RUMOUR: Matthew Wolff FORCED to stay on Brooks Koepka's LIV Golf team
Matthew Wolff will reportedly stay on LIV Golf's Smash GC despite his wishes.
Matthew Wolff will reportedly remain a member of Brooks Koepka's LIV Golf team Smash GC despite his wishes.
Wolff, 24, is known for having one of the more exciting transitions from amateur to professional golf in recent years.
The former Oklahoma State men's golf member turned professional ahead of the Travelers Championship in 2019.
In his third professional event just a few weeks later, Wolff secured his first PGA Tour win with a one-stroke victory over Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa at the 3M Open.
Then things began to slow down for Wolff, as he struggled on the course as well as sighting a mental health battle off of it.
He then joined LIV Golf ahead of its second event in 2022 in Portland.
Since then, he was named one of the members of Koepka's Smash GC team for 2023, along with Koepka's brother, Chase, and Jason Kokrak.
Despite Koepka's resurgence in the past year as the first player to win multiple LIV Golf events and win a major at the PGA Championship in May, Smash GC has largely struggled to garner top results in the league.
Through the mid-way point of the season, they're currently ranked seventh in the 12-team standings.
On 31 May, Barstool Sports' Dan Rapaport reported that Wolff was no longer a member of Koepka's Smash GC and that he was looking for a new team, per a source.
Source says Matt Wolff is no longer a member of Smash and that he’s looking for a new LIV Golf team. Vibes were off and they didn’t mesh. He’s also injured but hoping to return in few weeks.
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) May 31, 2023
Shortly after, the Twitter account 'Flushing It' reported that "word on the street" was that Wolff wasn't happy about the team's early morning workout and there was a clash of personalities between he and Koepka.
"The important thing is that despite some rumours, Wolff is NOT out of the league and will be looking for a trade between teams," the account wrote. "Brooks is away with Jena though and completely checked out, so it won’t be until next week, earliest."
I’ve been trying to find out what’s happened to Matt Wolff at LIV and while there’s no official comment, word on the street is that he wasn’t too happy about this early morning workout and there’s a clash of personalities between player and captain!
The important thing is that… https://t.co/jPm0lzRCsb— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) June 1, 2023
On Saturday, nearly a month after the initial reports of problems over on Smash, Flushing It is now claiming Wolff couldn't find the trade he was seeking and will stay on Koepka's team.
"Despite the fall out between Matt Wolff and Brooks at LIV DC, he did not get the trade he was looking for and will remain on Smash through the end of the season," the tweet said. "Wolff is eligible for relegation though, along with all other players who are not team captains."
Despite the fall out between Matt Wolff and Brooks at LIV DC, he did not get the trade he was looking for and will remain on Smash through the end of the season. Wolff is eligible for relegation though, along with all other players who are not team captains. https://t.co/qfL7dYxF6I
— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) June 24, 2023
As the tweet points out, there is expected to be a relegation of sorts at the end of LIV's second season where captains will be among those who are safe from being dropped.
After a lengthy break, LIV Golf is set to return next week with its Valderrama event beginning 30 June.
It will mark the first LIV Golf event since the PGA Tour announced it had made an agreement to create a new entity with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which funds LIV Golf.
