Koepka: LIV Golf mates should have played better to reach Ryder Cup
Team USA golfer Brooks Koepka has told his fellow LIV Golf competitors that they should have played better to earn a spot at the Ryder Cup.
Koepka is the only LIV Golf player to have made either team having won the PGA Championship for the third time earlier this year.
The likes of Ryder Cup favourite Ian Poulter and big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau did not make either captain’s squad.
“I don’t make the decisions. Everybody had an opportunity to get there. I mean, I had the same opportunity as every other LIV player, and I’m here,” he said.
Koepka straight talking
“Play better. That’s always the answer.
“I feel like I’m representing the USA. That’s what I’ve got on the front of my hat this week.
“It’s not a group of individuals in that locker room. We’re just all one team, and that’s the way we think.
“That’s what I believe, and I’m pretty sure everybody else there thinks that.”
Team USA are looking to win their first Ryder Cup on European soil in 30 years but come across the pond off the back of a record 19-9 win last time out around Whistling Straits.
Tomorrow’s golf sees foursomes and fall-ball golf with Saturday set for the same schedule. Sunday is dedicated to singles ties involving all 24 players.
“You’ve got to think you’re the best player on the golf course, best player on the team, best player in that current time, and if you don’t, then there’s something wrong with you,” Koepka added.
“You’ve always got to have that drive and that’s what’s going to put you over the edge.
“I think a lot of guys have it but I don’t know how many guys would want an eight-footer with this [Ryder Cup] on the line.
“I’d love to play Jon [Rahm], Rory [McIlroy], Vik [Hovland]. I’ll play anybody.”
Bale among the winners
Former Real Madrid footballer Gareth Bale was among the triumphant Team Monty in a celebrity Ryder Cup match in Rome.
Bale was joined by tennis superstar Novak Djokovic and Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz, among others under captains Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin – the two opposed each other at Celtic Manor in 2010.
On the Ryder Cup, which begins tomorrow, Bale said: “You aren’t playing just for yourself, you are playing for your country, your continent.
“You have to put your ego to one side and its all about the team.”