Koepka claims DeChambeau spat is good for the game
Brooks Koepka insists his ongoing rivalry with fellow major champion Bryson DeChambeau is good for golf.
Koepka is at the inaugural Palmetto Championship this week in Ridgeland, S.C., his first event since a video interview outtake at the PGA Championship last month showed the four-time major champ rolling his eyes as DeChambeau walked behind him.
The clip was not supposed to be shown, yet it was posted on social media and picked up more than 10 million views before it was removed.
To Koepka, the video put the attention squarely on golf for a social media-savvy generation essential for the game’s growth.
“I get the traditionalists who don’t agree with it. I understand that, but I think to grow the game you’ve got to reach out to the younger generation,” he said Wednesday. “I don’t want to say that’s what this is, but it’s reaching out to a whole bunch of people. It’s getting golf in front of people. I think it’s good for the game.”
And it didn’t end at the PGA Championship. After DeChambeau heard heckles of “Brooksie” at the Memorial last week and a few fans were removed from the Muirfield Village site, Koepka put up a promo video offering free beer from his sponsor to those ejected.
DeChambeau this week, like Koepka, thought a “good, jesting rivalry is good for the game of golf.”
Koepka, ranked eighth in the world, explained that he felt DeChambeau was being loud as he walked past the interview site at the Ocean Course last month.
DeChambeau, who is not playing this week, didn’t talk directly to Koepka as he strode past. “He was saying something about how he hit a perfect shot and it shouldn’t have been there,” Koepka recalled. “It was just very, very loud.”
“I just lost train of thought,” he continued, “which I think was pretty obvious.”
LEXI THOMPSON FACES QUICK TURNAROUND >> Lexi Thompson will tee it up today at Daly City’s Lake Merced Golf Club, just down the road from the Olympic Club where she lost a five-shot lead over the final 10 holes of the U.S. Women’s Open just four days prior.
Thompson’s game is clearly in excellent shape. The question is how quickly she can recover mentally from letting a major title slip from her grasp.
The turnaround for this week’s LPGA MediHeal Championship doesn’t provide much time for reflection.
After shooting a bogey-free round on Saturday to take charge of the U.S. Women’s Open, Thompson faltered down the stretch on Sunday. She fell a shot shy of the playoff between Nasa Hataoka and eventual winner Yuka Saso.
“I think no matter what happened, nobody can take away from Lexi how great of golf she played,” said Lydia Ko, the 2018 MediHeal champion. “I’m sure she’s going to still come into this week with a lot of confidence, as she should, because it’s pretty hard to — it’s hard to win, but also hard to be contending at those moments.
“What she did was great. I’m sure she’s going to put on a great show again this week.”