Las Vegas: Americans Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka will renew their fierce rivalry in Las Vegas next month, facing off in ‘The Match,’ a 12-hole, head-to-head event at the Wynn Golf Course.
The major winners set aside their long-standing feud to help the United States triumph over Europe at the Ryder Cup last week after months of hostilities, even exchanging a hug at their team’s victory press conference.
But their Las Vegas showdown set for November 26 - the day after Thanksgiving - could reignite competitive tensions between 2020 US Open winner DeChambeau and four-time major winner Koepka, who are ranked seventh and ninth in the world respectively.
The 28-year-old DeChambeau won the most recent iteration of The Match, joining forces with reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers to defeat seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady and six-time major winner Phil Mickelson in July.
DeChambeau will attempt to outplay his rival and defend his title at the event after teaming up with Aaron Rodgers to defeat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady in July. While Koepka has not competed in the event before, he did donate $100,000 to COVID-19 relief efforts when Brady birdied a hole in the May 2020 competition.
While this year’s match-up will not feature stars from other sports joining the golfers like it has in the past, there will be no shortage of storylines given the connection between DeChambeau and Koepka.
“The rift between Koepka and DeChambeau stretches back to at least January 2019, and the two have traded barbs ever since,” Dylan Dethier of Golf Magazine wrote. “Koepka has criticized DeChambeau’s pace of play, DeChambeau has criticized Koepka’s abs, Koepka has flexed his trophy collection, DeChambeau has confronted him in person, Koepka has made fun of DeChambeau asking for a ruling, etc.”
It reached a new level this year as DeChambeau took issue with fans yelling “Brooksie” at him during tournaments. He even confronted a fan for it at the BMW Championship in August.
Koepka trolled him during the Memorial Tournament in Ohio in June by thanking those who called out his name and offering free beer to those who maybe had their time “cut short” at the event because of his rival taking issue with it: Koepka also grew quite frustrated with DeChambeau during an interview in a moment that reached meme status online.
