Brooks Koepka fires another cheap shot at Matt Wolff ahead of LIV Golf season
Brooks Koepka couldn't resist one last dagger to Matt Wolff when talking about his new signing Talor Gooch on Smash GC.
Brooks Koepka fired one last cheap shot at former teammate Matt Wolff when discussing how pleased he is to have new signing Talor Gooch on board at Smash GC for the 2024 LIV Golf League season.
Koepka first unloaded on Wolff last summer when saying he had "given up" on him.
The five-time major champion did not believe Wolff was putting in enough effort on a weekly basis.
"A lot talent, but I mean the talent is wasted," Koepka said of Wolff on the eve of LIV Golf London in July 2023.
Wolff soon responded, telling the Guardian's Ewan Murray the comments were "beyond disappointing" and "heartbreaking".
In his response, Wolff alluded to struggles with his own mental health that has been well documented in recent years.
Fast forward to 2024 and Koepka has gone in on Wolff once again, just a week before the start of the new LIV Golf League season that gets underway at Mayakoba in Mexico.
With Wolff now booted out of Smash GC and at a new home on Bubba Watson's RangeGoats GC, it opened the door for Koepka to sign last year's three-time winner and LIV Golf Individual champion Gooch.
Many consider the transfer a huge upgrade for Koepka and a giant loss for Watson.
Smash GC also acquired former US Open champion Graeme McDowell for 2024.
Both McDowell and Koepka recently bought a racehorse by the name of Givemefive, and it won for the second time in a row in the UK earlier this week.
The fourth member of Smash GC is Jason Kokrak, who remains on Koepka's team.
Koepka's brother Chase was demoted from LIV Golf at the end of last season.
Koepka wants all members on his team to buy into his work ethic and be cocky enough to believe that each of them is the best player on the team.
"I hope so," Koepka told LIVGolf.com, when asked if all of his players believe they are the top dog inside the ropes at Smash GC.
Then came that burn...
"I hope [Gooch] thinks he’s the No. 1 guy on the team.
"That’s a good thing. That’s what I want. That’s the competitiveness we’ve been lacking.
"He’s a competitor. He’s gritty. Hope he comes in thinking he’s No. 1.
"I hope Jay [Kokrak] thinks the same thing. I hope G-Mac [McDowell] thinks the same thing, because all that’s going to do is just drive everybody to play better and work harder. Success on the individual side for them and success for the team side."
Gooch is ready to make his mark, too.
"Obviously it’s Brooks’ team," said Gooch.
"He’s one of the best players of this generation. He’s the face of the team – and I’m excited to be there to hopefully make him the second-best scorer on the team over the next few years.
"We’re just doing this together and I don’t think either of us really care who’s No. 1 or 2 or anything like that. We want to be standing on the podium at the end of the week. That’s all we care about."
