Tour coach on Koepka's brutal comments about young golfer: "It did him good"

Brooks Koepka's criticism of his LIV Golf teammate Matthew Wolff 'woke up' the golfer, according to the 24-year-old's swing coach.

Ben Smith

07 Sep 2023

Tour coach on Koepka's brutal comments about young golfer: "It did him good" — Tour coach on Koepka's brutal comments about young golfer: "It did him…

Matthew Wolff's coach George Gankas has conceded there were elements of truth in Brooks Koepka's scathing criticism of his LIV Golf teammate.

Cast your mind back to July and the world of men's professional golf was gearing up for the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool.

A week before the third major of the year, LIV Golf played at Centurion Club just outside of London on the anniversary of the rival league.

Much of the week was overshadowed by Koepka unloading on his 24-year-old teammate.

For his part, Wolff said his comments broke his heart but immediately responded by contending at LIV Golf's next tournament at the Old White course at The Greenbrier.

That was the same tournament where Bryson DeChambeau carded the first ever 58 in the breakaway tour's history en route to an emotional victory.

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As for Wolff, his coach reckons that Koepka's dressing down lit a fuse in the young golfer.

Although he did concede in his interview with No Laying Up that there were times Wolff wasn't playing 'as hard as he could'.

Gankas stressed that the issue could've been dealt with privately.

He explained:

"There were some incidents where Wolff possibly wasn't playing as hard as he could and he called him out on it and, you know what, in my opinion, as much as anybody doesn't want to hear it – I don't think it should have been done publicly – but I think it did Wolff good. I think it woke him up.

"I don't know if it was he didn't like the actual attention or the fame or whatever it was, or he just didn't want to play. He's figuring it out right now. He's a much better person than he was two years ago.

"I think there were just times that he didn't want to play golf. I do. I don't think the talent has ever been gone."

Wolff won his maiden PGA Tour event at the age of 19 and rose to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

He flirted with a victory at the 2020 U.S. Open and held the 54-hole lead but the aforementioned DeChambeau bullied Winged Foot in the final round to claim his first major.

"I read the SI interview with our captain Brooks Koepka and it was beyond disappointing to me.

"When I chose to join his team in 2023, I did so with much optimism about my new home as part of Team Smash and equally as important the chance to be around and learn from a player of Brooks' stature.

"Like everyone who has ever played the game at the highest level, I have had competitive moments in the past that I feel I have let myself down and even others in our new team environment.

"This has been quite difficult for me. My challenges on and off the golf course with my mental health has been well documented. I deal with those challenges every day." - Wolff on Koepka's comments

But Wolff has since struggled and took time away from the game to address mental health issues.

LIV Golf appeared to be the perfect opportunity for the young golfer and he signed with the breakaway in 2022.

Gankas stressed that Wolff is still just a kid and he has plenty of years to turn his career around.

"The fact is, the talent is there. I don't think that he could ever lose his golf completely," he said.

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Tour coach on Koepka's brutal comments about young golfer: "It did him good"

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