"Look, we have no idea" - Brooks Koepka expresses uncertainty about PGA Tour and LIV Golf future
Brooks Koepka is in Singapore to play the seventh tournament of the 2024 LIV Golf season. Koepka has plenty of sporting issues to deal with, but the matter of the LIV - PGA Tour controversy is still present for him and everyone else.
Koepka and the rest of his Smash GC team held their usual pre-event press conference on Thursday, May 2. The subject of the negotiations regarding the so-called "framework agreement" took up part of the questions from the press.
"The merger is also between PIF [Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund] and the PGA Tour," Brooks Koepka replied. "I think that's the difference. It's not LIV Golf, it's the PIF and the PGA Tour. I think that's something that needs to be well-known.
"Look, we have no idea. The PGA Tour has no idea. Our job is to go play golf, and that's it. That's what we're here to do. But I think it's important that that merger is that way."
The PIF and the PGA Tour announced in June 2023 that they had established a "framework agreement" to negotiate a permanent one to end the division that currently exists in men's professional golf.
These negotiations were scheduled to end on December 31, but it was decided to extend the deadline. It was hoped that the final agreement would be in place by the time of The Masters, but this also did not happen.
The Smash GC team, captained by Brooks Koepka, is completed by Talor Gooch, Jason Kokrak and Graeme McDowell. The team has a victory and a third place as best results during the current season.
What else did Brooks Koepka talk about during the press conference?
Brooks Koepka also said that he is concerned about the current state of his game heading into the PGA Championship. Koepka will go into Valhalla Golf Club to defend his title and also to seek his sixth Major championship.
"[My game is] Clearly not very good," Koepka said. "With Augusta the way that it went, I kind of felt like I wasted all the time from December until then. Just keep grinding away, keep doing the work, and hopefully something will turn around."
To a follow-up question from a reporter, Koepka elaborated on his transition to a mallet putter. Here's how he put it:
"It's been [the mallet putter] in the bag two weeks before Augusta. I haven't even putted with that other putter, the one I've putted with for -- the button back that I've putted with for probably 12, 14 years, I haven't putted with it since then."
He added:
"I can't find the hole at all, to be honest with you. Something we've just been putting some work into, so trying to find some answers."
Koepka has played six individual tournaments at LIV Golf during 2024, with mixed results. He started with three consecutive top-15s at Mayakoba, Las Vegas and Jeddah, then finished 28th in Hong Kong, 46th in Miami and returned to the top-10s in Adelaide.
As for The Masters, Koepka finished T45th, one of the worst results of his career at Augusta National.