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Koepka-Chamblee battle continues as Koepka responds to Chamblee’s latest criticism

Josh BerhowBy Josh Berhow
August 11, 2019

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said Brooks Koepka was in Rory McIlroy’s line of sight during a recent round, and the four-time major champ was not thrilled with the critique.

This all started when a video of DeChambeau’s lengthy putting routine circulated on Twitter, in which you could see notable disgust from one of his playing partners, Justin Thomas. Social media and fellow Tour pros were quick to pile on DeChambeau, which led to the latest debate regarding slow play in golf (which happens about monthly).

But DeChambeau has long said one issue that’s not discussed is how longer hitters are at a disadvantage because they have to wait for others to hit. He first mentioned this at the Masters.

“The one piece of information that a lot of people miss is the walk to the ball,” he said at Augusta National. “There’s a three‑minute walk that people don’t take into account. You can gain a lot more time by walking 15 seconds quicker to the ball than you can by five seconds over a shot. So people don’t take that into account when we talk about slow play. I may be a guy that hits it up there farther than someone, and they are taking their merry time getting to their golf ball and it’s behind me and I’m already up there and I can’t get any of my numbers because I’m right in their line of sight. Once they do their whole process that takes maybe 25 seconds compared to my 35‑second to 40‑second preparation to hit the shot, by the time we walk back over and get the number, do all that, you can view me as a slow player. In the end I look at it from another standpoint saying there’s a whole other piece to this puzzle that we are not looking at yet.”

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DeChambeau reiterated this point at Liberty National, and it’s something Chamblee agrees with.

“The rudest players you ever play with are not slow,” Chamblee said on Saturday night. “They may be annoying, but they are not rude. The rudest players you ever play with are fast players. You heard Bryson DeChambeau say if I hit it past somebody I’m not going to go up and get in front of him. But fast players will do that. And I can promise you it’s not the proper etiquette.”

Chamblee referenced video from earlier in the week of Koepka standing off to the side but well ahead of McIlroy in the fairway, waiting for him to hit. Chamblee said Koepka was in McIlroy’s line of sight.

That comment found its way to Koepka, who responded on Twitter on Sunday morning (which led to a Chamblee response).

This wasn’t the first time the two have had their feuds, and based on recent history it probably won’t be their last. Koepka is five under and tied for 35th after three rounds.