It's now obvious that Bryson DeChambeau needs to squash his beef with Brooks Koepka
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Bryson DeChambeau has had a lot going on in his life lately, including a recent case of a COVID-19 that kept him from playing in the Olympic and that saw him drop 10 pounds.
That is obviously the most serious thing because his health and well being trumps anything that goes on between the ropes in a golf tournament.
But there are some things going on in his career that need some fixing – the most obvious is his very public beef with Brooks Koepka. This whole thing started out fun and led to some great viral moments but it’s starting to feel like it’s reaching a point where DeChambeau is in over his head and that the repercussions from this feud could last a long time and lead to many frustrating moments on the course.
The latest moment came on Sunday when, according to a reporter from Golf Digest who was following the final group of DeChambeau and Harris English at the WGC FedEx St. Jude Classic, a fan near the 17th tee yelled out “Brooksy! at DeChambeau, who then finally snapped and yelled “Good one!” back at the fan.
According to that Golf Digest reporter, DeChambeau heard a lot of fans yelling”Brooksy” at him on Sunday. This has become a thing lately and was even encouraged by Koepka when he gave fans free beers after they were ejected from a tournament for taunting DeChambeau.
Harris English said after the round that the jeers were happening a lot: “It’s not real fair for them to call him ‘Brooksy’ a lot. It kind of sucks, and obviously he hears it and it affects him a little bit. He doesn’t like it, and I think that causes them to do it more. It just sucks that that’s out here right now, that they’re trying to irk people like that. It’s just unfortunate.”
What’s clear now is that DeChambeau needs to end his beef with Koepka and he needs to do so publicly or he’s going to keep hearing these taunts every time he steps on the course. And it might even be too late for that because it feels like the “Brooksy” jeers are just going to be one of those annoying things golf fans do – like yelling out Baba Booey after a tee shot – until the end of time.
DeChambeau can pretend to laugh off the taunts all he wants but it’s clear that it affects him on the course. Golf, especially at the professional level, is a very mental game and if some of your mental energy is being spent by being annoyed by the fans around you then your game is likely going to struggle a little, which can be the difference from winning an event and not winning an event at the PGA Tour level.
DeChambeau hasn’t done much lately to elicit any support from fans. At the British Open he whined about his driver not working correctly after a bad first round.
He also parted ways with his longtime caddie on the morning of the first round of a tournament in Detroit, which doesn’t normally happen in professional golf and led to Koepka lobbing another shot at him.
Then before the WGC event he explained that he doesn’t need a COVID vaccine, saying via our pals at Golfweek: “I’m young enough. I’d rather give (the vaccine) to people who need it. I don’t need it. I’m healthy. I’m a young individual who will continue to be healthy and continue to work on my health.”
Last year I wrote that DeChambeau was the villain that the PGA Tour needed but now I’m thinking things have gone too far and it’s time for him to try to reel things back. A lot.
Ending his beef with Koepka would be a good start to that.
But this whole thing might be spiraling too far out of control by now, which is not great at all for DeChambeau.
Quick hits: Pro golfer gets a 13 on a par 3… UFC 265’s interim title fight was so disrespectful… Peyton’s funny shot at Brady… And more.
(AP Photo/John Amis)
– Speaking of the WGC event over the weekend, Si Woo Kim carded a 13 on the par-3, 11th hole on Sunday after putting five balls in the water.
– UFC 265’s interim heavyweight title fight was so disrespectful to Francis Ngannou.
– Peyton Manning took a funny shot at Tom Brady during his Hall of Fame induction speech.
– Texas Rangers third baseman Brock Holt pitched during a blow out and threw an awesome 31 mph eephus pitch for a strike.
– Mike Sykes’ latest episode of Special Delivery looks at some new Adidas shoes that might have a 4D problem.