Brooks Koepka and his new-look Smash GC team claimed victory at LIV Golf Las Vegas with some offseason changes instantly being vindicated with their early-season form
Brooks Koepka made alterations to his Smash GC team during the LIV Golf offseason, and the results are already proving to be beneficial.
In 2023, Koepka’s team faced difficulties and he found himself in a public dispute with Matthew Wolff when he expressed his lack of support for his teammate.
As a result, a major trade took place between Koepka’s team and RangeGoats GC, involving the exchange of Wolff for Talor Gooch, the winner of the individual points list. This trade was made with the intention of removing Wolff from the team and enhancing its performance, displaying a ruthless approach.
He has also included Graeme McDowell, who has a lot of experience, instead of his brother Chase Koepka.
Jason Kokrak has been kept in the team to complete the lineup.
This decision proved to be successful in the second tournament of the year, as the team, with its new composition, easily won the LIV Golf Las Vegas event.
They finished -33, seven shots clear of 4Aces GC. Gooch finished just one shot behind winner Dustin Johnson in the individual standings with McDowell shooting a -5 on the final day to finish tied for fifth alongside teammate Kokrak and Paul Casey.
Discussing the immediate impact of the changes, Koepka said: “Yeah, that was the plan, to bring in two guys that have experience, that know how to win, and to be in this situation where I feel like we’re competing every week.
“We had a disappointing Sunday last week. However, such occurrences are not uncommon.
We were given an opportunity to participate and definitely gained some knowledge from it. And today, it was truly remarkable to see G-Mac perform as brilliantly as he did.
Taylor had an opportunity to emerge victorious while J (Kokrak) displayed exceptional prowess. Another opportunity to triumph stood before him.
The team’s performance delights me, and I deeply admire this group.
I am eagerly looking forward to what the future holds.
The upcoming season of LIV will bring a significant alteration where all four scores will be considered for the team competition on the last day. In the past, only the three highest scores from each team were taken into account for the final standings on the opening two days of each event.
Koepka claims that the decision to implement modifications was made prior to the adjustments in the format. However, he believes that these changes have been advantageous for his team, as they performed admirably in challenging circumstances.
He stated that performing the off-season maneuvers prior to the four scores being tallied was a positive decision.
Initially, he believed having three off-season moves was beneficial, but upon reflection, he realized it actually worked to their advantage.
“We have a considerable amount of strength and a substantial number of individuals on this team who possess the expertise to achieve victories and excel in the game of golf. This is evident when observing today’s performance.
Exceptional athletes thrive even in challenging circumstances, as exemplified by G-Mac’s excellent play today.”
“I am incredibly proud of him and these individuals being given the opportunity to succeed.
It is the best outcome one could hope for.
Essentially, having three individuals with the possibility of winning on a Sunday is always a positive situation.”