Brooks Koepka makes claim against every Ryder Cup player: "Very few"

LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka says 'very few' players want the pressure of having an eight-foot putt with the Ryder Cup on the line.

Ben Smith

27 Sep 2023

Brooks Koepka makes claim against every Ryder Cup player: "Very few"

ROME - Brooks Koepka says 'very few' of the 24 players competing in the Ryder Cup actually want the pressure of having the contest come down to their match.

Cast your mind back to June 2022 and the Ryder Cup likely wasn't on Koepka's radar.

Struggling with injuries and faced with an offer north of $100m to play in LIV Golf events, the five-time major champion bolted to the rival tour.

It made qualifying automatically or being chosen as one of captain Zach Johnson's six picks all the more difficult.

But as Koepka explained on Wednesday, not impossible. "Just play better," he said.

"Everybody had an opportunity to get there. I mean, I had the same opportunity as every other LIV player, and I'm here."

Koepka is making his fourth Ryder Cup appearance. He boasts an overall record of 6-5-1.

He has always exuded a huge amount of confidence over his game and a now fit and healthy Koepka recently made the claim he is targeting winning 12 major championships before retirement.

"Well, you think about how many I've already blown," he told Barstool's Pardon My Take.

"Like, I blew one to Phil [2021 PGA Championship] so that would be six. Tiger [2019 Masters], that's seven. Jon Rahm [2023 Masters], so that's eight. Gary Woodland [2019 U.S. Open], I lost to Gary, so that's nine. I feel like I should have nine right now."

Johnson's Team USA are small favourites to win despite not having won in hostile territory in more than 30 years.

Brooks Koepka makes claim against every Ryder Cup player:

To break the streak they will need Koepka et al firing on all cylinders.

This could go to the wire. Koepka said he didn't know where he would be in the order when it comes to the singles.

He was asked: "If the Ryder Cup came down to one match on the course to decide it, I suspect if you ask all 24 guys here if they want the ball, they'd say yes. How many of them do you think really mean it?"

Koepka paused for 10 seconds, then offered his answer.

"Very few. False confidence, I think.

"I think other than the Ryder Cup, I think the most pressure you can feel is in a major. I don't know what -- yeah, guys should believe in themselves, but everybody else has got to be thinking that they don't.

"That's why I think that way. You've got to think you're the best player on the golf course, best player on the team, best player in that current time, and if you don't, then there's something wrong with you.

"You've always got to believe you're the best and want to be the best and have that drive, and that's what's going to put you over the edge.

"I think a lot of guys have it, but I don't know how many guys would want an eight-footer with this on the line."