Brooks Koepka on Rory McIlroy: "Sometimes you just have to sit there and laugh"
LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka has detailed his close relationship with Rory McIlroy on the eve of the 2024 Masters at Augusta National.
Brooks Koepka has described Rory McIlroy as a 'good dude' as he detailed his close bond with the Northern Irishman on the eve of the 2024 Masters.
Koepka and McIlroy have taken centre stage in the world of men's professional golf over the last two years.
Unsurprisingly, that is down to off-course matters.
Koepka made the leap to LIV for north of $100m whereas McIlroy led the charge against the breakaway.
At the height of golf's 'civil war', McIlroy even described Koepka as 'duplicitous' when he joined the rival league.
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For his part, Koepka hit back simply by saying: "He can think whatever he wants."
Fast-forward to April 2024 and it's clear that despite the historical jibes, there is a deep respect between the pair.
Koepka spoke to GOLF in the latest edition of 'Warming Up' whereby he explained that at times, the pair have just laughed at all of the drama going on in the men's game.
“I think, especially when I was first coming up, from ’12 to ’16, obviously I don’t want to say ‘idolized,’ that would be the wrong word. But I looked up to him a little bit,” Koepka said of McIlroy.
“And trying to figure out, okay, that’s how he goes about it.
"I think one thing I did a really good job of was picking guys. [Dustin Johnson], [Graeme McDowell], Rory, because he was playing so good at the time. It was, okay, grab little things from this guy here, this guy, make it your own.
“But then our friendship has just developed over the years. I’ve enjoyed playing with him, playing against him.
"I’m pretty sure he’s done the same thing. But it’s a lot of fun, man. We practice at the same place. Live in the same area. How could you not?”
Koepka added: "Yeah, Rory’s a good dude.
"We’ve had some good talks. We get some good laughs out of it because everybody just — all the stuff going on in golf, sometimes you just have to sit there and laugh.
“The funny thing is, we’ll do that when nobody’s around. If I want to talk to somebody there’s a range at Grove [XXIII, their course in South Florida] and I know there’s nobody else back there, and me and Rory are back there, and I’ve got something I want to say or he’s got something he wants to say to me he’ll pop over and we’ll talk.”
Koepka said both players are honest with each other.
He said: "We’re all pretty good friends, we’re all pretty close. And everybody understands everybody’s position.
"We’ve got no ill will, man. They’ve gotta do their job and I’ve gotta do mine.
"As long as you’re honest — I think Rory was honest with me, I was honest with him — it goes a lot better that way.”
Despite Koepka now having more major wins than McIlroy, the Northern Irishman is favoured by the bookmakers above the American to win the green jacket next week.
World number one Scottie Scheffler is the overwhelming favourite to claim his second Masters title, followed by the reigning champion Jon Rahm.
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