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Brooks Koepka earned bragging rights in golf’s biggest rivalry Friday, as he crushed Bryson DeChambeau 4 and 3 in Capital One’s The Match at Wynn Golf Club in Las Vegas.
Koepka only needed nine holes to score the victory in the 12-hole event, as DeChambeau failed to win a single hole.
The fifth iteration of The Match pitted two of golf’s top stars against each other and who have not been shy about publicly expressing their dislike for one another over the past couple of years.
Despite that, Friday’s match was largely cordial, although DeChambeau did attempt to get under Koepka’s skin in the early going.
Prior to the opening tee shots, the 28-year-old from California offered spectators some cupcakes with Koepka’s face emblazoned on them:
The gag was a nod to the 2015 Phoenix Open when Koepka was accidentally introduced as “Brooks Cupcake” by the public address announcer.
Both DeChambeau and Koepka sprayed their tee shots right on the first hole and ended up halving it, but the first blow was struck on No. 2 in favor of Koepka.
The two-time U.S. Open and two-time PGA Championship winner had a nice approach shot and sank a birdie putt to win the hole:
After two halves in a row, Koepka extended his lead on the fifth hole to 2-up when DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, missed a makeable putt to halve the hole from around six feet out.
Koepka continued his dominance on No. 6, connecting on a birdie putt after a DeChambeau miss to make it 3-up through six:
When asked by announcers Brian Anderson, Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley to explain his hot streak, Koepka pulled out his best Michael Jordan shrug:
Recently signed Tennessee Titans wide receiver Golden Tate even chimed in on The Match amid Koepka’s excellent play:
Following a halve on No. 7, Koepka pushed DeChambeau toward the brink of defeat on the eighth, as Bryson saw his birdie attempt edge out, while Koepka nailed his.
After missing his putt, DeChambeau was clearly frustrated and commented on the announcers talking into his earpiece during the putt.
Meanwhile, Koepka proved he was motivated by Mickelson picking DeChambeau to win, as he asked Lefty how his prediction was looking with the score 4-up with four to play.
FS1’s Skip Bayless gave his take on the dynamic between Koepka and DeChambeau with Koepka in firm control:
Koepka hit an excellent tee shot on No. 9, which led to an entertaining back-and-forth between Koepka and DeChambeau regarding Brooks’ play on the PGA Tour:
When DeChambeau missed his birdie putt on that hole, he conceded Koepka’s putt, thus concluding the competitive portion of the event.
While Koepka has the advantage over DeChambeau when it comes to major titles at 4-1, they are typically far more evenly matched on the PGA Tour than they were Friday.
Given some of the quips between them and Bryson’s likely desire to turn in a better performance than he did, there is likely enough meat left on the bone for a rematch between DeChambeau and Koepka in a future edition of The Match.
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