Brooks Koepka came head-to-head with Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island back in 2021.
Mickelson emerged victorious at the PGA Championship and became the oldest major champion in the process, while Koepka had to settle for a tie for second.
Brooks Koepka admits he couldn’t handle Phil Mickelson‘s gamesmanship, ‘he knew what he was doing‘
Koepka has been in the news over the past few days, after it was announced that he has left LIV Golf.
The American is a real superstar of the game, having won five major championships throughout his career.
Is this the end of LIV Golf?
The 35-year-old knows all about competing for the game’s biggest titles.
However, he was second best at Kiawah Island at the PGA Championship in May 2021.
Brooks Koepka admits he didn’t handle Phil Mickelson clash very well
Mickelson rolled back the years in South Carolina in 2021 when he produced some truly sensational golf to get the better of Koepka.
When speaking to Golf Digest in 2021, Koepka accused Mickelson of gamesmanship when they played together in the final group during the last round of the PGA Championship four years ago.
“His body language. I don’t want to give it away, but I didn’t handle it well,” Koepka said.
“You’ll have to ask him about it. I think he knew what he was doing. It wasn’t the reason I lost. I lost because I didn’t play well enough. It was tough for me to get into a rhythm, and the timing of how things were going.
“I could see [what he was doing] because I know it. I do it.”
Those comments from Koepka were really interesting.
Mickelson didn’t do anything out of the ordinary during the final round at Kiawah, apart from smoke a few drives past his playing partner.
Perhaps that was what angered Koepka!
In all seriousness, it seems like Koepka was perhaps alluding to intentional slow play tactics from Mickelson.
However, we will never know exactly what he meant by his comments unless he elaborates on them at some point.
Phil Mickelson’s comments have been made to look silly by Brooks Koepka
Mickelson’s comments about Koepka back in 2023 have backfired badly, with the five-time major champion officially leaving LIV Golf earlier this week.
The Californian suggested that not one single player wanted to leave LIV and if anything, there would be a clamour to join the Saudi-backed outfit from PGA Tour players.
How many majors do you think Brooks Koepka will end his career with?
He's currently level with the likes of Rory McIlroy, Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson with five
Mickelson replied to a post suggesting that the level of punishments for players who left the PGA Tour to join LIV could vary depending on their standing in the game.
“What a colossal waste of time. Not a single player on LIV wants to play PGA Tour,“ he said.
“It would require a public apology and restitution to LIV players for paying millions to Clout Media to disparage all of us. A better topic is future sanctions for the many players who now come to LIV.“
Mickelson’s comments in 2023 have aged like a pint of milk left outside on a hot summer’s day, after Koepka became the first really big name to part ways with LIV.
The six-time major winner is no stranger to making terribly poor predictions, though, is he?
Remember when, back in March of this year, he said that Scottie Scheffler would not win a single event before the Ryder Cup?
By the time the biennial competition rolled around at Bethpage Black six months later, Scheffler had won six times, including two major championships!
Mickelson would actually be better served by keeping quiet on matters that don’t concern him in the future.
Let’s be honest, though, that is highly unlikely to ever happen!
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