That two members of the US Ryder Cup team, two alpha males of contrasting professional approach, may not see eye to eye should be no surprise to anybody
During a stroll at Bethpage Black, in advance of the 2019 US PGA Championship, I struck up conversation with one of Europe’s leading Ryder Cup players. As said golfer prolonged his reconnaissance work on a green, he waved for the group behind to play through. He duly identified one of the party as yet another hero of the yellow and blue for the biennial event against the United States. “If I knew it was him, I would have left him waiting on the fairway.” And he wasn’t kidding.
That snapshot came to mind last week, as a supposedly epic spat between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau sent golf’s chattering classes into a state of frenzy. Koepka, at Kiawah Island’s staging of the US PGA, backed off mid-Golf Channel interview as DeChambeau walked behind the platform. DeChambeau is heard to vent his feelings – as he does – and his metal spikes created the kind of background racket that may well have led to a retake anyway. Koepka, his disdain perfectly clear, claims he “lost his train of thought” amid DeChambeau’s “bullshit”. Whether DeChambeau is actually addressing Koepka is unclear but it mattered not; the snippet was mysteriously leaked and, millions of page views later, created a level of general excitement that typically greets mating season for the pandas at Edinburgh Zoo.
Related: Koepka v DeChambeau: The deliciously petty spat that could save golf
