Koepka replaced a relegated player with one who was lucky to keep his LIV Golf League spot for 2024.
Brooks Koepka’s brother, Chase, was relegated from the LIV Golf League for the 2024 season after finishing 48th in the season-long standings during the 2023 season.
How did Brooks replace his struggling brother? By signing Graeme McDowell, who finished just three spots clear of relegation in 42nd last season. McDowell finished inside the top 20 just three times in 2023 and spent the vast majority of the year in the back half of the 48-player fields. The 44-year-old won four times on the PGA Tour and earned 11 victories on the DP World Tour. His greatest triumph came in 2010 at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
Smash GC made a quick exit during the 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship and Koepka’s first signing doesn’t begin to address his squad’s problems. He still has Matthew Wolff on the roster, a player he publicly criticized on multiple occasions last season, and McDowell is virtually the same caliber of player as the one he’s replacing. Simply put, Brooks and Jason Kokrak, the fourth member of the team, aren’t good enough to carry the squad in 2024.
There’s still time for Koepka to trade Wolff, but after his critical comments, he shouldn’t expect much of a return for the 24-year-old former college star who has struggled with consistency since making the jump to professional golf.
“He was playing mini-tour golf 16 months ago. I don’t think the last year and a half has been too bad for him.”
While Brooks Koepka was capturing the LIV event in Jeddah on Sunday and adding $8 million to his bank account, his brother Chase was not having nearly as good a day … or year.
Chase Koepka, from West Palm Beach, will be relegated out of the league after finishing last in the 48-man field Sunday. He shot 6-over par and ended the season 48th in points.
Chase, who is a member of his brother’s Smash team, finished the season with one point. In 13 events, he was 42nd or lower nine times. Still, he has won $1.76 million in prize money.
The Saudi-financed league concludes its second season this week at Trump National Doral where the team champion will be crowned. Jeddah concluded the race for the individual championship.
Chase will be relegated along with Jed Morgan, James Piot and Sihwan Kim. Those players will have to earn their way back onto LIV through a 72-hole stroke play relegation tournament in late November.
“I know he’s working hard,” Brooks Koepka said. “I know he’s been trying. We’ve been practicing together quite a bit. Honestly, he’s struggling a little bit. I’ve been there. We’ve all been there. Every golfer has. It’s part of it.
“You look at it, he was playing mini-tour golf 16 months ago. I don’t think the last year and a half has been too bad for him.”
Chase was 26th in the points standings in 2022, winning $4.3 million. He made $306,396 in PGA Tour career earnings in seven years before joining LIV in 2022.
Brooks, who lives in Jupiter, won $4 million for capturing the Jeddah event by defeating Talor Gooch in a playoff, and $4 million for finishing third in the season-long standings. That brings Brooks’ total earnings for the season to $17.5 million, not including the $5 million he won in the four majors on the PGA Tour.
Bland admitted he was drinking when he sent the tweet, and Pepperell had already noted he hadn’t taken the comment personally.
After a weekend in which a pair of English golfers snapped at each other on Twitter, one admitted he was under the influence and “should have known better.” He then turned his account off.
DP World Tour player Eddie Pepperell responded to a comment on Twitter by saying the raucous scene was akin to similar experiences on the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open in Scottsdale.
“This has been happening at Scottsdale for years now, so not sure how much LIV is really changing things here,” wrote Pepperell, who has been known as an active member of Twitter.
Richard Bland, a LIV Golf member, responded with a shot at Pepperell’s tenure on the European tour.
“Ed.. tell me where on DP World there’s been a hole like this? Because in 22yrs of playing the tour I can’t think of any. But maybe your 15 minutes on tour you know different,” his tweet read.
That led Pepperell to this response:
Where to start…
Suppose it’s simple; in my 15 minutes I won more events than you did in 22 years.
What the Tour has done (just to name a few);
GolfSixes Heineken hole at Himmerland Beat the Pro in Holland
The Tour, which you spent 22 years on did ok for you mate.
On Monday, the two made up as Bland admitted he was drinking when he sent the tweet, and Pepperell had already noted he hadn’t taken the comment personally.
“Unfortunately I did have too many last Ed. I apologize for what I said. I should know better not to tweet under the influence,” Bland wrote.
