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The U.S. Open starts tomorrow, which will be great because all the top golfers in the world will be squaring off for our national championship on a legendary golf course.
But before things begin at The Country Club in Brookline, there has been some serious business to take care of as players have been rightfully asked their thoughts on the LIV Golf/PGA Tour battle that is fracturing the sport and is easily one of the most important stories in professional golf history.
Rory McIlroy had no problem at all talking about it at length at his press conference Tuesday morning. He was his usual thoughtful self, giving good answers from he heart.
Here’s a sample of what he said about why he defends the PGA Tour:
“It’s the right thing to do. The PGA Tour was created by people and Tour players that came before us, the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer. They created something and worked hard for something, and I hate to see all the players that came before us and all the hard work that they’ve put in just come out to be nothing.”
See, that wasn’t so hard.
Jon Rahm, the defending U.S. Open champ and No. 2 player in the world, also calmly shared his thoughts on the situation, saying:
“I consider the PGA Tour has done an amazing job giving us the best platform for us to perform. I do see the appeal that other people see towards the LIV Golf. I do see some of the – I’ll put this delicately – points or arguments they can make towards why they prefer it. To be honest, part of the (LIV) format is not really appealing to me. Shotgun three days to me is not a golf tournament, no cut. It’s that simple. I want to play against the best in the world in a format that’s been going on for hundreds of years. That’s what I want to see.”
See, that wasn’t so hard, either.
Then there was Brooks Koepka, who didn’t like that the press was actually asking questions about this important and timely topic. He has one press conference this week and was asked a few things about it and apparently that was too much for him.
He went off on one reporter, saying:
“I don’t understand. I’m trying to focus on the U.S. Open, man. I legitimately don’t get it. I’m tired of the conversations. I’m tired of all this stuff. Like I said, y’all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks. I actually do feel bad for them for once because it’s a sh—y situation. We’re here to play, and you are talking about an event that happened last week.”
Imagine asking about something that happened… just last week!? How dare those reporters!?
Koepka, whose brother played in the LIV Golf event last week in London, also said this, which made no sense:
“You can’t drive a car while looking in the rearview mirror, can you?”
Uh, yes. Yes you can.
"Y'all are throwing a black cloud over the U.S. Open, and I think that sucks."
Brooks Koepka was getting a little annoyed with all the questions about the LIV Golf Series. pic.twitter.com/efRtTldE0D
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) June 14, 2022
Koepka is supposed to be this tough guy who had no problem creating distractions with his bullying of Bryson DeChambeau. But now he can’t handle just a few questions during a brief press conference and has to talk down to reporters who are just asking questions that everyone else is answering?
Heck, even Phil Mickelson stood in front of the media on Monday and kind of answered a lot of questions during his approximately 20-minute press conference.
Poor Brooks Koepka. I just hope he’ll be OK and will still be able to tee it up when things get underway tomorrow.
Yesterday must have been so hard on him.
Poor guy.
Quick hits: 15 stunning photos of the strawberry moon… U.S. Open best bets… Astros catcher makes ridiculous grab… And more.
– Did you see the moon last night? It was incredible. Here are 15 photos of the strawberry moon.
– Here are our picks for the U.S. Open, including winners, most likely to finish in the top 10, and a bunch of prop bets. Golf!
– You need to see this ridiculous diving catch on foul tip by Astros catcher Martin Maldonado.
– Cardinals pitcher Miles Mikolas missed a no-hitter by one strike and it was as heartbreaking as it sounds.
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