Dubbed a ‘Wasted’ Talent by Brooks Koepka, LIV Golfer Retaliates With Harsh Bubba Watson Comparison: ‘He Cares’

It’s a strange paradox of life that sometimes the most carefully considered decision turns out to be the worst. And, at times, chance encounters land you in a spot you’ve always wanted to be. Matthew Wolff joined LIV Golf, hoping to get out of the cutthroat PGA Tour. Only a year later, he was embroiled in an ugly spat with team captain Brooks Koepka.

Much public bickering later—that involved Koepka dubbing him a ‘wasted talent’—the former PGA Tour Pro joined Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC in a surprise swap deal involving Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein. He couldn’t be more thankful. In the two-time Masters champion.

Wolff has found a pillar of support. The 25-year-old said in the Fairway to Heaven podcast, “Joining Bubba’s team, it was so awesome. Because he cares more about how you are, like how you act, like how you carry yourself, the man you are.”

The team dynamics at RangeGoats are vastly different, as Wolff clarified earlier. Regardless of the on-course performance, the players hang out and have fun. Watson took the team to a football match and a basketball game earlier this year. It’s almost like his Oklahoma State days, when Wolff played some of the best golf in his career.

“All I care about is you as a person” the RangeGoats captain told Wolff when they first met. Perhaps one reason is that Lefty himself has battled anxiety. After years of struggle, in a tell-all book, Bubba Watson wrote, “Golf was killing me. I was letting my position on the money list, world rankings, and Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup standing eat at my soul.”

Wolff, one of the hottest prospects on the PGA Tour since his debut, knows this. Bubba Watson mentors the youngster in a way he never had before. Wolff continued in the chat, “At the end of the day, that’s the most important thing; if you do that, you know everything kinda takes care of itself. I feel like that’s why I have been able to play well this year. I have been a little loose out there.”

Last year, Wolff’s form hit the skids after the Masters. His best-place finish was a 34 in Tulsa, excluding Greenbrier in August. This year, Wolff has two top-fives and two more top-20 finishes. Believe it or not, the hush-hush swap deal has made everyone happy. Brooks Koepka, too, is glad that Wolff has found his form back.

Brooks Koepka wants to bury the hatchet with Matthew Wolff

Koepka and Wolff were both in contention in the LIV Golf Singapore, for the first time since the December trade. They were grouped before but were not in contention. The five-time major winner emphasized there is no lingering animosity between them. 

In sharp contrast to last year, the Smash GC captain said, “Yeah, look, I have no problem with Matt. We just didn’t gel, see eye to eye on how things were or how I thought they should be. I’ve always liked him as a person. I think he’s a great kid.” Wolff has refrained from publicly criticizing his former captain.

Even last year, the 25-year-old said he was incredibly hurt by the comments. Matthew Wolff, however, refused to up the ante when his former captain dubbed Smash GC only a team of three. Those days are over for the 2019 NCAA Division I Individual Champion. And it seems Watson’s approach to team-building has a real impact on the youngster.