Bland finished 32nd at the LIV event in Australia and had just one top-10 finish during the circuit’s initial campaign, finishing fourth in Bangkok. His claim to fame is he won the 2021 British Masters at the age of 48 in his 478th start on the tour.
Koepka is just the latest big name to jump ship for the Saudi-backed league.
After an outburst last week where he accused media members of putting a black cloud over the U.S. Open by talking so much about the LIV Golf Invitational Series, Brooks Koepka is reportedly making the move to the Saudi-backed, Greg Norman-led breakaway league, according to the Telegraph and Sky Sports.
He is expected to make his debut on the new circuit at its second event next week at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland, Oregon.
Koepka joins the likes of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, and Abraham Ancer as more big names continue to jump ship for a massive payday.
In 14 stroke-play event starts this season, the 32-year-old has finished inside the top 10 once (WM Phoenix Open). His last win on the PGA Tour came at the same event in 2021. Koepka’s younger brother, Chase, has already committed to playing for LIV Golf and tied for 33rd a few weeks ago at the debut event in London, walking away with a check for $150,000.
Along with Koepka, LIV is expected to announce more signees in the coming days.
Tuesday at the Travelers Championship, Jay Monahan is holding a meeting with PGA Tour players to provide “several important updates” and to answer player questions.
Royal St. George’s isn’t Brooks Koepka’s cup of tea.
“It’s not my favorite venue that we’ve played,” the four-time major champion said Tuesday of the links in Sandwich, England, that rests near the sea southeast of London and is hosting the 149th edition of the British Open. “Quite a few blind tee shots, kind of hitting to nothing. Fairways are quite undulating. I don’t know, it’s not my favorite of the rotation, put it that way.”
No, his favorites would be the Old Course at St. Andrews, which he said is likely his favorite place in the world to play golf, and Royal Portrush. Still, his distaste for Royal St. George’s – which many players have called quirky and plays to a par of 70 stretched over 7,189 yards – won’t get to him as he tries to add a Claret Jug to his major haul.
Brooks Koepka practices his putting with caddie Ricky Elliot during a practice round for the British Open at Royal St. George’s. (Sandra Mailer-USA TODAY Sports)
“I’ve won on golf courses that I’m not a big fan of before,” he said. “It has nothing to do with it. Still got to get up and go hit the shot and do what I’m supposed to do, so that doesn’t bug me. I don’t care whether I like the place, don’t like it.
“(Royal St. George’s), it’s just not as exciting. I don’t know why. Whether it be a couple shots to nothing, a couple blind tee shots or shots in where you can’t really see much. I’m not too big of a fan of that.”
Ironically, on a vacation in 2003 that included a stop at Royal St. George’s for the final round of the Open Championship, kid Koepka fell in love with links golf. With his mother and brother, Chase, who also plays professional golf, the three played St. Andrews and Carnoustie and watched the final round when Ben Curtis shocked the golf world in winning the oldest championship in golf.
“I’ve always enjoyed coming over here. I’ve always enjoyed playing links golf. I think it takes a lot of creativity and imagination,” Koepka said. “In the States a lot of times you just throw it up high in the air and the ball is going to stop, where (in links golf) you’ve really got to pay attention where the ball is going to bounce into the green. You might have 50 yards, but you’ve got about six clubs you could play.
“I think that’s fun. It brings out the creative side. I love it.”
Koepka, however, got scolded by his mother on the trip. As they watched the final round of the 2003 Open – Chase even had a brief exchange with Tiger Woods on the back nine – Koepka got tired.
“I ended up falling asleep right in the little pavilion to the right of 18 and didn’t even see the finish,” he said. “I remember getting yelled at by my mom; I didn’t bring you over here to fall asleep kind of deal. But it was fun. We enjoyed the whole trip, and it was a cool family trip.”
[vertical-gallery id=778115931]
Koepka has been criticized a few times for seemingly falling asleep at regular PGA Tour events. He has acknowledged having trouble at times getting up for tournaments of the non-major caliber. His focus, he says, is not as sharp; while he won the 2017 and 2018 U.S. Opens and the 2018 and 2019 PGA Championships, he’s won just four other PGA Tour events, including this year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open.
In the British Open, he has three top-10s in six starts.
