Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson haven’t always seen eye to eye throughout their time in the professional game.
Koepka and Johnson are two of the most successful golfers in recent history, although the former has a far better record in the majors.
The 36-year-old from Florida has five major championship victories to his name, while the 43-year-old LIV Golf star has two major wins.
Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson have both regressed since joining LIV Golf, the five-time major winner’s victory at the 2023 PGA Championship notwithstanding.
Back in 2018, both players were allegedly involved in a ‘heated exchange’ after the United States lost to Europe at the Ryder Cup in France (The Telegraph).
And then two years later at the PGA Championship, Koepka rubbed Johnson up the wrong way once again.
Brooks Koepka regrets the comments he made about Dustin Johnson in 2020
Ahead of the final round at TPC Harding Park six years ago, Koepka highlighted how he wasn’t worried one little bit about the players in and around him on the leaderboard.
“A lot of the guys on the leaderboard, I don’t think have won, I guess DJ has only won one. I don’t know a lot of the other guys up there,” he said.
Koepka then posted a final-round 74 to fall well out of contention, while Johnson finished in second place, two shots adrift of eventual champion, Collin Morikawa.
And the week after the PGA Championship had finished, Koepka clarified his comments, when speaking to Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch.
“I honestly was struggling coming down the end of the third round. I was well back and I saw DJ was at minus-9,“ the five-time major winner admitted.
“I birdied to get to minus-7. I was focused on Dustin. I had no idea who was at 8 or with me at 7. To be honest, when I’m looking at a leaderboard I’m never looking at who is behind me or tied with me, I only look ahead. I view myself as going forward no matter what. So I regret that part of it.
“That’s what I was trying to say—that I didn’t know who was on the leader board at that point because I hadn’t looked. I just genuinely didn’t know the guys at 8 and 7. That part I regret and I wish I had used different words because I didn’t pay enough attention to who was under Dustin because he was my main focus. When someone asks if I can win, I’m always going to say yes, that’s the competitor in me.
“I’m not there to finish second. I think that’s where some of the cocky stuff comes from because I always think I can win and truly believe it.”
Brooks Koepka is obviously an incredibly fierce competitor, and he only ever thinks about winning golf tournaments.
The comments he made about Dustin Johnson and the rest of the PGA Championship field in 2020 were clearly borne from his elite winning mentality.
And knowing Johnson’s laid back approach to life, he probably didn’t think anything of Koepka’s remarks anyway.