Brooks Koepka Picks Up Fourth LIV Golf Win in Singapore

May 5, 2024 Jimm Sallivan

Brooks Koepka became the first player to win four times as part of the LIV Golf League, shooting a final-round 68 at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore on Sunday to beat Cam Smith and Marc Leishman by two strokes.

His timing wasn’t bad, either.

A few days after offering concern about his game in light of a poor Masters performance, Koepka stepped up and won the LIV Golf Singapore even to give himself a boost heading into the defense of his PGA Championship title in two weeks.

The year’s second major begins on May 16.

“It’s all starting to come around,” said Koepka, who last year won his fifth major title when he captured the PGA at Oak Hill, becoming the first active LIV golfer to win a major. “I like the way things are trending.’’

They didn’t seem to be trending well just a few days ago when Koepka made clear he was not happy with his tie for 45th at the Masters. “I felt like I wasted all that time from January up until then,’’ he said.

He tied for 10th at the LIV Golf event in Adelaide the week prior and heading into the Singapore tournament that he simply needed to get putts to drop.

“I’ve put in a lot of work,’’ he said. “I feel like on the golf course, off the golf course, it’s been a good two weeks, to say the least. Take a week off and then grinding pretty hard with (instructor) Claude (Harmon) over the last few days, I thought that was very important. Kind of started to see it turn maybe Wednesday, Thursday of Adelaide, so to see it pay off here is huge.”

Koepka won his third PGA Championship Wanamaker Trophy last year. In each of his first four major victories, he won back-to-back at the 2017 and ’18 U.S. Opens and the 2018 and ’19 PGAs.

After a second-round 64, Koepka started the final round with a three-shot lead over Abraham Ancer, Adrian Meronk, Thomas Pieters and Mathew Wolff. He never relinquished his lead, although several challengers closed the gap at times.

“I felt the heat, but it was mainly because of how hot it was,” Koepka said. “Just played very consistent, missed it in the right spots. When you’re playing with a lead, you do that. You don’t have to force anything.”

Smith and Leishman were part of the winning Ripper GC team, capturing the team title for the second straight week.

7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Fact or Fiction: Brooks Koepka is LIV Golf’s Best Hope for a Major This Year

Welcome back to SI Golf’s Fact or Fiction, where we hope the finish of next week's PGA Championship in Kentucky is as great as the Kentucky Derby.

Once again, we’re here to debate a series of statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” along with a brief explanation. Responses may also (occasionally) be “Neutral” since there's a lot of gray area in golf.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X account.

Brooks Koepka won the LIV Golf Singapore event, turning around a slow season just in time for his PGA Championship defense. He is LIV’s best candidate to win a major this year.

Bob Harig: FACT. Based on his major promise and a confidence-boosting performance, Koepka will head to Louisville as LIV’s best hope. But don’t count out Cam Smith, who seems to have his game coming around as well.

John Pluym: FACT. Koepka’s at his best in the majors despite his recent Masters performance. Whether that’s enough to overtake Scottie Scheffler (Yes, I think he wins the PGA), we’ll see. But he’s definitely LIV’s best hope in Louisville.

Brooks Koepka stands with the Rodman Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. — A week in Singapore appears to have turned around Brooks Koepka's outlook for his PGA Championship defense.

Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Jeff Ritter: FACT. He’s the most proven major champion on the LIV circuit aside from Mickelson’s six titles, and Koepka may be putting it together just in time to pick off one more this summer and match Mickelson.

John Schwarb: FACT. This is a nod to Koepka but also acknowledgment that Jon Rahm still hasn’t rediscovered the top gear he had before going to LIV. He’s actually second in season points (well behind Joaquin Niemann) but his best finishes are a pair of thirds; wasn’t he supposed to dominate and be at the top of any major discussions?

Koepka became the first to win four times in LIV Golf. He also has four titles on the PGA Tour (not counting majors). Koepka’s career will ultimately have more LIV wins than Tour wins.

Bob Harig: FACT. This is likely inevitable. Koepka seems certain to win more times on LIV Golf and his future with the PGA Tour seems murky at best.

John Pluym: FACT. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he wins more tournaments on LIV Golf than the PGA Tour.

Jeff Ritter: FACT. Perhaps someday there will be a path back to the PGA Tour for Koepka and his fellow LIV’ers, but at the moment it looks like he’ll lift more LIV trophies from here on out.

John Schwarb: NEUTRAL. Two possible paths for Koepka to go back to the PGA Tour: some kind of reunification or he returns after not signing a second LIV contract (he’s believed to be signed through next year). I wouldn’t put money on either but somehow I don’t think he’s done winning regular Tour events.

Tiger Woods accepted a special exemption into next month’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst. The 15-time major winner is entitled to an unlimited number of special exemptions.

