Brooks Koepka became the latest player to walk back his previous statements and agree to join LIV Golf, despite having stated his intentions to remain on the PGA Tour. That didn’t sit too well with Rory McIlroy, who continued to blast LIV Golf when asked about Koepka’s sudden defection to the upstart league, which is backed by Greg Norman and Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund. Ahead of the Travelers Championship, McIlroy weighed in on Koepka’s decision, via Sky Sports, and he didn’t hold back.
🗣️ "They say one thing and then do another."
Rory McIlroy says he was 'surprised' by Brooks Koepka's decision to join the LIV Invitational Series. pic.twitter.com/N0xXDcvolq
— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) June 22, 2022
“Am I surprised? Yes. Because of what he said previously,” McIlroy said of Koepka. “I’m surprised at a lot of these guys because they say one thing and then do another… It’s pretty duplicitous of them to say one thing and do another.”
McIlroy has not been one to shy away from opposing players’ decisions to leave the Tour in favor of LIV Golf, and Koepka was treated no differently. Ahead of the Travelers Championship, which gets underway on Thursday, McIlroy described the decision from Koepka, as well as many of the rest of the players who joined LIV Golf, as being “duplicitous.”
Koepka is far from the only big name who took the money. He’ll be accompanied by fellow former Tour members in Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Lee Westwood, and Kevin Na, among others. Koepka’s brother, Chase Koepka, is also playing on the LIV Golf Tour.
It’s unclear how much LIV Golf is paying Koepka to secure his services, but it figures to be a substantial amount of money based on the reports detailing what Mickelson, DeChambeau, and Johnson collected in signing bonuses.
McIlroy doesn’t seem likely to be swayed by the money, and he’s taken a pretty adamant stance against defecting for LIV Golf, not hesitating to question those who joined the upstart league.
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