“It’s a major, so I’ll be up for it,” he said. “It’s a different feeling. It’s just more focused, more locked in on what I need to do, no distractions. I don’t know, I just simplify everything, and it becomes a lot easier.
“Maybe I always don’t have the best of prep coming into this. But I feel good. I feel my game feels solid. I like the way I’m hitting it right now, and I’m definitely more comfortable than I’ve been in years past coming over.”
Royal St. George’s ranks No. 9 on Golfweek’s Best list of classic courses built before 1960 in Great Britain and Ireland. The course, designed by Laidlaw Purves and opened in 1887, hosted 14 British Opens before this year’s.
Chase Koepka and his older brother Brooks are tight, but that does not mean younger brother is looking to ride his coattails.
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — After Chase Koepka rolled a 4-foot putt about 2-feet past the 13th hole at the Valspar Championship on Thursday, a volunteer decided to voice his opinion to everyone within earshot about Chase’s game.
“That kid will never make it to Saturday,” he said.
As it turned out, that volunteer would have been wise to adhere to the words on those sticks that read: ‘Quiet Please.’ Because one of those within earshot was Bob Koepka, Chase’s dad, who was not about to let the comment go without a response.
“You want to make a wager on that?” Bob asked.
That man opted not to put his money where his mouth was. And good thing, because volunteering could have gotten expensive.
This story could have been even better if Chase himself had heard the Nick Faldo wannabe. Then, it could be assumed that was all the motivation he needed.
But, so far, Chase is doing just fine on his own, with the emphasis on — on his own.
Since that hole, Chase has played bogey-free golf on the Copperhead Course, including a 1-under 70 Friday, and enters the weekend at 4-under. Chase’s unusual second round included 17 consecutive pars before dropping a 21-foot birdie putt on No. 9 (his 18th hole) for his lone birdie.
“It’s better to do it with a birdie than a bogey, that’s for sure,” he said about coming within one hole of 18 pars.
Chase is at Valspar on a sponsor exemption. He was expecting to play with his brother and four-time major winner, Brooks, but for the second consecutive tournament in which Chase has played, Brooks, who is recovering from knee surgery, was forced to withdraw.
So, when spectators see a Koepka has advanced to the weekend, it probably is not the Koepka they expected.
[vertical-gallery id=778101920]
But that’s OK with Chase, who understands what it takes to live in the shadow of an older brother who has become known worldwide.
Chase, 27, and his older brother are very tight, but that does not mean Chase is looking to ride his coattails. They live their separate lives, Chase in West Palm Beach and Brooks in Jupiter, and they obviously are in different tax brackets and stages of their careers with Brooks, who was No. 1 in the world for 47 weeks, having won more Tour events (eight) than Chase had played entering this week.
And Chase is comfortable with that.
Still, that doesn’t make it any easier for dad when it sometimes seems as if Chase does not exist to the casual fan.
“There are always the comparisons and then people who say, ‘How come he’s not doing what his brother is doing?’” Bob said. “But the hardest thing is somebody will come up to me and say, ‘You got to be proud of your son.’ And Chase would be standing right next to me, and they don’t even know he plays.”
Bob is proud of his sons, plural. Which is why walking 18 holes, whether at Valspar or a course on the local Minor League Tour is as stressful as walking Pebble Beach or Augusta National.
And if you don’t believe that, you were not standing by the 9th green Friday when that putt dropped and Bob, and the rest of a solid contingent of Chase’s family and friends, turned heads with their cheers.
“There’s a lot of people that still think I’m just a nobody,” Chase said. “That’s all right. That’s their opinion. I know I’m good enough to be out there.
“My brother did everything on his own, and he’s done an amazing job of it. I want to do the same thing. I’m his biggest fan out there. I love seeing him win. That’s been our dream since we were little. It doesn’t change for me. I haven’t done it yet, but my goal is to be out there. I don’t think I’m too far off.”
Chase Koepka plays from the bunker on the 4th hole during the second round of the 2021 Valspar Championship. (Photo: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports)
Chase is right, he isn’t that far. Valspar is Chase’s sixth PGA Tour event in the last 18 months, and he has made the cut in all but one. Although his best finish is a tie for 26th at the 3M Open in July, he shot a 64 Sunday, the low round of the day.
