STERLING, Va. — Moments after Brooks Koepka won his fifth career major championship Sunday, he was greeted and congratulated by perhaps the unlikeliest of foes: Bryson DeChambeau.
For years, the feud between the two men was one of the juiciest subplots in professional golf. But in recent months, it’s appeared that the tenor of their relationship has changed.
“Look, I’m going to give respect where respect is due,” DeChambeau said in a news conference Wednesday when asked why he walked back to the 18th green to congratulate Koepka.
“He has won five majors, and he played better than me that week. And what was sad is that really nobody was there to congratulate him after.”
At its core, DeChambeau said, the gesture was simply about respect, though there is some important context.
“He’s a LIV Golfer and I am, too,” he added. “And obviously that’s a part of it.”
As the Saudi-financed golf league hits the midway point of its second campaign this week with an event at Trump National Golf Club, Kopeka’s win at the PGA Championship has given everyone affiliated with Team LIV a chance to take a victory lap – even the two men who were once at the center of golf’s most public feud.
While the victory was individually massive for Koepka, making him one of just 20 men to have won five majors or more, it has also become a rallying cry for LIV Golf. The league has long touted its team-centric, 54-hole format. But Koepka’s win, which was the first major title for a LIV golfer, underlined both the foxhole mentality that exists among its players and the tension between them and the rest of the golfing world.
“Look, (Koepka’s win) proves that we can play in major championships. Proves that the schedule is good enough for us to win major championships,” said DeChambeau, who finished in a tie for fourth at the PGA Championship.
“Yeah, it’s an individual sport, but there’s a team component to it now. And it’s really cool to see how (LIV golfers) are playing well not only for their teams and for themselves, but for an organization that deserves to be mentioned a lot more in a better light than what it is.”
Koepka said on Instagram in February that he and DeChambeau had “squashed” their proverbial beef, in large part because of their shared interest in LIV. “I actually talk to him quite frequently because of what’s going on here at LIV. Pretty much on an every-other-day basis,” Koepka said.
Their interaction Sunday…
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