Brooks Koepka has described long-term rival Bryson DeChambeau as the “the biggest figure in golf” despite their history of feuding. The LIV Golf stars will pair up to play against Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in The Showdown next week.
The exhibition event will see the pairs go up against each other in an unofficial LIV Golf vs PGA Tour battle. While McIlroy and Scheffler have always enjoyed a harmonious relationship, Koepka and DeChambeau have been sporadically at each other’s throats for several years.
And so Koepka’s high praise of his fellow American might come as some surprise.
Promoting The Showdown, the 34-year-old told Sports Illustrated: "I can promise you on the other side, they're not sitting there wanting to lose. Rory doesn't, Scottie doesn't want to lose to us and there's no chance [we want to lose], we're too competitive on our side. We don't want to lose.
Related articles
"This isn't anything other than just us being competitive and wanting to beat those guys, and show them who the best players in golf are.
"I truly think you've got the biggest figure in golf in Bryson and then one of the [golfers with the] most majors. We've got a lot going on our side. We want to beat them, we want to showcase the world we're the top two dogs."
Koepka and DeChambeau have frequently bickered over the past few years. They have sniped at each other in interviews and warred over social media.
Fans even turned up to events to shout “Brooksy” at DeChambeau, which would prompt a furious reaction. He successfully petitioned to have fans thrown out of venues if they shouted Koepka’s name at him.
Koepka later revealed that DeChambeau broke a pact, which saw them agree that they would no longer mention each other’s names. He claimed that the 31-year-old scuppered the promise by talking about him while streaming a video game.
"We both agreed we'd leave each other out of it and wouldn't mention each other, just kind of let it die off, wouldn't mention each other's names, just go about it," Koepka said.
"So, then he decided, I guess he was going on that little, whatever, playing video games online or whatever, and brought my name up and said a few things, so now it's fair game."
The pair appear to have rekindled their friendship recently and will hope to beat the PGA stars in the Showdown.
