Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka are two of the best golfers this side of the millennium, and despite their differing sides in the sport’s civil war, they’ve not let that damage their friendship
Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka may well have found themselves on opposite sides of golf’s civil war in recent years, but the pair appear to have not let it impact their relationship.
McIlroy announced himself as one of LIV Golf’s biggest critics since the league burst onto the scene in 2022, remaining more loyal than any player to the PGA Tour. Meanwhile his good friend Koepka proved to be one of the big names that made the move, signing a mega-money deal to join Greg Norman and co.
Despite all of McIlroy’s criticism of the LIV setup (which have eased over the past year in a bid to find peace), the Northern Irishman has remained a pal of Koepka in that time.
This was more apparent than ever when Koepka became the first major champion from the breakaway league in the LIV era, clinching his fifth flagship crown at the 2023 PGA Championship. In the aftermath, McIlroy was seen on Netflix’s Full Swing documentary congratulating his LIV rival in the car park.
“Brooks! Brooks!” McIlroy was heard shouting in the Smash GC captain’s direction. “I am really happy for you.” The pair then shared an embrace before Koepka told McIlroy: “I’ll give you a shout man!” Koepka’s win came at the height of the fallout between the PGA Tour and LIV, but this did not seem to matter to the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy had been hugely critical of a number of players who opted to make the Saudi switch, which had led to the breakdown in his relationship with his trusty Ryder Cup teammate Sergio Garcia – a friendship that has since been fixed. Amid the hostilities however, he revealed nothing changed between him and Koepka.
Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy met at the U.S. PGA Championship ( Image: Getty Images)
“It’s OK to get on with Brooks and DJ [Dustin Johnson] and maybe not get on with some other guys that went to it,” the four-time major champion said ahead of the 2023 Masters last April. The comments came after McIlroy and Koepka opted to play a practice round together at Augusta National.
The pair had been deprived of playing together for almost a year following Koepka’s move to LIV, which led to them taking full advantage when allowed to pick playing partners in Georgia. “It’s more just two friends just wanting to play together,” Koepka said at the time.
“I guess you could look at it that way. But yeah, I just wanted to play with him, just compare my game. I know he’s been playing well. So it was good for me to see, and I think it’s fun to be able to go play with these guys. We haven’t played with these guys in a long time, so just getting out to go play with them has been nice because it’s been a lot of just seeing everybody.”
