Brooks On His Pre-Final Round Peers Put Down: "If you’re going to do that then you’ve got to back it up and last week I didn’t back it up."

I thought there were too many great stories and fascinating possibilities to dwell on the Brooks-being-Brooks comments prior to the 2020 final round, but with other players chiming in and Koepka’s final round collapse, he felt the need to speak.

Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch followed up with Koepka Wednesday. You’d think he was an epidemiologist with vaccine news given the space given to the put down of his peers’ major totals. Nonetheless I think Brooks has dug another hole, this time with top 100 peg board owners.

Koepka: Obviously, a lot came from it. I don’t mind the pressure of that stuff. I put more pressure on myself than anything external. At the same time, I didn’t back it up. That’s my own problem. Part of being someone who talks openly and truthfully is that sometimes I come off cocky or arrogant, and it can backfire if you’re not going to play good. That’s exactly what happened.

Lynch: Were you shocked at how poorly you played?

Koepka: Yeah. I got stunned at the bogey at 2 and other ones at 7, 8 and 9. By that point, I was already out of it. I was just trying to cheer Paul [Casey] on because he had a chance to win and my shot was long gone.

Lynch: Based on the social media conversation, half of golf fans seem to appreciate you as a competitive beast and the other half dislike you as a mouthy jerk. Are you okay with that?

Koepka: I think there are layers to that question. I’m not the typical golf guy. I don’t know how else to put that. We didn’t belong to fancy country clubs. I’m not someone who can’t wait to go play those exclusive courses around the country. It doesn’t ‘ooh’ and awe me like it does other people …