World No.1 Scottie Scheffler has expressed his surprise at Brooks Koepka's U-turn in joining LIV Golf.
The four-time Major winner was announced as yet another star name for the Saudi-backed series, but Scottie Scheffler says that Koepka gave no inkling of leaving the PGA Tour as late as last week. Scheffler said he was at a function with Koepka and they were "focused on building the PGA Tour." Rory McIlroy also expressed his surprise at Koepka's decision to join LIV Golf after hearing his views both in public and private.
"That was definitely a surprise for me," Scheffler said of Koepka's move to LIV Golf. "I was at a function with him last week and definitely wasn't what he had in mind. We were focused on building the PGA Tour and getting the guys that are staying here together and kind of just having talks and figuring out what how we can help benefit the Tour.
"So to see Brooks leave was definitely a surprise for us. With that being said, he's made his decision. I'm not going to knock him for doing that. He made the decision that's best for him and I'm not going to be one to judge him on that."
"For me, it's not where I see myself heading anytime soon," he said on LIV. "I grew up wanting to be on the PGA Tour. I grew up of dreaming of playing in these events. I didn't grow up in playing in the Centurion Club in London or whatever it is or in. I grew up wanting to play in the Masters. I grew up wanting to play in Austin. I grew up wanting to play Colonial, the Byron Nelson.
"I wouldn't trade those memories for anything at this moment in time. Those memories, to me, are invaluable. I would never risk going and losing the opportunity to bring, go back to Augusta every year or to do any of it. There's nothing that I would want to do right now that would risk having any sort of affects on the way my life is now."
"I think most of the guys are still, have a lot of faith in what the Tour is doing," he said. "The Tour is doing everything in their power to make it the best Tour for all the players out here and I think we, getting behind Jay as our leader and just kind of figuring out what's best for the Tour.
"I think we released something today about some new events and new bigger purses and right now the best players in the world are still on the PGA Tour. The guys on top of the leaderboard last week were on the PGA Tour. Canada was one of the coolest events that I've been to and it was my first time up there."
