Brooks Koepka's coach goes on expletive-laden rant (!) about PGA Tour, LIV…
Brooks Koepka's coach Claude Harmon III - the son of Tiger Woods' legendary instructor Butch - sent the Internet ablaze in his latest interview with Golfweek in which he went after LIV Golf critics and the media's treatment of breakaway tour players.
Harmon III is an interesting case because he coaches players from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
Perhaps his most colourful remarks in the Golfweek interview with Adam Schupak came where he simply went after Golf Channel anchor and former tour player Brandel Chamblee.
Chamblee was involved in an hilarious standoff with Brad Faxon - live on air - in the immediate aftermath of Koepka's stunning victory at Oak Hill.
Faxon and Chamblee, who has been repeatedly critical of a Saudi-financed golf league before its inception, were discussing the topic of Koepka and Dustin Johnson appearing on the U.S. Ryder Cup team this September.
Later, a former Golf Channel reporter claimed Chamblee 'showed his true colours' and is nothing but a 'bully'.
Scroll down to see a selection of Harmon III's remarks.
"Brandel is a paid actor by NBC and Golf Channel. All he’s trying to do is get his lines and shows for the Golf Channel. He's just trying to get lines for Brandel … And I mean, I love him, I think Eamon is a fantastic writer, but for Eamon Lynch and Brandel Chamblee, who worked for NBC Golf Channel to utter the words 'sportswashing' when the company they work for televised the last two Winter Olympics in Russia and China with the same leaders that they've had. It's not like they were good leaders back then. It's not like Putin was a good guy, right?"
How the media have handled covering LIV Golf:
"You guys all think LIVs, maybe you've changed your tune, but initially, it was all just bull****, a bunch of guys playing who didn’t care, who got the money, who got the bag, and it's 54 holes and there's no competition and all that. So it was easy for you guys to just pretend like these guys just weren't good players anymore. And I think you guys largely did that because you drank the Kool-Aid of everybody else. But how you guys all thought that these guys just weren't going to show up and be great players is beyond me. I think it is an interesting Jedi mind trick that they played on you guys and you guys fell for it. Because you guys were all, 'These guys were all washed up. They took the bag. They're insignificant. They play against no competition.' And that's just not the case."
"If I'm critical of you guys in the media, you guys portrayed this as (Brooks) took the money and then Tiger came out with his comment, you know, Tiger, the ultimate guy who got all the money up front. I mean, I was around then. He flew to his first professional golf tournament on Nike's private jet, and he wasn't paying for it. So you guys pushed this narrative and pretended like LIV was an exhibition, nobody watched it, you guys didn't report on it, none of you guys came to the tournaments. I mean the golf that I saw Cameron (Smith) play last year, the golf that I saw DJ play last year, the golf that I saw Brooks play at the end of the year is the same golf that is being played on the PGA Tour. You guys just tried to pretend that it wasn't."
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