Koepka and DeChambeau’s relationship as LIV golf rivals paired collectively

May 20, 2023 at 7:47 PM
Koepka and DeChambeau’s relationship as LIV golf rivals paired collectively

Golf stars Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have lastly been paired collectively at the USPGA. The 12 months’s second main takes place on the East Course of the Oak Hill Country Club in Pittsford, New York this week.

Koepka is three-under par, whereas DeChambeau is two-under par after the primary two rounds of the event. Going into the weekend the duo have been paired collectively to exit for the third spherical on Saturday.

Both gamers are firmly within the combine to win one more main championship. Koepka has 4 to his title with two every within the US Open and the USPGA, whereas DeChambeau additionally has one US Open title from 2020.

At the midway level of the event, there have been three gamers tied on the high of the leaderboard: Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland are all five-under par.

Koepka and DeChambeau have not had one of the best of relationships, falling out not so way back. It all started again in January 2019, when Koepka was important of DeChambeau’s sluggish play in the course of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Tensions flared up between the duo, earlier than they appeared to clear the air on the Northern Trust Open later that 12 months. However, the pair nonetheless discovered time to make feedback about one another over the course of 2020.

As the feud reached its peak, some spectators would yell out “Brooksie” in the direction of DeChambeau whereas he was taking part in. This led to the PGA tour getting concerned with the specter of followers being expelled from tournaments in the event that they continued.

Now, although, years after the feud between the duo first began, evidently issues have calmed down significantly. Koepka even stated that their disagreement had been “squashed” whereas on an Instagram Q&A again in February.

“Believe it or not we squashed it,” stated Koepka.“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. We’ve got a good open line of communication, we’ve figured it all out and we’re good.”

In 2022, each Koepka and DeChambeau swapped the PGA Tour for the profitable LIV Golf collection, which is led by Greg Norman, and financially backed by Saudi Arabia. They weren’t the one high-profile golfers to make the change, with Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Ian Poulter, to call just a few, additionally ditching the PGA Tour.

At a joint-press convention in October final 12 months, each Koepka and DeChambeau weighed in on the controversy surrounding LIV Golf. One of the matters included gamers competing within the collection not receiving any Official World Golf Ranking factors.

When requested for a response, Keopka stated in October 2022: “I don’t think it really was much of a response. I just hate when you sit on the fence. Just pick a side. If it’s a yes or no, just pick one. So I’m not a big fan of that. If it’s a yes, if it’s a no, it’s fine. We’ll figure it out from there.”

DeChambeau was requested concerning the topic in final month earlier than the LIV Gold occasion in Singapore. The 29-year-old warned that the Official World Golf Rankings may turn into “obsolete” if issues don’t change.

“You should realize that the OWGR is not accurate,” DeChambeau instructed the media final month. “I think that they need to come to a resolution, or it will become obsolete.

“It’s just about nearly out of date as of proper now. But once more, if the majors and every thing proceed to have that as their rating system, then they’re biting it fairly closely.

“I’m very disappointing that that’s the way it goes because it’s not right, and I hope people can see through that. It’s disappointing that somebody takes such a hard stance.”