Bob Harig: FACT. Have been saying this and writing this for years. There was going to come a time where Tiger would need an exemption and—if he’s willing and able—he will get as many as he wants. It’s unlikely Woods would attempt to play if he felt he was was unworthy. He deserves to make that call. And if Jack got eight exemptions and Arnie got five, there’s no reason why a nine-time USGA champion—including three U.S. Opens—wouldn’t get an abundance of special invites.

John Pluym: FACT. Jack Nicklaus won 18 professional majors in his career, including four U.S. Open titles. He received a record eight special exemptions, including five in a row until he stopped playing the U.S. Open after 2000 at Pebble Beach. So as long as Tiger wants to play in the U.S. Open, he should get as many as he wants. He’s the only golfer in recent history to be on the same level as Nicklaus. As such, the USGA should keep giving him special exemptions.

Tiger Woods talks to reporters following his second round at the 2020 U.S. Open. — Tiger Woods's last U.S. Open appearance was in 2020 at Winged Foot.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Jeff Ritter: FACT. This shouldn’t even be controversial. (Is it controversial?) Woods made the tour what it is today, and although he’s diminished he can still play, as evidenced by that recent made-cut at Augusta. Is there any special exemption that will do more to boost fan interest and overall buzz than Tiger Woods?

John Schwarb: FACT. What Woods has done to earn multiple exemptions isn’t up for debate, and the truth is he is highly unlikely to take as many as Nicklaus and play U.S. Opens into his late 50s. Not sure he’ll even match Arnie’s five. Golf fans need to just enjoy these moments.

Speaking of major exemptions, Talor Gooch received a special exemption to the PGA Championship but said in Singapore that he’s not going through qualifiers for the U.S. or British Opens. That has ruined his reputation as a competitor.

Bob Harig: NEUTRAL. This all depends on where you sit on this issue. Certainly, not even trying to qualify doesn’t help Gooch’s cause. He could use it as motivation. He’s only hurting himself here. If he believes himself to be a major player—why wouldn’t he?—he should do everything he can to get in the majors, even if he disagrees with the process.

John Pluym: FACT. His Official World Golf Ranking is No. 644, and he had only one PGA Tour victory before joining LIV. So based on the facts, he is only hurting himself by not going through qualifying. And, honestly, he hasn’t proved to be good enough to be deserving of a special exemption.

Jeff Ritter: FICTION. Skipping major qualifying is good headline fodder but it doesn’t change how I perceive Gooch at all—he has shown all of us that when it comes to career decisions, his top priority is cash. Since he didn’t give a reason, I assume he is skipping the lower-paying USO to stay fresh for the $4 million top prize at LIV Golf Nashville the following week.

John Schwarb: FACT. I don’t think many fans begrudge pro golfers getting their bags of cash like other athletes but a lack of effort or caring is where they draw the line. Not attempting to qualify for our national championship is a betrayal of one's talent.

2 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

Brooks Koepka Not Sounding Optimistic With PGA Championship Looming: ‘Trying to Find Some Answers’

With his PGA Championship title defense looming, Brooks Koepka is searching for the game that saw him win a fifth major championship last year at Oak Hill Country Club.

He didn’t sound extremely confident during a news conference Thursday in advance of the LIV Golf Singapore event, which begins Friday morning (9:15 p.m. ET Thursday).

“Clearly not very good,” Koepka said when asked how his game was trending in advance of the PGA at Valhalla, which begins May 16. “With Augusta the way that it went, I kind of felt like I wasted all the time from December until then. Just keep grinding away, keep doing the work, and hopefully something will turn around.”

Brooks Koepka reacts to a putt during the 2024 Masters. — Brooks Koepka shot four over-par rounds at the Masters and finished T45.

Michael Madrid, Michael Madrid / USA

Koepka was referring to the Masters, where he tied for 45th and was never really in the tournament after tying for second last year. He opened with a 73 and added rounds of 73, 76 and 75.

That came after weekend rounds of 78-78 in LIV’s event in Miami the weekend prior.

Koepka lamented his putting, which caused a putter switch a few weeks back. Although he tied for 19th in the putting stats at Augusta National, he believes that’s been the main source of his trouble.

He switched to a mallet putter recently.

“It’s been in the bag two weeks before Augusta, I haven’t even putted with that other putter, the one I’ve putted with for—the button back I’ve probably putted with for 12, 14 years, I haven’t putted with it since then,” he said.

“I can’t find the hole at all, to be honest with you. Something we’ve just been putting some work into, so trying to find some answers.”

Asked what the main issue is, Koepka said: “Ball doesn’t go in the hole, that’s usually one of them. I don’t know how else to simply put it. I feel like I’m hitting good putts, they just keep burning lips. Eventually it starts to wear on you after a while. All you can do is hit a good putt and see where it goes from there. Hopefully they start falling soon.”

