Rivalry Between Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau Heats Up

Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are not the best of friends. Far from it. And the latest example of that fact came over the weekend at the PGA Championship.

As Koepka was conducting a post-round interview with the Golf Channel, DeChambeau was walking toward Koepka, from his right, ultimately going behind Koepka. There was no hiding Koepka’s reaction to DeChambeau.

There was a clear roll of the eyes by Koepka, then a shutting of the eyes, as DeChambeau, who was talking the entire time, walked behind Koepka. The moment distracted Koepka to the point where he lost his train of thought in the interview and dropped an expletive. Luckily, the interview was taped, so the Golf Channel was able to stop and re-do the interview.

The tension between Koepka and DeChambeau is clearly not going away. It started in January of 2019 when Koepka openly complained about DeChambeau’s pace of play. When DeChambeau heard of the comments, he stated that Koepka should say it to his face.

After Koepka appeared in ESPN the Magazine’s body issue, DeChambeau allegedly said that Koepka did not have any abs. In response, Koepka sent back a picture of his four major championship trophies and said he was two short of a six-pack.

There has been other shade thrown on Twitter between the two, including when DeChambeau confronted a TV camera operator in 2020.

The rivalry between the two is definitely not slowing down, especially after the incident at the PGA. Whether this is good for the game or not is a matter of opinion. It does bring attention to the sport, and to the two players, whether good or bad.

Koepka and DeChambeau are two of the most talented players in the game and they are both still very young (Koepka is 31, DeChambeau is 27). This figures to be a rivalry that goes on for many years to come.