Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau have slow play discussion
Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau met at Liberty National to discuss the hot topic of slow play.
Bryson DeChambeau was once again in the firing line for his slow play antics in The Northern Trust at Liberty National. During his second round of the first FedEx Cup Playoff tournament, DeChambeau was crucified on Twitter after videos emerged of him taking 2 minutes and 20 seconds for a 10-foot putt that he eventually missed.
Golf fans, commentators and fellow professionals slammed the 'Mad Scientist' for taking such an age over a pretty short putt. DeChambeau's playing partners for the day, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas, were both clearly getting agitated with DeChambeau.
RELATED: Bryson DeChambeau SLAMMED on Twitter for slow play
Eddie Pepperell joined in on Twitter, labelling DeChambeau a 'twit' but has since apologised for the comment, saying it was uncalled for.
Seems my comment regarding Bryson’s slow play has garnered plenty of attention and I just want to sincerely apologise to Bryson for being personal and referring to him as a ‘twit’. That was unnecessary and something I shouldn’t have said.
— Eddie Pepperell (@PepperellEddie) August 12, 2019
Koepka is known for being highly against slow play and he can't quite seem to understand why certain players take so long over each shot, compared to himself who takes 15 seconds before hitting his shot, according to Koepka.
On Saturday, once the videos of DeChambeau had began to circulate, the 25 year old said that he felt "attacked" after receiving a flood of comments and abuse online.
Both DeChambeau and Koepka were playing fairly early on Sunday and while preparing for their final rounds, DeChambeau approached Koepka's caddie, Ricky Elliot, and reportedly told him to tell his boss to make any comments regarding his slow play "to my face."
Once Koepka had arrived and was told of the situation, he didn't hesitate to take the opportunity to confront DeChambeau and the two had a lengthy chat about the issue.
Neither player went into detail about the conversation, but Koepka quashed rumours of a problem between the pair after his final round on Sunday, where he shot a one-under-par score of 70.
“It was fine,” said Koepka following his round. “No issues.”
Koepka did say that DeChambeau was upset that the four-time major champion had named him in particular when discussing the topic of slow play, but Koepka said he wasn't targeting him, he was merely part of the conversation.
“Like I said, I mentioned his name once,” Koepka said. “So I don't think I've come at him. I just talked about slow play, and obviously he feels I'm talking about him every time.”
DeChambeau seemed in high spirits following his conversation with Koepka and relished the opportunity to speak with him directly.
“It was awesome,” DeChambeau said after closing out a Sunday 70. “It was actually fantastic [talking to Brooks]. I appreciate what Brooks did. I have high respect for him because he did that. There was one instance he said in Abu Dhabi, and he said, ‘Yeah, I said something about that, but it was in general and got blown out of proportion.’
“He said a lot of things about slow play out in the public, and you guys have asked him that and he has the right to say things just as I do," DeChambeau said. "I have heard him talk about slow play before and he has mentioned my name before, and I just wanted to clear the air. Make sure that nothing was of any importance after, and he's got respect for me; I have respect for him. So no issues.”
It seems both players are much happier with each other following their conversation, but it remains unclear whether all their issues have been solved, with Koepka saying that he hopes to continue to discuss the topic of slow play with DeChambeau, but DeChambeau thinks otherwise.
"No,” DeChambeau said when he was asked if the two needed to talk more. “We're going to be playing on a lot of teams together, I hope, and you know, it's better to get stuff out now and make it right so we go into these team competitions wanting to do our absolute best and not have anything else happen.”
“Everyone out here, [is] probably a little bit more afraid of confrontation than in other sports," DeChambeau said. "I think you see that. Baseball, you'll see it. Teammates go at each other and they are still fine. Football, same thing. Basketball, I mean, you name it. There's always been some confrontation on a team. Sometimes it helps and you figure out what the root of the problem is, and start working on it."
