For a guy who didn’t perform well enough to work the weekend, Brooks Koepka sure dominated the headlines during the Workday Charity Open.
That’s because Koepka’s most memorable shot wasn’t one of the 143 he logged before an early exit from Muirfield Village, but rather one that came Tuesday on Twitter.
That’s when he posted a meme widely interpreted as a steroids-themed needling of Bryson DeChambeau, whose bulked-up physique and huge drives have drawn more gasps and raised eyebrows than a streaker in church.
Koepka’s tweet did not mention DeChambeau, but it didn’t have to. Readers decided who it was aimed at. There were those who relished the prospect of conflict between two stars in a sport that is often too vanilla. Others thought it dangerously close to a direct accusation of illegal drug use, including European Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington, who labeled the tweet “unfair.” At the very least, it was a coy poke in the ribs from a guy who enjoys edgy, jocular jabs at people he doesn’t much care for.
It wasn’t until late Friday night that Koepka finished his second round at Muirfield Village. He fielded three questions after play. All were posed by a member of PGA Tour staff. None were about his tweet. Hold that one for his return to Ohio next week.
While Koepka made no direct accusation of malfeasance against DeChambeau, there are plenty of tin foil hat types on social media who have. In days of yore, such people would have been limited to hollering on a single street corner, posing a nuisance only to those unfortunate enough to pass by. Twitter now offers them a platform to sprinkle allegations with reckless abandon, and fellow travelers eager to amplify them.
There is no apparent evidence that DeChambeau has used performance enhancing drugs.
None.
And while we may now live in a society where people conflate what they believe to be true with what is actually true, allegations of drug use in sport is a matter that demands empirical evidence, something more than feverish claims tweeted by Elmer from Tuscaloosa. But that’s not to say it’s somehow unconscionable to even raise the subject of PEDs for discussion.
Despite his belief that camera operators are obliged to protect his brand image during on-course tantrums, DeChambeau is not otherwise naive. He must know that any athlete who radically changes his body—and boosts his performance as a result—will face whispers that he has found the secret via a syringe.
The very same innuendo was routinely directed against Koepka himself on social media, with no evidence there either. DeChambeau can choose to address the topic if asked this week at the Memorial Tournament, but feigning disgust or disappointment that such a rumor even exists would be a poor response. This is the world of modern sport and social media in which he—and we—now live. It won’t change.
It is not cause for outrage if DeChambeau is questioned on the issue of PEDs, nor Koepka too for that matter. Or any player. An inquiry does not in itself give credence to cretins who present baseless rumor as fact. The fact that Koepka would josh about steroids suggests that he treats the rumors about himself with disdain, as he should. He and DeChambeau are capable of defending themselves and in the absence of evidence both ought to be taken at their word. At which point they can go back to sparring over slow play (there is evidence for an indictment on that charge).
Golf isn’t baseball or cycling, where drug allegations fly like confetti at a wedding, often obscuring what is truth. But a regrettable day may come when a prominent player on the PGA Tour is found to be doping. Such a revelation won’t cause lasting damage if handled with transparency, but that demands a culture in which we stop clutching our pearls at the mention of PEDs and address it like adults.
The greater danger for golf lies not in a player doping, but in legitimizing rumor mongers by being too fearful to even openly discuss the possibility.
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