Announcing the newest member of the Liv Tour…
Brooks Koepka! 🏌️♂️ pic.twitter.com/lAQCCPjKjy— Conor Moore (@ConorSketches) June 21, 2022
The weather in Brookline, Mass, on Sunday was cool and damp, but the ominous “black cloud” that Brooks Koepka predicted while facing media questions about the LIV Golf Series prior to the start of the U.S. Open failed to materialize.
If media questions somehow threw Koepka off his preparations, he should be looking inward rather than at the media there to cover the proceedings at The Country Club, where Koepka shot 75-77 the final two days to finish 55th.
Reports surfaced Tuesday that Koepka is jumping to the “Mimi” crowd that has defected to LIV. You know the “Mimi” guys – Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! … and Me!
If that becomes official, Koepka will be a very wealthy hypocrite for sounding off at media people doing their jobs and for a lot less than the marquee professional golfers.
The media didn’t invent the story, but the defections of high-profile players such as Koepka, will keep the LIV series in the news from week to week for a long time to come, whether it’s the week of a major or any other event. Get used to it.
Chances are that LIV will be a topic of discussion at next month’s Open Championship at the Old Course, but it won’t diminish or put a “black cloud” over that prestigious event, just as it didn’t diminish the U.S. Open, despite Koepka’s prognostications last week.
Once the tournament got going, the LIV series all but disappeared as the U.S. Open became everything it’s supposed to be, whether it was Matt Fitzpatrick’s escape from a fairway bunker to eventually win the title, his caddie Billy Foster winning his first major or Adam Hadwin getting in as a first alternate, then tying for seventh.
Going forward, Phil Mickelson, with close to $95 million in career tour earnings alone, or Dustin Johnson, with close to $75 million, or possibly Koepka, with nearly $38 million in career tour earnings, will act as if they are selfless, misunderstood souls merely trying to create an existence in which they and their families aren’t living paycheque to paycheque.
As part of that act, they will make like they’re putting the best interest of the game ahead of themselves. It’s disingenuous.
Majors championships are showcases for the game, not shields millionaire players use to defend them against uncomfortable questions.
Share Your Thoughts: