Brooks Koepka dishes on DJ ‘scuffle,’ Bryson tension, Netflix appearance
Brooks Koepka pictured at the 2023 Saudi International.
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We haven’t seen too much from Brooks Koepka recently. At least, not in real time.
Viewers of Netflix’s Full Swing did get a good dose of Koepka insight in the second episode; the show followed him early in the year, particularly at the WM Phoenix Open and the Masters, where he battled to regain his health and maintain his confidence. But on the course, our only recent glimpses of Koepka have come at the Saudi International, an Asian Tour event where he finished T46, and the International Series event in Oman, where he missed the cut.
Koepka begins his LIV season at Mayakoba Friday on the heels of a decidedly down year. The four-time major champ defines himself by his results in big tournaments but finished no better than 55th in the four contested in 2022. He couldn’t muster a top 10 in his first four LIV starts, either. But he finished the season on an upward trajectory with a win at LIV’s Jeddah event. And although he’s plummeted to No. 85 in the world, Koepka insisted in Oman that he’s as healthy as he’s been in a long time.
Koepka didn’t face the media this week in Mexico but did take a few questions from fans on the Instagram page of his team, Smash GC. In response he shouted out his favorite rappers (Lil Wayne, Meek Mill, Jack Harlow, Yung Gravy), chose Kobe over LeBron (“Sorry, LeBron”) and went slightly deeper on a handful of hot-button topics.
We have plenty of questions left for Koepka, some of which we may never get answers to, others that will be answered with his play in the coming months. (He’s among the LIV contingent who will appear at the much-anticipated Masters in April.) For now, though, we’ll take a few morsels of insight on Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Netflix and more:
On his Netflix appearance:
“I thought it was interesting. Obviously when you do something like that it never shows the full picture of what’s going on. A lot of that stuff was done not even a year after surgery so there was a lot of stuff going on between trying to figure out my body, proprioception of where I was at — if you’re not healthy and can’t move the way you want to move, it’s tough to swing it properly. So just a lot of frustration. A lot of stuff wasn’t seen, but hey, it is what it is.”
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On the moment in the show where he says he can’t remember the Masters winner (some viewers were skeptical):
“We all know who won the Masters, Scottie Scheffler. We have the same agent, I just had a brain fart. Like none of y’all never had one, c’mon. Be real.”
On the status of his once-contentious rivalry with Bryson DeChambeau:
“Believe it or not, we squashed it. 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.”
On the “apparent scuffle” between him and Dustin Johnson following the 2018 Ryder Cup:
“Yeah, this one makes me laugh. We were just horsing around, messing around, we were in the European team room. We were just having fun. We actually went out in Paris later that night, so if there was a scuffle, it wasn’t too bad. We were just horsing around, it’s what guys do, but we still play a lot of golf. We’re back home, we hang out with each other. So no issue, he’d say the same thing.”
On whether he would have beaten Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship with a healthy knee:
“C’mon now, don’t ask stupid questions,” he said, including a thumbs up and tagging Phil Mickelson in the reply.
On being competitive with his brother (and LIV teammate) Chase:
“Oh, yeah. Very competitive since we’ve been little. It’s all we do, whether it’s fighting over a ping-pong match, pool table, golf course, basketball, it doesn’t matter what we’re doing. We’re competitive.”
On his health entering 2023:
“I’ve worked my butt off for the last few months to be make sure I’m where I need to be. I don’t have to adjust reading any putts anymore. It’s the healthiest I’ve been in a long time and I’m super excited to see what comes of this year.”
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