[PHOTO: Erick W. Rasco]
There was a time not that long ago when the mere sound of Bryson DeChambeau’s spikes crackling on the pavement would leave Brooks Koepka visibly disgusted. Overnight, Australian time, the former foes were practically finishing each other’s sentences on a conference call ahead of next week’s “The Showdown”. Suffice to say, much has changed in the past few years.
Of course, one could argue they are both in promotion mode before their LIV vs PGA Tour tilt with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy next week at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. They have to be cordial for this shindig to work. Judging off their back and forth, though, DeChambeau and Koepka have come a long, long way since SpikesGate at Kiawah Island in 2021.
“I’ve always had respect for Brooks and what he’s done, and how many majors he’s won,” DeChambeau said. “It’s been quite impressive, and even the tour events he’s won. Obviously, early on, we didn’t really understand each other. Pretty rocky relationship.”
To say the least. It was a feud so publicised that it produced its own “controversy timeline” in many online spaces, including this one. It’s easy to forget that the saga began back in 2019, complete with slow-play callouts, “he doesn’t even have abs” callouts, fire ants jokes, etc. After they both made the jump to LIV, the rivalry began dying a slow death, understandably.Â
“We had our spats,” DeChambeau said. “But we realised when we both went to LIV we had quite a few things in common. Kind of like stepbrothers in a sense. And we’ve developed a pretty solid relationship and have good respect for each other now.”Â
In an unexpected turn, not only did Koepka agree with much of what DeChambeau said, he admitted to some wrongdoing in their multi-year rift.
“Obviously we’ve come a long way,” Koepka said. “Going to LIV, honestly, I think that was a big moment, even just for us, right? We were forced – well, I don’t want to say forced, but we were communicating a lot more, our conversation became a lot more open. From there, I’m the first person to admit I can be a bit stubborn.”Â
“Oh really?” DeChambeau interjected.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Koepka added. “Look, we all get older, we all mature a little bit, and then you realise, Hey, Bryson’s a good dude. I think he’s severely misunderstood and I think the world is actually starting to really see who Bryson DeChambeau is, which is cool. I’m the first person to admit it, I was wrong with what my original thoughts were.”
Koepka went on to say that as they’ve started doing more business together, he agrees that he and Bryson are much more similar than they are different. DeChambeau chimed in to say a lot of the calls they were on together ahead of joining LIV changed everything.
“We were talking about what LIV is, what we think it could be,” DeChambeau said. “That’s when we started to really connect.”
Australian fans will get to see this budding bromance play out in real time on TV next Wednesday, December 18, at 10am (AEDT). And that may not be the last time you see a Brooks–Bryson joint showing. The subject of a potential YouTube collaboration came up, a seemingly natural fit considering DeChambeau has had a number of other LIV players, among them Phil Mickelson, grace his channel which now has more than 1.6 million subscribers. Apparently, Koepka has been ducking DeChambeau on that for some time now.Â
“I’ve asked him to get on my ‘Break 50’ series for months now,” DeChambeau said.
“I’ll make that determination if we win [The Showdown],” Koepka replied.
