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The Match: Best of the Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau feud

Adam Woodard
·4 min read

A lot has changed since the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the site of the above picture featuring Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.

In the image, the two appear to get along. In reality, they couldn’t dislike each other more. After the pair’s personal issues were put to bed for the 2021 Ryder Cup, where both Koepka and DeChambeau helped Team USA rout the Europeans at Whistling Straits, the rivalry is back on with the fifth playing of The Match this Friday, Nov. 26, with a 12-hole bout at the Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas.

Get ready for the match with a history lesson on some of the biggest moments from the Brooks and Bryson beef.

More on The Match: How to watch | Odds | Yardage book | Wynn photo gallery

Started with slow play

Back in 2019 slow play was all the rage on the PGA Tour, and DeChambeau was the poster boy for the problem (partially because as one of the best players in the world, he was seen being slow on TV more than others).

It got to the point that even his fellow players on Tour were calling him out, with Eddie Pepperell throwing the harshest criticism DeChambeau’s way by calling him an “unaffected single-minded twit.”

Koepka also had more than a few words on the subject, and DeChambeau had enough.

The two hashed it out and moved on. Just when it appeared like this may be the end of the feud, it was actually just heating the pot.

Six-pack smack talk

My personal favorite moment of the beef.

While on a Twitch stream in January of 2020 after Koepka had appeared in ESPN’s Body Issue, DeChambeau took a shot at his physique.

“I don’t think his genetics even make him look good,” DeChambeau said. “Did you see the Body Issue? He didn’t have any abs. I have abs.”

Queue Koepka’s burn in 3 … 2 … 1 …

At the time this burn was even better because DeChambeau had yet to win the U.S. Open (he won later in the year at Winged Foot).

The Video

I saw it, you saw it, we all saw it. But, if by some odd happenstance you’re reading this and have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s what you need to know from May. The clacking of the metal spikes, Koepka’s eyes nearly rolling out of his head and down the cart path, it’s so pure.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPRz4jvC5Jj/

Brooksie beer

And here’s my least favorite part of the feud.

During the 2021 Memorial Tournament — where Koepka wasn’t even playing — fans were lobbing “Brooksie” jeers DeChambeau’s way, which led to some spectators being thrown out.

Koepka’s response? Keep trolling, naturally.

My colleague Eamon Lynch put it best: ” … his ‘free beer for boors’ stunt crosses the line from entertaining fans to enlisting them as co-conspirators. … There is a cancer metastasizing in American sport of people who believe that buying a ticket makes them an actor in the action, not merely a spectator to it.”

Driver and caddie jabs

At this point it was almost a bad look for Koepka. He clearly had the upper hand in whatever rivalry was playing out, but he just couldn’t stop trolling DeChambeau. There was his caddie appreciation post after DeChambeau split with Tim Tucker ahead of his title defense at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

And then after DeChambeau went nuclear on his driver, there was Koepka’s “I love my driver” interview and subsequent post.

The hug

Who doesn’t love a happy ending?

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