LIV Golf’s honeymoon period may be hurtling towards a tangled conclusion

E stablishing the precise thoughts of Brooks Koepka is a knotty business. This is the individual who, prior to last year’s US Open, barked at a line of questioning relating to his potential involvement in the breakaway LIV Tour. No sooner had dust settled on Matt Fitzpatrick’s famous Brookline success than Koepka was unveiled as a LIV recruit. Koepka’s earlier podium protesting identified him as little more than a phony.

Oh to be inside the mind of Koepka now. As Scottie Scheffler returned to No 1 in the world courtesy of a dominant victory at a packed Phoenix Open, focus immediately turned towards Tiger Woods’s appearance at this week’s Genesis Invitational. Koepka had followed up a share of 46th at the Saudi International with a missed cut on the Asian Tour in Oman. He was only spared broad ridicule on the basis that nobody aside from dedicated fans and cheerleaders for Saudi’s dubious stampede into golf actually knew these events were taking place.

If the 32-year-old Koepka is not pondering what on earth he is doing, if he is not the epitome of professional frustration, he damn well should be. All the tainted money in the world cannot offset a slide towards competitive irrelevance. This is a golfer who won four majors from 2017-2019. He was a poster boy, an athlete, a player carrying sufficient chippiness to render him interesting. Nobody had heard of Scottie Scheffler.

Fast forward to 2023 and the indefatigable Woods, now 47, is still speaking of mainstream tournament glory as Koepka features on cringeworthy videos promoting LIV’s team concept. He could play for the Range Goats, Rippers, Smashers, Bashers or Flashers for anybody in the wider world cares. (Three of those are actually real names). Plans for teams to