All levels of pretence have been flung out the window.
Bryson Dechambeau and Brooks Koepka do not like each other.
Sure, they can be civil. They can say nice things about each other’s games in press conferences. They can be in the same Ryder Cup team. They can even pose for corporate, gimmicky shots when they are shunted into the same room together.
But the pair have had a fractious relationship for years. They do not enjoy too much time in each other’s orbits.
That is perfectly fine, but when they allow their dislike for each other to spill into the open, that is when people sit up and take notice.
Following the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, at the weekend, a video emerged of Koepka getting so distracted by his fellow American walking through the background of his interview.
The four-time Major winner lost his train of thought before declaring, “I’m lost… I lost my train of thought, yeah, hearing that bulls***.”
The video was in wide circulation until NBC Golf tracked it down and got rid of it from social media. The damage had been done, however, and most of us were getting a serious kick out of it.
When it was announced that Phil Mickelson and Green Bay Packers star Aaron Rodgers would be taking on DeChambeau and Super Bowl kingpin Tom Brady in ‘The Match’, on July 6, it got spicy.
Brady (or the canny person running his social media account) tweeted this meme:
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) May 26, 2021
That was not the only one that was doing the rounds.
Koepka even got involved, and let Rodgers know who he would be rooting for:
Sorry bro @AaronRodgers12
— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) May 26, 2021
Although he remained silent when the footage emerged, Dechambeau logged onto Twitter and threw out a response that even Koepka himself could not deny:
@BKoepka It’s nice to be living rent free in your head!
— Bryson DeChambeau (@b_dechambeau) May 26, 2021
Dechambeau, you must say, is playing this one nicely.
It then fell to Phil Micelson, who won the PGA Championship, to diffuse the tension with some ‘Lefty’ humour:
I feel like I’m in the middle of something and should step aside. (Except they want the CURRENT PGA champ:)
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) May 26, 2021
One can only hope the organisers of the next big-money PGA event pairs these lads together for a round or two.
It would be box-office viewing.
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