Ahead of the British Open, Koepka said the two were “not going to be high-fiving” each other as Ryder Cup teammates and traced the reason back to 2019.
The feud between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau survived the trip across the Atlantic to the British Open with barbs intact, erupting and entertaining anew on Tuesday. Among the highlights:
At a news conference ahead of the tournament at Royal St. George’s in southeast England, a reporter began his question to DeChambeau with a cheery “Hi, Brooks.”
(Probably an accident, or perhaps the understated international version of the “Let’s go Brooks-y” taunts repeatedly shouted at DeChambeau in the States.)
DeChambeau tried to take the slight in stride, not to blink in the face of direct fire. Except that in the next five seconds, DeChambeau’s eyelids batted to a close eight times.
The grudge between the pair gained another chapter when Koepka was asked how he would coexist with DeChambeau on the U.S. Ryder Cup team in September, when the Americans will be expected to behave like a bunch of reunited fraternity brothers. “You realize it’s only a week, right?” Koepka said.
He added: “I can deal with anybody in the world for a week.”
But Koepka’s questioner persisted: What if he and DeChambeau are paired together in one or several tense matches in the traditional biennial battle against European golfers?
“I’m not playing with him,” Koepka answered. And then he set the budding “Kumbaya” moment on fire with this aside: “We’re not going to be high-fiving and having late-night conversations.”
In the spirit of enduring disagreement, DeChambeau said on Tuesday that he thought being paired with Koepka was a smashing idea.
“It would be kind of funny, actually,” he said. “I think we’d do well, to be honest. It would create a little interesting vibe for the team or for the guys we’re playing against.”
And on it went — not that any members of the news media were trying to put an end to such perfectly good theater. Men in perfectly pressed golf attire rarely engage in mud wrestling.
Some PGA Tour members think the dust-up is a ruse, a conspiracy between the two highly ranked golfers to elevate their individual profiles and social media followings, but Koepka rejected that notion on Tuesday. When a reporter wondered if there wasn’t a “pantomime element” to the entire affair, Koepka replied that there was a very real story behind the bad blood.
Koepka referred to an impromptu meeting between the two of them at a tournament late in 2019, after he had brought up DeChambeau’s name in an interview when discussing the scourge of life on the PGA Tour — slow players.
After the meeting, Koepka said, the two agreed to keep any personal disputes private.
“He didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, and I didn’t like that, so I’ll take my shots,” Koepka said.
There has been a certain amount of mystery about the confab, which was conducted in full view of TV cameras on the edge of a practice green but never fully explained. On Tuesday, Koepka was asked to elaborate.
It would be natural at this point for some to shout: “Who cares?” But keep in mind that a leaked video of the two from the P.G.A. Championship in May — when Koepka, in the middle of a television interview, rolled his eyes as DeChambeau noisily walked behind him — was viewed by more than 10 million people within a few hours of its posting.
So on Tuesday, Koepka gave his account of their 2019 dialogue.
“He didn’t like that I had mentioned his name in slow play,” Koepka said, adding that his caddie, Ricky Elliott, had been approached by DeChambeau on the practice green before Koepka was there.
“You tell your man if he’s got something to say, say it to myself,” is how Koepka described DeChambeau’s remarks to Elliott, adding: “I thought that was ironic because he went straight to Ricky.”
Shortly thereafter, Koepka emerged from the locker room.
“Ricky told me when I came out, and then I just walked right over to him, we had a conversation,” Koepka said. “We both agreed we’d leave each other out of it and wouldn’t mention each other — just kind of let it die off.”
But apparently, it did not end there. Koepka said that DeChambeau brought up his name — gasp! — while playing video games online.
“Said a few things,” Koepka explained. “So now it’s fair game.”
Perhaps to no one’s surprise, DeChambeau said on Tuesday that he did not remember anything about the meeting with Koepka.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about in that regard,” he said. “Maybe that’s on me.”
DeChambeau continued: “We just had a conversation that I really don’t know what happened, because we haven’t really bantered back and forth until now. So it’s like: ‘Why is that happening now?’”
DeChambeau adjusted his golf cap and offered a half smile.
“Besides that, I’m just here to play golf,” he said.
Yet he added a final thought, suggesting that he didn’t necessarily want the chatter to end.
“If we want to keep bantering back and forth, obviously being respectful and keeping lines where they aren’t getting crossed,” DeChambeau said. “Yeah, I think it’s fun and a good environment for people in golf.”
Source: Golf - nytimes.com
