Were Brooks Koepka's deliberate slow-play tactics a dig at Bryson DeChambeau?

Brooks Koepka insisted his slow-play tactics were tactical and not a dig at Bryson DeChambeau as his Smash GC team suffered a narrow defeat to the Crushers in the LIV Golf Team Championship.

As captain of the higher-ranked team for Saturday's semi-finals in Michigan, DeChambeau chose to play singles against Talor Gooch rather than have a high-profile showdown with long-time arch-rival Koepka.

"I don't know what Bryson was afraid of," said Koepka after learning he would face Anirban Lahiri, notorious for his slow and deliberate style of play.

DeChambeau scraped victory at the last, while Koepka levelled the tie with a 1up win over Lahiri, with that match the subject of scrutiny on Koepka's bizarre slow-play tactics.

The Koepka-Lahiri group was put on the clock by tournament officials, a warning that Koepka was accused of deliberately causing, perhaps as a response to DeChambeau's match-up decision.

Koepka did not deny that his intention was to get his group on the clock, but he said it was tactical as the enforced, improved pace of play would have given him a significant advantage over his opponent.

Asked if getting put on the clock was a "statement" over not getting the draw he wanted, Koepka said: "No, it didn't have anything to do with that.

"I just felt like I could get more holes in at my pace than I could if we got on the clock early. I think it took us five holes, it wasn't long, but I felt like we could play the rest of the holes at my pace, and I felt like I did."

DeChambeau hinted that Lahiri's slow play was a factor in trying to upset Koepka's rhythm, but he took a light-hearted view of the day's incidents.

"It might have been that in there," DeChambeau admitted when questioned about Lahiri's "gamesmanship". "It's a perfect matchup for them too. Did Brooks win today? Yeah, he beat him."

And when he was told that it was Koepka's slow play that got the group out on the clock, DeChambeau added: "Yeah, sorry Brooks! They were definitely farther behind, I'm sorry about that. 

"It's just fun. We're trying to have a good time. We're trying to win, right? We want to beat them, and I felt like that gave us the best opportunity."

DeChambeau would ultimately celebrate advancing to Sunday's grand final after Paul Casey and Charles Howell III earned a 2up victory over Graeme McDowell and Jason Kokrak in the foursomes.