In June 2022, Brooks Koepka made the move to LIV Golf, with the American originally vowing his loyalty to the PGA Tour before joining not long after. Since then, he has picked up a LIV Golf Invitational Series event in Jeddah and has fallen outside of the World’s Top 100 due to the Saudi-backed circuit still not being eligible for Official World Golf Ranking points.
Although it’s unclear as to why Brooks left the PGA Tour to join LIV, one reason seemed to be revealed in the recent ‘Full Swing’ Netflix docuseries, where the American was seen to be struggling mentally with his game. Along with the mental struggles, Koepka has also been injured, with the 32-year-old dislocating his kneecap and damaging ligaments two years ago.
Speaking recently, he stated that “I don’t care. They can think whatever they want to think,” in relation to people commenting on his move and, on Wednesday, Koepka explained that: “Listen, I’ve played into the villain role.”
He went on to add: “I’m always honest about where I’m at and what I feel is going on. Nothing has changed there. Just honest in how I felt. A lot of what was portrayed as me just in golf. They left out a lot of that because of injury. Ask any athlete that’s ever been through injury. You lose a lot of confidence.”
Recently, it was reported by well-connected journalist and author, Alan Shipnuck, that Koepka may be having some “buyer’s remorse” over his move to LIV. This came when Koepka had missed the cut and finished in a tie for 46th in two Asian Tour events, whilst the PGA Tour was taking in the sights of the party-like atmosphere of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
However, these claims were put to bed by the son of the LIV CEO, Greg Norman Jr, who quickly banished the statement on Twitter, simply replying with: “No. Bs.”
Now, with Koepka claiming that “right now I’m exactly where I want to be,” will we see more of the form that netted him four Major titles in just a two year span? Well, according to Koepka, he “feels as good as I did before,” adding “I’m able to do things that I was doing in 2019.”