Brooks Koepka admits his return to the PGA Tour environment has highlighted just how different life on LIV Golf has been \u2014 particularly when it comes to equipment support.<\/p>\n
The five-time major champion recently ended<\/a> his four-year partnership with Dunlop Sports Americas, the parent company of Srixon and Cleveland Golf, leaving him without a club deal for the first time in years.<\/p>\n While Koepka<\/a> spoke warmly about his relationship with Srixon, he acknowledged becoming a free agent again has reminded him of an earlier stage in his career.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s different. I had a great time with Srixon. They were fantastic,\u201d Koepka told reporters this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFour years, it flew by. Yeah, it was great. But, yeah, just going to get back to where I was I felt like. I’m trying to think, ’17 and pretty much ’21 I was a free agent.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Koepka then offered a revealing insight into one aspect of LIV Golf<\/a> that players rarely discuss publicly \u2014 the lack of manufacturer presence and equipment testing opportunities compared to the PGA Tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last few years there’s been no equipment trucks. There’s been no anything, so I don’t really know what’s out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven’t given it too much thought as of right now just because it’s so fresh. Just trying to focus on just going to play good golf.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, yeah, with equipment trucks, everything, it’s kind of eye-opening when you come back, because I don’t think people realize that, at least I didn’t \u2014 how much stuff is out there and the opportunity you might have.\u201d<\/p>\n Koepka is currently competing in the Oneflight Myrtle Beach Classic, an opposite-field PGA Tour event, as he continues his route back into full PGA Tour status.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Under the terms of his \u201cReturning Member Program\u201d, Koepka is not eligible for sponsor invitations into Signature Events.\u00a0<\/p>\n He had hoped to earn starts as an alternate in both the RBC Heritage and the Truist Championship, but failed to get into either field.<\/p>\n The former world number one enters the final round at Myrtle Beach at 11-under par, five shots behind leader Mark Hubbard and firmly inside the top 10.<\/p>\n Koepka is searching for a 10th PGA Tour title as he looks to rebuild his world ranking, which currently stands at 127th.\u00a0<\/p>\n Next week, attention turns to the PGA Championship at Aronimink, where Koepka will attempt to win a sixth major title and claim a fourth Wanamaker Trophy.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Koepka fancies his chances, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super excited. It will be something I\u2019ve been looking forward to for a while,\u201d Koepka said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been knocking on the door. It\u2019s very close. It\u2019s one piece here, one piece there.\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooks Koepka admits his return to the PGA Tour environment has highlighted just how different life on LIV…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":660591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-660590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}