Couch: DeChambeau-Koepka Rivalry Is A Bonus This US Open Week
We should have known when the Golf Channel interview with Brooks Koepka was leaked. Leaked, as if this were a highly sensitive issue that someone didn’t want out. Koepka lost concentration during an interview because his rival Bryson DeChambeau walked behind him in the picture and snickered or sneered or burped or something.
And the story of golf in the weeks since then has been the great, heated rivalry between two stars. It’s great for golf! It’s what golf needs! The other focus of golf, Phil Mickelson winning the PGA Championship, doesn’t have legs. He turns 51 today, after all. That’s more than seven in dog years.
So enjoy the Koepka-DeChambeau show, but just know that you’re being played. My guess is that most people know that already, but don’t really care. It’s fun watching a fight with the tough-guy modern weapon of choice: the tweet.
Koepka and DeChambeau are getting so much from that leak. The Golf Channel, too. And golf itself.
The U.S. Open starts Thursday, and Koepka and DeChambeau are the favorites. There were reports -- and denials -- that tournament organizers asked Koepka and DeChambeau to play together, but both said no. Where did that story come from?
It was leaked.
Earlier this year, the PGA Tour announced an official-sounding $40 million Player Impact Program. Basically, 10 players will split $40 million in bonuses at the end of the year, based on popularity. Google search numbers will be a deciding factor.
So now, we have a fake rivalry. But whatever. No one is hurt. Social media are all about creating a fake version of yourself so that you can get a bunch of people who aren’t really your friends to say they are and to “like’’ you. Of course, all of those people are creating their own fake identities, too.
“It’s bringing new eyeballs,” Koepka said. “... It’s pretty much been on every news channel. Pretty much everything you look at online, it’s got this in the headline, or it’s up there as a big news story. To me, that’s growing the game.”
Personally, I’d rather focus on Mickelson. The U.S. Open this year is in Mickelson’s home town of San Diego. He wasn’t expecting to qualify for a spot in the field, so he already accepted a wild card entry. Then, he won the PGA Championship.
The U.S. Open has been his biggest failure. He has six second-place finishes without a championship, including a few that he had all but won. Once, he just needed to knock a ball out into the fairway, chip onto the green and putt once for the win. Instead, he tried to hook one around a tree, failed, lost and said, “I’m such an idiot.’’
Mickelson changed himself entirely for the PGA Championship, slowing. . . things. . .down. He walked slowly, as if he thought, “Now take a left step, now take a right, now take a. . .’’ He moved methodically, wore sunglasses, had no facial expression, hid from everything and connected with fans only through a very awkward-looking thumbs up.
Can he actually win the U.S. Open now?
“I’ve kind of shut off all the noise,’’ Mickelson said. “I’ve shut off my phone. I’ve shut off a lot of other stuff to where I can kind of focus in on this week and really give it my best chance to try to play my best.’’
Shut off the noise.
Sports have had some great, deeply felt rivalries. Koepka-DeChambeau doesn’t feel like one.
Serena Williams couldn’t stand Maria Sharapova. In theory, that’s because Williams was so much better than Sharapova, but Sharapova got more endorsement money. And there were race and body image issues involved, too. So Williams basically crushed Sharapova every time they played.
Tiger Woods and Mickelson had a real rivalry too, but they didn’t fight it out with snark on Twitter.
The Koepka-DeChambeau thing seems to have started in early 2019, when Koepka tweeted about DeChambeau’s slow play, saying he didn’t “understand how it takes a minute and 20 seconds to hit a shot.’’
I’m not keeping up with the day-to-day of this, but I’m pretty sure one of them made fun of the other’s abs. And Koepka tweeted “Sorry bro’’ to Aaron Rodgers when Rodgers was paired with DeChambeau in a celebrity event.
DeChambeau thanked Koepka for allowing him to live rent-free in his head. Koepka offered to buy a beer for any fan who was penalized or kicked out for chanting “Brooksie’’ at DeChambeau when he played.
Is this real? I’m guessing they don’t care for each other, and now are milking it together to get likes and bonus money.
This is a show. Social media can be dangerous, though in this case, not so much. DeChambeau and Koepka are just turning themselves into influencers, golf influencers. That’s as opposed to being golfers.
Nothing wrong with that. I can’t wait to see what they tweet each other Sunday after Mickelson wins the U.S. Open.