In six LIV Golf events so far this year, Koepka has only been on the fringe of contention, with two top 10s, including a tie for 10th on Sunday in Adelaide.

7 May 24 Jimm Sallivan

2024 PGA Championship Field Includes Tiger Woods, All of World’s Top 100 Players

The field is out for next week’s PGA Championship, and as expected the top 100 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are all on the list.

Actually, the top 103 in the world are in the 156-player field for Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., as well as a couple of intriguing names at No. 644 and No. 801 in the world.

No. 801 is Tiger Woods, the four-time PGA champion who won in 2000 at Valhalla in a thrilling playoff over Bob May. Woods set the consecutive-cuts-made record last month at the Masters before fading on the weekend to 60th, but left Augusta National optimistic for the rest of the majors this season. He accepted a special exemption to the U.S. Open last week.

No. 644 is LIV Golf’s Talor Gooch, who confirmed his special exemption from the PGA of America on Monday via his social media. His spot appears to underline the PGA of America’s desire to have the strongest possible field in its major; Gooch was a three-time winner and LIV Golf’s player of the year in 2023.

LIV Golf’s David Puig and Dean Burmester also received exemptions. Puig has won twice on the Asian Tour in the last seven months and is 106th in the world, while Burmester won back-to-back DP World tour events to end 2023 and won on LIV last month in Miami.

There are 15 LIV golfers in the field. Brooks Koepka is the defending PGA champion, a three-time PGA winner overall and coming in off a win last week in Singapore. Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and Cameron Smith are other past major champions from LIV Golf in the field.

Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 who won last month at the Masters, is scheduled to compete but is on baby watch at home with wife Meredith. He is skipping this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, a signature event on the PGA Tour.

As usual, the field also includes 20 PGA professionals who qualified via the annual PGA Professional Championship. The total PGA professional count is 21, as Michael Block returns after a T15 finish last year at Oak Hill which earned him a spot at Valhalla.

The winners of this week’s Wells Fargo and Myrtle Beach Classic on the PGA Tour will receive spots in the field if they’re not in already.

Below is the full field for the the PGA Championship, which is May 16-19.