“I’m making a lot of cuts,” said Chase, who finished T-30 at Honda. “I just haven’t quite finished near the top. I’ve had a lot of mid-level finishes. I’m kind of itching to get inside the top 10. Just to be in the hunt with nine or 18 to go.”
Could that be this weekend? Though happy with a bogey-free round, Chase was not happy with the stress he put on his putter. Just five of Chase’s par putts were inside 3-feet. He saved par seven times with putts of 5- to 10-feet.
“I just didn’t have that many opportunities for birdies all day and it was very frustrating,” Chase said. “If I kind of clean it up a little bit … I’m doing all the right things. Just really fortunate my putter stepped up today.”
A lot is riding on a top-10 finish. Chase plans to head to North Carolina Monday to try to qualify for next week’s Wells Fargo Championship. If he’s in the top 10 at Valspar, he automatically qualifies for Wells Fargo.
“He knows he belongs out here,” Bob said. “He knows he’s got the game to be out here. He just has to go through the system to work his way up.”
Chase Koepka, the younger brother of Brooks Koepka, faces final qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour next month near Orlando.
Following in the same field as a successful family member can be a mixed bag, as all three Baldwins known as “the other brother” can attest. A name can open doors but might also close minds, fueling assumptions about indolent coattail jockeys trying to shortcut their way to the big leagues.
Dru Love’s only status was conferred by birth, but he has ridden his family’s respected name to 18 PGA Tour starts, three times as many as he has made on the developmental circuits. On the reverse side of that ledger is another 25-year-old, Chase Koepka. He earned his status on both the Challenge and European Tours, and next month faces final qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour. Success will bring him one step closer to joining his brother Brooks on the PGA Tour, but he isn’t planning to rely on his celebrated sibling for advice on tackling the four-round gauntlet at Orange County National near Orlando.
“He’s probably not the person I would lean on because he’s never really done well in Q-School,” Chase says with a laugh. “He knows that. He’s better at major championships than he is at Q-School.”
He did lean on his brother’s caddie though: Ricky Elliott piloted Chase through second stage qualifying recently in Texas. Koepka opened that decisive final round with a double bogey. “Well, better it happen on the first hole than on the 18th, right?” the experienced bagman said as they walked to the second tee.
“I’m looking at him and I say, ‘I’m not sure Rick!,’ ” Koepka recalls. “I was very upset at myself, but it was the perfect thing to say to get under my skin and make me laugh at the same time.” Playing the remaining holes 6-under par, Koepka battled through to the final stage.
The other Koepka-Elliott partnership has won four majors in the last couple of years, and the power of his last name has helped get Chase a couple of sponsor invitations on the PGA Tour, though he distantly trails Love in the Starts Gained Mooching category. He made cuts in Las Vegas and South Korea, which helped lift his world ranking by more than 350 places to 1,498th.
“I really don’t pay much attention to that,” he says of the ranking. Then he adds with a wry chuckle: “Obviously, it’s pretty easy to figure out where Brooks is at.”
Obviously. Just scroll up 1,497 spots.
The younger Koepka seems at ease with the inevitable comparisons to Brooks, who is four years his senior and whose footsteps he followed all the way to the unglamorous venues of Europe’s Challenge circuit. Whatever expectations he has felt burdened with are mostly self-inflicted, he says, owed to his own competitiveness rather than pressure to emulate his sibling. But he admits to having been worn down by the disappointments inherent in the grind of professional golf and life on the road.
“I’m willing to play wherever I can. As a golfer you have to do that,” he says. “I just didn’t do a very good job this year mentally. That’s completely on me. This is going to be my fourth year out here and I’ve had status on a tour since I turned pro. After three years, I should be able to figure out how I need to go about my business. I’m starting to do that.”
He has momentum heading to Q-School off solid play in Korea and in second-stage qualifying. “I got kicked in the teeth for the last year, but there’s so many positives I can take that I haven’t seen in a really long time,” he says. “It’s exciting to see where my game is starting to go.”
Koepka’s intended preparation included some minitour stops and entering Monday qualifiers for PGA Tour events in Mexico and Sea Island, Georgia. The latter is the Love family’s home tournament. Dru, who was eliminated from Korn Ferry qualifying at the second stage, will be in the field for the fourth time in the last five years.
