There seems to be a new golf feud brewing.
After Phil Mickelson ripped the PGA Tour as having “obnoxious greed” in terms of not sharing enough media rights money with the players, Brooks Koepka weighed in and essentially said: It takes one to know one.
“I’m not sure how this is going to play out,” Mickelson told Golf Digest, threatening that he might join the upstart Super Golf League that is backed by Saudi Arabia and headed by golf legend Greg Norman. “My ultimate loyalty is to the game of golf and what it has given me. I am so appreciative of the life it has provided. I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t know where things are headed. But I know I will be criticized. That’s not my concern. All that would do is dumb down one of the most intricate issues in sports. It would be so naive to not factor in all of the complexities. The media rights are but a small fraction of everything else. And it is the tour’s obnoxious greed that has really opened the door for opportunities elsewhere.”
Replying on Golf Digest’s Instagram feed, Koepka said, “Dk [don’t know] if I’d be using the word greedy if I’m Phil….” Several curious emojis were attached.
Koepka has been embroiled in a back-and-forth feud with Bryson DeChambeau for the past three years. And, somewhat humorously, Koepka, who has won four major tournaments, has had a chip on his shoulder about Mickelson since the days of his youth.
At the 2019 Masters, Koepka recalled going to Augusta in the late 1990’s when he was nine or 10 years old and getting snubbed by Mickelson for an autograph.
“I tried to get Phil’s autograph. I was standing by the old range, and somehow found my way kind of right by the parking lot or something like that and asked him for an autograph and he said no, and he turned me down, probably about the only kid Phil’s ever turned down,” Koepka said.
“He doesn’t remember. I mean, I can’t believe he doesn’t remember the first time he ever said no to a kid, signing an autograph. I told him, I think in 2014, I think we were playing a practice round at the British Open. I had to tell him. I was like, ‘Listen, man, you stiffed me, and I really didn’t like you for a long time.’ He was typical Phil, right back at me. I shouldn’t have been there [in the parking lot]. I’ve got his autograph now.”
