Getty Images / Illustration by Braden Reed
Brooks Koepka says he dumped his LIV Golf teammate.
in The story I posted Thursday Sports IllustratedKoepka was critical of Matthew Wolfe, questioning his competitiveness. Comments were a rare occurrence for one golfer publicly criticizing the other, though they are fairly common in the team format, which LIV uses – both golfers play with Smash GC, where Koepka is the captain.
“I mean, when you quit on your tour, you quit and stuff like that, that’s not a competition,” Koepka said. Sports Illustrated, ahead of this week’s LIV event in England. “I’m not a huge fan of that. You don’t work hard. It’s just too hard. It’s very difficult to have such a team dynamic when you have one guy who’s not working, one guy who’s not going to make an effort, who’s going to quit the course, knock out the clubs.” , and falling apart, bad body language, it’s just so hard.
“I basically gave it up. A lot of talent, but I mean talent is wasted.”
Over eight LIV events, Wolff’s year has been over (finishing 10th out of 48 golfers, 12th and 5th), then down (44th, 41st, 34th, WD, 44th). like It was first reported by No lying downWolff’s social media handles were deleted from Team Smash’s pages after WD, which came before the final run at the LIV event in Washington, DC.
On Friday, Wolfe is scheduled to play Koepka’s younger brother, Chase, and Jason Kokrak, his other two teammates.
“I’m here, you know, trying to do what I can to play the best round of golf and that’s going to help the team,” said Wolff. Sports Illustrated. “I’m just here to focus on myself and try to play some good golf and that’s what everyone’s really trying to do, because golf is trying to score the best score and then if it helps your team, great.”
Wolfe, who has missed time in the past due to mental health concerns, joined the year-old LIV series after its second event in 2022, after playing over four seasons on the PGA Tour. As a member of the Phil Mickelson-driven HyFlyers, he has placed eighth, second, fourteenth, fourteenth, forty-fourth and fifth in the events.
Perhaps the highlight of Wolfe’s season came when he played LIV in May in Tulsa, about an hour east of Oklahoma State, where he plays his college golf.
“Yeah, I would say like Oklahoma to me kind of feels — if not really where I feel like my first home was definitely my second home now,” the 24-year-old from California said ahead of the tournament. “I live in Jupiter, but every time I come back here it’s such a close-knit family here. I feel like the Oklahoma State family in general is really tight, and there will be a lot of people here who are like that and supportive of that.
“We have, I think, five or six Oklahoma State Cowboys on the field, so hopefully they’ll come out and cheer me up more than them. But it’s going to be so much fun to come back here, and I’m excited to play with those guys.”
Koepka’s criticism also comes amid a stunning agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – which is funding LIV. They’ll run a new for-profit venture and end pending litigation between the parties, though it’s unclear what will happen with LIV.
When asked last week if he would consider returning to the PGA Tour, Koepka answered this way:
“I’ve been very happy with my decision to be here at LIV. I’ve enjoyed it. I won’t speak for anyone else, but I would say everyone is very excited, everyone is very happy where they are now. It’s hard to look into the future and say – I have no control.” On what other guys do, but I know I’m happy with where I am now, and taking it day by day.”
Editor’s note: To read the full Sports Illustrated story, go to: Please click here.