Brooks Koepka dismisses narrative surrounding LIV Golf impact on PGA Tour

Brooks Koepka is aiming to win his first green jacket at the Masters tournament this week.

He is one of 13 LIV Golf players who will be competing against their PGA Tour competitors at Augusta National.

Brooks Koepka does not think that the establishment of LIV Golf has prevented top players from facing each other on the PGA Tour, as he prepares for this week’s Masters tournament.

Koepka is aiming to win his first green jacket at Augusta National in his pursuit of achieving the career Grand Slam.

This week, the five-time major champion is one of 13 LIV Golf players participating in the tournament, joining familiar faces such as Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler for the first time since the Open Championship last summer. Following its establishment in June 2022, the Smash GC captain, along with other notable players such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Jon Rahm, made the decision to leave the PGA Tour and join LIV.

The addition of LIV to the professional golfing ecosystem appeared to have split the sport in two. Koepka however believes that even before the formation of the Saudi-backed league, the amount of times that the world’s best actually teed it up alongside each other on the PGA Tour was sparse.

Quizzed on whether he missed competing in the American-based circuit’s leading events alongside McIlroy and co, he responded: “I mean I think that’s subjective. Look, the best players in the world never got together week in, week out. I think that’s kind of forgotten.

“We always, if you look at the Tour schedule, it was the majors, WGCs, I never played API that much, like later in my career, or at Memorial, but those were pretty much the 10 events where everyone was, for sure, going to be there. And then it was just kind of sprinkled in everywhere else.

“I believe that is the reality of the situation.

Not all the top 40 players in the world compete every week, which is often overlooked.

However, this week is an exception as it sees the best players from both tours competing with the goal of winning the green jacket.”

After nearly two years of conflict, it seems that the tension in the game is beginning to decrease as the PGA Tour works on reaching an agreement with LIV backers, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF).

Despite the surprising announcement made last June, two competitors have not yet completed the pending peace agreement.

And similar to many others, LIV star Koepka is still unaware of what the future holds.

“No one knows,” the five-time major champion informed Mirror Sport before heading to Augusta National. “We are not aware on our end, and they are also not informed on their end.”