A struggling LIV career for Brooks Koepka should ideally see him practicing day and night on the course. Or does it not bother him anymore, considering his contract is about to end soon? That surely looks like the case, as a viral photo is making the rounds on the internet. Standing alongside Koepka, smiling cheek to cheek, is President Donald Trump.

The photo posted on Trump’s Truth Social account shows the president in the center wearing his classic white tee with a red Make America Great Again cap. Alongside his right stand Wayne Gretzky, ‘The Great One’ hockey legend, and Bret Baier, the Fox News anchor. And then, on Trump’s left is Koepka, wearing a black Nike polo with white shorts.

This appearance of the LIV star is both unexpected and significant. For a while now, Koepka has kept a low profile as he navigated what many golf analysts called his career’s worst season. He fell drastically from world No. 45 to 159. Presently, he sits as low as No. 238 on the OWGR. This massive drop is one of the most significant among players who were once named under the elite list. He missed the cuts in 3 majors. On the LIV side, he gave a performance that doesn’t match his caliber at all and managed to secure only 3 top-10s.  On DPWT, he played 4 events and missed the cut in 2.

With such an underwhelming performance, many wonder if it’s time for the American to end his Saudi-backed league contract. From Koepka’s side, the answer has been very open-ended, as he kept the golf world on its toes.

“…We’ll see what happens,” he had said ahead of LIV Golf Singapore.

But beneath this calm composure, it’s visible that Koepka himself has been quite frustrated with his own performance. That was up for all to see when he smashed a tee box marker during LIV Dallas. Either from embarrassment, or poor play, or actually being ill (the reason he gave back then), Koepka withdrew from the tournament on the 14th hole.

“I haven’t been happy. It’s been very irritating,” he admitted in June.

And it hasn’t just been irritating for him. Brooks Koepka’s underwhelming performance has bothered many. In the Talk Birdie to Me podcast, Mark Allen was unhesitant.

“I think LIV Golf has backfired for Brooks… I used to love watching Brooks.” He then added, “It was Rory McIlroy-like; it was Tiger Woods-like… He was really part of the excitement… It was great to watch.”

As much as everyone missed the old Koepka, the reasons for his falter are not that difficult to scrounge. This year, the LIV star has seen a set of swing and putting issues. There’s been a complete disconnect between his mechanics and his perception of them, which he himself admitted in June. For his putts, the data was more striking.

In the five tournaments that he played up to the Open Championship, Koepka had an approximate average of 0.396 strokes gained putting. That is like a catastrophic decline. On the personal front, too, the golfer was a victim when he saw his wife had a miscarriage a few months back.

So when a smiling Koepka appears on your timeline, you might initially question his presence. But you also know that he certainly needs some time off from all the grind and scrutiny. And it looks like his outing actually turned out to be good. President Trump made an impressive chip shot to the cup, which he posted on his account with the caption, “Winning is always nice!”

It surely must feel nice when you are playing alongside a five-time major champion.

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The Brooks Koepka-Donald Trump connection

This was not the first time Brooks Koepka and Donald Trump connected over their love of golf. Back in 2019-2020, Koepka had met Trump to play his first round with him. The venue was the President’s West Palm Beach course, and joining them were Koepka’s father, Bob, and brother, Chase. Later on, the LIV star called the experience an “honor.”

“…We had a blast. Anytime it’s with a president, it’s pretty cool,” he told GQ. “I don’t care what your political beliefs are; it’s the president of the United States. It’s an honor that he even wanted to play with me.”

For him, his stance has been pretty clear. Trump is an important figure, and that demands respect. For Koepka, whoever sits in the office, they will receive respect from him. In the same interview, he was quite blunt in his unease at players or teams who don’t go to the White House. For his part, Koepka has met four of the five living presidents, including Barack Obama. That was, for him, the “top five highlight” of his life.

When it comes to Trump, though, Brooks Koepka has received a public endorsement from his side ahead of the LIV Golf DC event in 2023 at Trump’s National Golf Club. Calling the course a “bomber’s paradise,” Donald Trump had once told Koepka that he’d love to play there.