Brooks Koepka has not had a great week at Quail Hollow.
Koepka, who missed the cut at the PGA Championship, got into it briefly with a heckling spectator on the course on Friday. A fan sitting in a hospitality tent made a quip about LIV Golf as Koepka walked by. After taking a minute to process it, Koepka fired back.
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“That’s what guaranteed money does to you, Brooks,” the fan yelled, referencing the more than $100 million he earned for joining the Saudi Arabian-backed league.
“You want to come down here and say it?” Koepka yelled at the fan, who didn’t have much of a response.
While fighting with fans for any reason isn’t a great sign, it’s easy to see why Koepka was on edge. He looked awful throughout the first two rounds of the tournament. He shot a 4-over 75 on Thursday, and then he fired a 5-over 76 on Friday to get to 9-over on the week — which was well outside the projected cutline. Koepka had six bogeys and a double on his card on Friday, too.
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Koepka, who has won the PGA Championship three times, has struggled recently at the major championships — which is becoming a trend for many who opted to join LIV Golf. Koepka didn’t finish better than T26 at any of the four majors last season, and he missed the cut at the Masters last month, too.
Koepka entered this week at No. 354 in the Official World Golf Rankings, though he’s unable to earn points at LIV Golf events. He’s got an outside chance at earning a spot in the U.S. Ryder Cup team this fall, though automatically qualifying is almost certainly out of the question after his performances at the first two major championships.
Koepka will have a chance to turn things around next month at the U.S. Open, a tournament he’s won twice in his career. But with the way things are going, and the current state of things between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, he shouldn’t be surprised if there are more comments hurled his way at Oakmont.
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