HERTFORDSHIRE, England — Brooks Koepka has accused LIV Golf teammate Matthew Wolff of quitting on the course, telling Sports Illustrated he has “basically given up on him.”
Wolff, who won in his third start as a pro on the PGA Tour in 2019, joined the LIV Golf League last year and plays for Smash, the team captained by Koepka. He has finished out of the top 30 against 48-man fields in his past five events, including a withdrawal.
“I mean, when you quit on your round, you give up and stuff like that, that’s not competing,” Koepka told Sports Illustrated. “I’m not a big fan of that. You don’t work hard. It’s very tough. It’s very tough to have even like a team dynamic when you’ve got one guy that won’t work, one guy is not going to give any effort, he’s going to quit on the course, break clubs, gets down, bad body language, it’s very tough.
“I’ve basically given up on him,” Koepka said. “A lot of talent, but I mean the talent’s wasted.”
Wolff won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s best player as a sophomore at Oklahoma State in 2019, turned pro and won in his third start on the PGA Tour at the 3M Open. He had the 54-hole lead at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot before closing with a 75 to be runner-up to Bryson DeChambeau.
But he began to struggle and then took a two-month break in 2021 to address his mental health. He signed with Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf a year later.
Wolff, 24, withdrew before the final round of the LIV Golf event outside Washington last month with an undisclosed injury. He was partially removed from Smash’s social media pages.
Wolff told SI he was trying to do what he can “to play the best round of golf and that’s going to help the team.” Asked if he wanted to be on another team, Wolff stared, shook his head and walked off, SI reported.
LIV Golf is playing outside London this week. Wolff is 25th in the points standings.