Why was there beef between Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka? Are they friends now?

‘The Showdown,’ the 11th edition of matchplay golf exhibition ‘The Match,’ will see LIV Golf pair Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka take on the PGA Tour’s Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler in a Ryder Cup-style event at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.

A few years ago, however, seeing DeChambeau and Koepka teaming up together would’ve raised plenty of eyebrows across the world of golf.

How did the DeChambeau-Koepka feud start?

Back in the day, starting at a tournament in Dubai in 2019, to be precise, the American duo didn’t especially like one another. Seemingly, it all stemmed from Koepka heavily suggesting during a podcast interview that DeChambeau had been playing too slowly during said event.

Although the five-time major winner didn’t initially name names, Bryson felt his ears burning and attempted to defend himself, telling Koepka’s caddie that Brooks should talk to him directly if he had a problem with him. Oh, the irony. That didn’t go down well with Koepka either, and the ‘feud’ became official.

It rumbled on for some time after, with the highlights being Koepka rolling his eyes during an interview as DeChambeau walked behind him, and Bryson launching into his rival for not having any abs during a live Twitch stream.

All that set up the Bryson vs Brooks exhibition match in November 2021, which the latter won. That proved to be something of a turning point in the pair’s relationship, which has continued after they both moved from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf in 2022.

LIV Golf move “a big moment” for “stepbrothers”

“We’ve come a long way. Going to LIV, honestly, I think that was a big moment for us, right?” Koepka revealed in a press conference before ‘The Showdown’.

“We were forced — well, I don’t want to say forced — but we were communicating a lot more, our conversation became a lot more open. From there, I’m the first person to admit I can be a bit stubborn.

“We all get older, we all mature a little bit, and then you realize, hey, Bryson’s a good dude. I think he’s severely misunderstood, and I think the world is starting to see who Bryson DeChambeau is, which is cool. I’m the first person to admit it: I was wrong with what my original thoughts were.”

DeChambeau, for his part, returned the compliment. “We had our spats, but when we both went to LIV, we realized we had quite a few things in common. Like stepbrothers, in a sense. We’ve developed a pretty solid relationship and have good respect for each other now.”

The “stepbrothers” face McIlroy and Scheffler in Las Vegas on Tuesday, December 17 with the action at Shadow Creek Golf Course to get underway at 6:00 p.m. ET.

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