Brooks Koepka admitted Wednesday that he isn’t entirely thrilled with where LIV Golf stands as the upstart circuit continues its fourth year of existence.
“I think we all hoped it would have been a little bit further along, and that’s no secret,” Koepka said ahead of the LIV Golf Miami tournament at Trump National Doral.
“No matter where you’re at, you always hope everything is further along. But they’re making progress, and it seems to be going in the right direction.”
Koepka’s comments come on the heels of his words in March that caused a stir. At that point, the five-time major champion did not entirely dismiss comments by Fred Couples that Koepka wants to return to the PGA Tour.
“Everybody seems to have their own opinion and no one asks me,” Koepka said at the time, ahead of that week’s LIV event in Singapore. “Like I’ve said before, I’m not in those rooms. I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Koepka left the PGA Tour in June 2022 for a contract with LIV that is reportedly worth more than $100 million and runs through 2026.
But let’s go back to Koepka’s comments on Wednesday, especially regarding the direction of LIV Golf.
LIV Golf, after all, has made significant changes this year, including Scott O’Neill replacing Greg Norman as CEO in addition to altering its team format to make all players’ scores count in every round.
With that in mind, DeChambeau opted to deflect the question of what changes need to be made for LIV to take positive strides.
“I’d say that’s a Scott question,” DeChambeau said. “Scott O’Neil will take a stab at that. We don’t know everything that’s going on, but from what we’ve heard, there’s a lot of positive growth and positive momentum from a sponsorship side.
“I’d say from a golf course side we’re playing golf courses that are somewhat easier right now, and I think it’s getting more difficult as the season goes on. I hope we can continue to play some more difficult golf courses, but as our fourth year, look, it’s a startup. It’s still four years in, and we’re working towards what we’ve always believed in this league is this team golf, and we’re still individuals playing stroke play events, but there’s a team component, which is really cool.”
–Field Level Media
