Brooks Koepka Fans Blame LIV Golf as He Plummets to New Low for the First Time in 9 Years

For nearly a decade, Brooks Koepka was a fixture of the American Ryder Cup team. A five-time major winner and one of the fiercest competitors of his generation, he wore the red, white, and blue in four straight editions. But when Keegan Bradley revealed his captain’s picks for Bethpage, the same venue where Koepka lifted the 2019 PGA Championship trophy, his name wasn’t even in the discussion. And for this, Koepka blames himself.

Koepka, speaking to Off the Ball, was brutally clear about why it happened. “I played my way off it, so I can’t be disappointed,” he said ahead of the Amgen Irish Open, where he’s playing on a sponsor exemption. It is good that he is self-aware, because he indeed performed underwhelmingly this year, not just on the majors — whose points would have helped him a bit on the Ryder Cup ranking — but also at LIV events.

To many, it is seen as LIV Golf’s fault. Before joining the circuit, Koepka was a consistent performer on the PGA Tour. But the American, at the same time, doesn’t think so. “Just the situation I’m in, being on LIV and then not playing well. I don’t think LIV had anything to do with me not being on the team but it was more of the timing of the year and trying to get that ball rolling which I’ve been doing.”

This season, Koepka missed the cut in three of the four major championships and only managed a T12 finish at the US Open. On the LIV side, he was not able to register a top-10 finish since March and has mustered only three top-fives on the circuit. He eventually finished 76th on the US Ryder Cup points list, clearly not able to impress Captain Bradley for his pick.

His season came apart after Augusta, where a couple of short misses inside eight feet trampled his confidence. From there, the putter — once his greatest weapon — turned into a liability. He admits that he found himself “overthinking,” questioning where the club was in his swing, only to realize later that his perception was off by inches. He spent endless hours on LIV Golf Virginia’s course, grinding on the range to fix this issue. Then he had a nagging knee pain, which his coach, Pete Cowen, said was gnawing at him.

“I did it myself. It’s not anything I’m not aware of. I’m not shying away from it. It’s just bad timing,” he added. But the sting of not being selected for the team might have come hard on him, nevertheless. Across four Ryder Cups played in the last 9 years, Brooks Koepka has carved out a great stat for himself with a career record of 7-6-2. He was a force in singles, never losing a match and posting a 3-0-1 mark, which made him one of the Americans’ most reliable closers on Sunday. Koepka helped power the US to victory at Hazeltine in 2016 and Whistling Straits in 2021, while also standing out in 2023 as the lone LIV Golf player to earn a captain’s pick.

Whatever may be the exact reason for his poor performance, fans surely think LIV is to blame for this.

Fans point fingers at LIV

Even though Brooks Koepka admitted his Ryder Cup snub was down to his own form, many fans still blame LIV Golf. On X, plenty of opinions poured in. Here’s a look at some of them.

One fan pointed to “The LIV Golf Effect,” suggesting Koepka’s slump is part of a larger pattern among players who joined the Saudi-backed league. Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed, for example, have also struggled to sustain consistency since leaving the PGA Tour. This lends weight to the idea that the softer LIV schedule, as well as not putting its players in direct contention with the PGA Tour or DP World Tour players, dulls the competitive sharpness.

Then there were a few who took a harsher view. One blasted on LIV, saying, “LIV has crushed this dude’s edge.” While Koepka’s decline makes that claim feel convincing, counterexamples do exist. Look at Bryson DeChambeau, a LIV player, who qualified for Team USA. Then Jon Rahm, who again is a LIV player, yet still secured a spot for Team Europe. Clearly, it’s more about form and timing than the tour itself.

Another argues, “The Best thing he could do is let his contract lapse and work back to the PGA tour. He has a lot of solid years left if he can find the drive.” That optimism isn’t unfounded. Koepka has indeed flashed form this season, like his T5 finish at LIV Golf Michigan, which was his most recent top-10 finish. Earlier this year, he finished T7 in Adelaide and 2nd overall in Singapore. So yeah, he can still prove his game if he can piece it together more often.

Echoing the sentiment, there were also a select few who were looking ahead to the future. “Boy can’t wait till that contract is done!” Recent murmurs have suggested Koepka may not be in LIV for that long haul. In fact, Koepka himself gave fuel to this fire. “I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens,” he said earlier this year, when asked about these rumors. His contract with LIV will run through the end of 2026.

And at last, there were voices of respect. One said, “Regardless of your views of him and he switching to LIV, you have to give him credit for always holding himself to account.” Koepka’s bluntness has always set him apart. A few months back, when he missed cuts in the majors, he admitted his lack of effort as the reason. “I wasn’t consistent enough…My perception was so far off.”

Who do you think is really to blame for Brooks Koepka’s Ryder Cup snub—LIV Golf’s impact or his own dip in form? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.