Åberg, Ludvig - SWEDEN
An, Byeong Hun - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Beem, Rich - Austin, TX
Bevell, Josh - Nashville, TN (CFT)
Bezuidenhout, Christiaan - SOUTH AFRICA
Bhatia, Akshay - Wake Forest, NC
Björk, Alexander - SWEDEN
Blair, Zac - Orem, UT
Block, Michael - Mission Viejo, CA (CFT)
Bowser, Evan - Naples, FL (CFT)
Bradley, Keegan - Woodstock, VT
Burmester, Dean - SOUTH AFRICA
Burns, Sam - Shreveport, LA
Cantlay, Patrick - Jupiter, FL
Clark, Wyndham - Denver, CO
Cole, Eric - Tequesta, FL
Cole, Preston - Charlotte, NC (CFT)
Collet, Tyler - Vero Beach, FL (CFT)
Conners, Corey - CANADA
Daly, John - Cleawarter Beach, FL
Davis, Cameron - AUSTRALIA
Day, Jason - AUSTRALIA
DeChambeau, Bryson - Dallas, TX
Detry, Thomas - BELGIUM
Dobyns, Matt - Glen Head, NY (CFT)
Donald, Luke - ENGLAND
Dufner, Jason - Auburn, AL
Dunlap, Nick - Tuscaloosa, AL
Eckroat, Austin - Edmond, OK
English, Harris - Sea Island, GA
Finau, Tony - Lehi, UT
Fitzpatrick, Matthew - ENGLAND
Fleetwood, Tommy - ENGLAND
Fowler, Rickie - Murrieta, CA
Fox, Ryan - NEW ZEALAND
Garnett, Brice - Gallatin, MO
Glover, Lucas - Jupiter, FL
Gooch, Talor - Oklahoma City, OK
Griffin, Ben - Chapel Hill, NC
Grillo, Emiliano - ARGENTINA
Gross, Larkin - Center Cross, VA (CFT)
Hadwin, Adam - CANADA
Harman, Brian - Saint Simons Island, GA
Harrington, Pádraig - IRELAND
Hatton, Tyrrell - ENGLAND
Henley, Russell - Columbus, GA
Herbert, Lucas - Orlando, FL
Hisatsune, Ryo - Japan
Hodges, Lee - Athens, AL
Hoffman, Charley - San Diego, CA
Hoge, Tom - Fort Worth, TX
Højgaard, Nicolai - DENMARK
Højgaard, Rasmus - DENMARK
Homa, Max - Scottsdale, AZ
Horschel, Billy - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Hoshino, Rikuya - JAPAN
Hossler, Beau - Mission Viejo, CA
Hovland, Viktor - NORWAY
Hubbard, Mark - The Woodlands, TX
Hughes, Mackenzie - CANADA
Im, Sungjae - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Jaeger, Stephan - GERMANY
Johnson, Dustin - Jupiter, FL
Jones, Jared - Houston, TX (CFT)
Kanaya, Takumi - JAPAN
Kaymer, Martin - GERMANY
Kellen, Jeff - Rockford, IL (CFT
)Kim, Si Woo - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Kim, Tom - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Kirk, Chris - Watkinsville, GA
Kitayama, Kurt - Las Vegas, NV
Knapp, Jake - Costa Mesa, CA
Kobori, Kazuma - NEW ZEALAND
Koepka, Brooks - West Palm Beach, FL
Kohles, Ben - Dallas, TX
Lawrence, Thriston - SOUTH AFRICA
Lee, Kyoung-Hoon - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Lee, Min Woo - AUSTRALIA
List, Luke - Augusta, GA
Lowry, Shane - IRELAND
MacIntyre, Robert - SCOTLAND
Malnati, Peter - Knoxville, TN
Marek, Brad - Berkeley, CA (CFT)
Matsuyama, Hideki - JAPAN
McCarthy, Denny - Jupiter, FL
McIlroy, Rory - NORTHERN IRELAND
McNealy, Maverick - Stanford, CA
Mendoza, Kyle - Oceanside, CA (CFT)
Meronk, Adrian - POLAND
Micheel, Shaun - Colliersville, TN
Mickelson, Phil - Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Mitchell, Keith - Saint Simons Island, GA
Molinari, Francesco - ITALY
Montgomery, Taylor - Las Vegas, NV
Moore, Taylor - Southlake, TX
Morikawa, Collin - La Canada, CA
Mueller, Jesse - Phoenix, AZ (CFT)
Murray, Grayson - Raleigh, NC
Nakajima, Keita - JAPAN
Niemann, Joaquin - CHILE
Noren, Alex - SWEDEN
Norrman, Vincent - SWEDEN
Oakley, Zac - King of Prussia, PA (CFT)
Ogletree, Andy - Alpharetta, GA
Olesen, Thorbjorn - DENMARK
Otaegui, Adrian - SPAIN
Pavon, Matthieu - FRANCE
Pendrith, Taylor - CANADA
Perez, Victor - FRANCE
Phillips, Tracy - Tulsa, OK (CFT)
Polland, Ben - Teton Village, WY (CFT
)Poston, J.T. - Sea Island, GA
Puig, David - SPAIN
Putnam, Andrew - University Place, WA
Rahm, Jon - SPAIN
Rai, Aaron - ENGLAND
Reed, Patrick - The Woodlands, TX
Rodgers, Patrick - Avon, IN
Rose, Justin - ENGLAND
Schauffele, Xander - San Diego, CA
Scheffler, Scottie - Dallas, TX
Schenk, Adam - Vincennes, IN
Scott, Adam - AUSTRALIA
Shattuck, Braden - Aston, PA (CFT)
Smith, Cameron - AUSTRALIA
Smith, Jordan - ENGLAND
Soderberg, Sebastian - SWEDEN
Somers, John - Clearwater, FL (CFT)
Speight, Josh - Dallas, TX (CFT)
Spieth, Jordan - Dallas, TX
Straka, Sepp - AUSTRIA
Stricker, Steve - Madison, WI
Svensson, Adam - CANADA
Svensson, Jesper - SWEDEN
Svoboda, Andy - Oak Brook, IL (CFT)
Taylor, Nick - CANADA
Theegala, Sahith - Spring, TX
Thomas, Justin - Louisville, KY
Todd, Brendon - Watkinsville, GA
Tosti, Alejandro - ARGENTINA
Valimaki, Sami - FINLAND
van Rooyen, Erik - SOUTH AFRICA
van Velzen, Ryan - SOUTH AFRICA
Villegas, Camilo - COLOMBIA
Walker, Jimmy - Terrell Hills, TX
Wallace, Matt - ENGLAND
Wells, Jeremy - Estero, FL (CFT)
Widing, Tim - SWEDEN
Woodland, Gary - Topeka, KS
Woods, Tiger - Jupiter, FL
Worthington II, Wyatt - Las Vegas, NV (CFT)
Yang, Y.E. - REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Young, Cameron - Jupiter, FL
Zalatoris, Will - Dallas, TX

CFT -- Corebridge Financial Team/PGA Professionals

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Brooks Koepka Picks Up Fourth LIV Golf Win in Singapore

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