Brooks Koepka hasn’t been shy in sharing his opinion in recent weeks, and as snippets of his upcoming interview with David Feherty on the Irishman’s eponymous Golf Channel show have come out, it’s clear Koepka isn’t backing off any of his candid comments.
Slow play has been a big bugaboo of Koepka’s, and given the nature of Feherty’s show, Kopeka was able to expand upon some of his previous thoughts and he placed blame for the epidemic.
“These rules officials need to take it in their own hands and actually penalize us,” he said. “I mean, you penalize this (14-year-old) kid at Augusta (Guan Tianlang in 2013), but professionals who are doing it week in, week out (aren’t penalized). A lot of the guys are notable guys, and that’s part of the problem. I think a lot of the guys that are the best players in the world are taking their sweet time.”
Slow play has been Brooks’ biggest crusade. Previously, Koepka has even said that he purposely does things to get put on the clock in an effort to make his playing partners speed up.
“I kind of – this is probably bad to say – but I’ve kind of got a different approach. I try to actually slow us down, which is part of the problem,” Koepka said. “Some of these guys are so slow, I’ll take my sweet time getting to the ball. If I don’t have to go to the bathroom, I just go to the restroom and just kind of chill in there for five minutes, so we get on the clock, and now we’re playing at my pace.
“It’s probably not the right thing, but it is what I do. If this happens for two holes — we play slow for two holes — the other 16 holes, we get to play at my pace.”
If you’re wondering where this newfound outspoken Koepka has come from, and where he’s been in the past, he explained that he didn’t feel like he had previously earned the right to be critical of his peers. Now that’s he won three majors in the last 14 months, Koepka said that he’s comfortable with his place in the game.
“Listen, you know what, I got to embrace the role I’m in,” he said. “You’ve got to be outspoken, especially when you are one of the best in the world.”
