical tape on his right ankle during his practice round at Torrey Pines on Tuesday. He said it was the result of a misstep that occurred last week.
“I was carrying my clubs, and I jammed my foot, my heel, leaving the course,” Spieth said. “So it’s been hurting, but it’s nothing that I’m going to do more damage to or anything like that, so I’m fine.”
The 27-year-old said his heel was still limiting him but did not seem concerned that it would hamper him when the first round begins on Thursday.
Spieth has recorded six top-10 finishes in his last nine PGA Tour starts, including an April victory in Texas that ended a nearly four-year winless streak.