For the first two rounds of the PGA Championship, the crowd at Oak Hill Country Club in Upstate New York was mostly respectful. It pretty much stayed that way on Saturday until 2:30pm tee time.
“From Texas, Bryson Dechambeau,” offered the starter.
“Boooooooo!” The crowd roared.
They are clearly not fans of the mad scientist.
Moments later, “From Florida, Brooks Koepka.”
“Boo!” The crowd roared again.
Wait, aren’t they big fans of Koepka either?
Over the past few years, the golf world has been divided into two camps. The split began in a 2021 interview. Brooks Koepka had a camera in his face and a microphone in his mouth when he looked to his right and saw DeChambeau walking up behind him, which prompted this reaction:
And with that, I was either Team Brooks or Team Bryson.
The feud wasn’t something outrageous growing up, it was just a good rattling hatred for each other. He’s going to mature a bit, especially when both golfers from the PGA Tour have been lured to join LIV Golf. Their personalities may be polar opposites, but they now share something deep in common.
On Saturday, they shared one more thing in common — tee time. DeChambeau was the first player to enter the club at 3-under on Friday, Koepka the last at 2-under. This led to a dream pairing of two of the most interesting golfers who both disliked.
DeChambeau’s boo was definitely bigger than Koepka’s, but the boo both came out of nowhere.
“Not a warm welcome,” Jim Nantz said on a CBS broadcast. “I didn’t hear this, for that matter, at any time until last summer.”
Was Team Bryson booing Koepka and Team Brooks booing DeChambeau? Was it the New York crowd uniting to tell these two what they thought of their decision to hop aboard the Saudi-backed LIV Golf?
Whatever the cause of the panic, it did not last long. After the boos settled, DeChambeau stood over his ball and opened a violent swing that launched his ball 299 yards straight down the middle.
“Boom!” A shout came from the crowd.
From boo to boom in under a minute.
“Student. Incurable problem solver. Amateur baconaholic. Introvert. Infuriatingly humble music fanatic.”