Brooks Koepka has been one of the most talked about LIV Golf acquisitions and the biggest name linked with wanting to leave and return to the PGA Tour – but nobody is more immersed in the new organization than the new PGA Champion, according to Claude Harmon III.
Among some more lively points raised during Harmon’s epic rant, some quality insights were also put forward about the now five-time Major champion – including just how involved he is in the running of LIV Golf.
Koepka is captain of Smash GC in LIV, with Greg Norman’s ultimate aim to attract sponsors and partners to these golf franchises and eventually sell them off at a huge profit.
That’s obviously also the hope for the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fun (PIF) which has sunk billions into LIV Golf for virtually no return so far, and it’s also something Koepka seems to be keen on.
For while some were saying he had buyer’s remorse, Harmon says that Koepka has been so invested in LIV Golf that he had to be told to focus more on his golf.
“Honestly, we had to tell him in Orlando, Ricky (Elliott, Koepka’s caddy) and I said, ‘Hey, we need you to focus on golf,’ because he is in every meeting,” Harmon said during his headline-making Golfweek interview.
“Brooks knows more about LIV other than Phil, he knows more about the inner workings of LIV than any player. So at Augusta he’s playing well and people are like, ‘yeah, but he’s really not a LIV guy because he plays with Rory and he hasn’t come out and bashed them.’
“Like when he’s home, he’s like, ‘Hey, can we hit balls tomorrow between 10 and 12 because I’m on Zoom calls the rest of the afternoon.’ Like, he’s nonstop.”
As everyone who saw the Netflix docu-series Full Swing knows, Koepka was at a low ebb when he decided to join LIV Golf, citing that he felt injuries meant he couldn’t match the PGA Tour stars any more.
He’s also recently agreed that it would’ve been a more challenging decision to join LIV if he’d still been healthy and challenging consistently on the PGA Tour, but he’s now fully invested in his new reality, says Harmon.
And the way Koepka has done his business has been a refreshing alternative to some, leaving gracefully with no petty parting shots at the PGA Tour or its players – meaning he’s still universally liked.
That’s a big reason why he’ll likely play in Zach Johnson’s Ryder Cup team if he carries on playing like he is – but his immediate concern is now a return to LIV Golf, where he’s still working around the clock.
“He knows more about LIV and the teams and the inner workings because he’s in everything,” added Harmon, who wanted to put to bed the rumors that Koepka was eyeing a PGA Tour return.
“Anybody that thinks that he’s done all that to just walk away from all of this, he just doesn’t have any beef with the Tour.
“He knows more about LIV and the teams and the inner workings because he’s in everything. Anyone who thinks that he’s done all that to just walk away from all of this, he just doesn’t have any beef with the Tour.
“He doesn’t have any beef with anybody on the Tour. He doesn’t have any beef with Jay Monahan. He just chose to go play LIV, that’s all this was.”