Brooks Koepka telegraphed his LIV defection upon arriving in Brookline last week

BOSTON — According to several reports on Tuesday morning, Brooks Koepka is the latest big name in golf to defect from the PGA Tour and sign on with LIV Golf. Anyone who saw what Koepka said last week will not find this the least bit surprising.

Koepka arrived at The Country Club in Brookline for the U.S. Open, and he spoke with the media last Tuesday, one day after Phil Mickelson stood at the same podium and got peppered with biting questions from the flood of media members regarding LIV. Koepka — whose brother, Chase, had already joined LIV — took the opportunity to lambaste the media for asking too many questions about the rival golf league that has essentially set out to destroy the PGA Tour.

“I think it kind of sucks, too. Y’all are throwing this black cloud over the U.S. Open,” Koepka said last week. “I mean, it’s one of my favorite events and I don’t know why you guys keep doing that. But the more legs you give it, the more you keep talking about it.” 

Considering Koepka is a huge name in golf, and considering his brother had already joined the new golf league, the questions continued. Koepka continued to express his frustration with that line of questioning at the U.S. Open.

“I don’t understand. I’m trying to focus on the U.S. Open, man. Like I legitimately don’t get it. I’m tired of the conversations, I’m tired of all this stuff,” Koepka said. “Like I said, y’all are throwing a black cloud on the U.S. Open. I think that sucks.”  

As to why he was still a member of the PGA Tour and not a member of LIV Golf, Koepka didn’t exactly sound like someone with a McIlroyian sense of loyalty to the tour that helped make him a star.

“I mean, there’s been no other option to this point, so where else are you gonna go?” Koepka said.

A reporter indicated that LIV was a viable alternative. Koepka said that alternative had only existed for a week, and he wasn’t playing that week.

That answer right there was the strongest indicator of all that Koepka already had his mind made up on joining LIV Golf. Well, that answer, plus the rare moment where Koepka actually expressed sympathy for Mickelson. Koepka had previously mocked Mickelson for the 52-year-old’s comments about the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed,” and Koepka had previously expressed a little displeasure with Mickelson playing some mind games with him when the two were in the final pairing at the PGA Championship last year. For Koepka to say “I actually do feel bad for him for once” about Mickelson might have been the biggest tell of all as to what his future plans would be.

Koepka had a strong Friday at the U.S. Open, carding a 3-under 67 to enter the weekend at even par, just five strokes off the lead. But he shot 5-over on Saturday, thanks in large part to six bogeys on the front nine, and he shot 7-over on Sunday — with anothet turbulent front nine featuring two double-bogeys, two bogeys, and two birdies — to finish 55th.

Now — according to ESPN, The Telegraph, and Sky Sports — Koepka is making the jump to LIV. Koepka himself hasn’t officially made that announcement, but he said all that needed to be said about the matter a full week ago in Brookline.