James Colgan
Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka will serve as teammates at the Crypto.com Showdown.
Scott Taetsch | Getty Images
It’s been a few years now since any serious details have emerged in the feud between Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.
Much of that can be attributed to the unlikely circumstances that led the pair to share mutual interests: Their shared departure to LIV Golf, and the sudden alignment of their professional incentives. Brooks and Bryson might have made strange bedfellows in those early days of LIV, but they were part of a tour at war, so there was no time for squabbling over details.
The years that followed the initial plunge to LIV seemed to soften the relationship between them. Koepka sidestepped barbs he’d previously never seemed to miss, and Bryson went out of his way to speak kindly of his fellow LIV compatriot. A Match-like broadcast pitted the two golfers against one another, but the broadcast yielded a dialogue that sounded more like goofy trash-talk and less like a bout between bitter rivals. Then the calendar turned to the fall of 2024, and suddenly news emerged that Bryson and Brooks would be competing together, in the somewhat hilariously named Crypto.com Showdown, against the PGA Tour duo of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
All that led us to Tuesday, when the two LIV representatives joined a press call to answer questions ahead of the made-for-TV bout, which will be broadcast from Las Vegas on December 17. It didn’t take long for Koepka and DeChambeau to be asked about their shared, erhm, history.
“I’ve always had respect for Brooks and what he’s done,” DeChambeau said. “Obviously, early on, we didn’t really understand each other. Pretty rocky relationship.”
Rocky is one adjective. Contemptuous might be a more accurate one. The beef started in 2019, when the duo was paired at a tournament in Dubai and DeChambeau’s … patient pace of play led Koepka to unload during a subsequent podcast interview. It continued into 2020, when Bryson’s ‘Incredible Bulk’ era resulted in a social media war over physique. The pair shared bromides for a few months until, at the 2021 PGA Championship, the internet ignited with Koepka’s now-famous eye roll video. Tensions boiled over at the Memorial Championship that same year, when fan taunting led to a week’s worth of stories about bullying, and a small army’s worth of ejections.
By the next summer, the pair was gone to LIV, but peace seemed a long way off. So what happened since that led to Tuesday’s downright chummy press conference? Koepka elaborated.
“We’ve come a long way. Going to LIV, honestly, I think that was a big moment for us, right?” Koepka said. “We were forced — well, I don’t want to say forced — but we were communicating a lot more, our conversation became a lot more open. From there, I’m the first person to admit I can be a bit stubborn.”
Koepka, whose press conference appearances generally range from surly to contentious, was having a moment of honest-to-goodness reflection.
“We all get older, we all mature a little bit, and then you realize, hey, Bryson’s a good dude,” Koepka said. “I think he’s severely misunderstood, and I think the world is starting to see who Bryson DeChambeau is, which is cool. I’m the first person to admit it: I was wrong with what my original thoughts were.”
For his part, Bryson also looks back on the past in a conciliatory bend.
“We had our spats, but when we both went to LIV, we realized we had quite a few things in common,” DeChambeau said. “Like stepbrothers, in a sense. We’ve developed a pretty solid relationship and have good respect for each other now.”
Well, there you have it — a story befitting the holiday season: Peace on earth and goodwill to man.
Bryson and Brooks, friends again. God bless us, everyone.
James Colgan
Golf.com Editor
James Colgan is a news and features editor at GOLF, writing stories for the website and magazine. He manages the Hot Mic, GOLF’s media vertical, and utilizes his on-camera experience across the brand’s platforms. Prior to joining GOLF, James graduated from Syracuse University, during which time he was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Long Island, where he is from. He can be reached at james.colgan@golf.com.
