Brooks Koepka may be at the top of his golf game after winning the PGA Championship – his fifth major title – back in May, but it sounds like he’s dealing with a little bit of a rift with one of his LIV Golf teammates. And it doesn’t sound like that disagreement is going to be solved anytime soon.
Last month, it was revealed that Matthew Wolff would be leaving Smash GC, the LIV Golf team that Brooks Koepka leads as the team captain. And it doesn’t sound like Koepka is going to be welcoming him back, even if Wolff wanted to.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Koepka absolutely blasted Wolff for his decision to withdraw from May’s LIV Golf event in Washington, D.C., saying that he has “basically given up on him.”
“I mean, when you quit on your round, you give up and stuff like that, that’s not competing,” said Koepka, the Smash GC captain, in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I’m not a big fan of that. You don’t work hard. It’s very tough. It’s very tough to have even like a team dynamic when you’ve got one guy that won’t work, one guy is not going to give any effort, he’s going to quit on the course, break clubs, gets down, bad body language, it’s very tough. I’ve basically given up on him—a lot of talent, but I mean the talent’s wasted.”
It’s a brutal message to his now-former teammate, and people had plenty to say about it on social media.
The Reverse Dame: Brooksy undermining his own player's trade value. https://t.co/heNOR6a6xm
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) July 6, 2023
team golf is good https://t.co/zurI5RmqGz
— deepfriedegg (@deep_fried_egg) July 6, 2023
Well that puts Wolff in the spotlight this week. Basically given up means he's on triple secret probation with Captain Smash & needs to prove himself if there's any chance at redemption. Keep in mind Wolff is 24 & we all don't have it figured out at that age, although many of us… https://t.co/24o1WuBtZ3
— LIV Golf Enthusiast (@LIVGolfEnth) July 6, 2023
I would take Brooks Koepka seriously as a captain in all of the Matt Wolff drama but there sits Chase in 45th place https://t.co/GOhpwq3hja
— Dave_Sn5 (@sportsinfive) July 6, 2023
Brooks complaining about Wolff "not competing" in a 54 hole exhibition match, with a guaranteed payday, that also included a signing bonus is like me saying one of my sales guys is lazy when he has a $250K base salary, and we already have every possible customer. https://t.co/TPFOWVfIHL
— Smith (@MJS_23) July 6, 2023
As I've said from the onset, it's one of the major flaws of Shark's LIVT model. Tour pros' career is more roller coaster vs steady climb to the peak and then steady decline. Good news for Wolff is that there's a history of players being able to bounce back strong. https://t.co/QI18ghnlHC
— 3Jack Golf Analytics (@Richie3Jack) July 6, 2023
It’s safe to say Wolff won’t be back with Smash GC next year.
