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Brooks Koepka Dominates Bryson DeChambeau, 5 and 3, to Win The Match

Here's the breakdown of all of the action of the Match at Wynn Las Vegas when Brooks Koepka handily defeated Bryson DeChambeau

Morning Read Staff

Brooks Koepka Dominates Bryson DeChambeau, 5 and 3, to Win The Match
Brooks Koepka Dominates Bryson DeChambeau, 5 and 3, to Win The Match /

Brooks Koepka routed Bryson DeChambeau Friday afternoon in Las Vegas 5-and-3 at Wynn Golf Club in the fifth edition of the made-for-TV match. 

Here's how it happened: 

Bryson vs. Brooks Match: Live Updates

Brooks Koepka Defeats Bryson DeChambeau 5 and 3

A Note On A Final Score Discrepancy 

Multiple outlets, including the telecast reported that Brooks Koepka defeated Bryson DeChambeau by a final score of 4-and-3 in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon.

Bryson trailed 4-down with 4 holes to play entering the 9th hole at Wynn Golf Club. After missing his putt for birdie on the par-3, DeChambeau conceded Koepka a birdie putt, ending the Match by an apparent final score of 5-and-3. 

Both final scores have been reported by media outlets, with the PGA TOUR reporting a 4-and-3 victory for Koepka, while Golf Digest reported 5-and-3. Regardless, it was a dominant performance on Friday by Brooks Koepka, who won the Match in 9 holes. 

Koepka Defeats DeChambeau 5-and-3 in The Match Romp

It's all over here in Las Vegas, as Brooks Koepka defeated a notably rusty Bryson DeChambeau 5-and-3 in this 12-hole match.

Brooks hits an approach to about 10 feet or so here on the par-3 9th hole, and wins $50,000 for the charity of his choice.

Bryson hits a pretty pedestrian shot to about 35 or 40 feet, and misses his birdie putt just to the left. 

DeChambeau concedes Koepka his birdie putt, and Brooks wins the match without Bryson winning a single hole. 

There will be some additional bonus holes for charity purposes, but Koepka has closed out DeChambeau after a hefty beating.

Charity Long Drive on Number 10: 

A lot of money flying around here on the 10th tee, as Bryson wins the initial Long Drive Contest to win $200,000 for charity. The two players then put up $50,000 each for two respective long drive contests, one won by Brooks and one won by Bryson. Charles Barkley gets in on the fun and puts up some additional charity funds. A total of $350,000 donated to good causes on this hole.

Closest To The Hole Contest on Number 11:

Brooks misses the green long on #11, and Bryson secures $50,000 additional dollars for charity after hitting the front of the green. Neither shot flirted with a hole-in-one, which would have won $2 million for charity. 

A total of $3 million was for charity and over 7 million meals were donated to Feeding America in today's match. 

Brooks Takes Dechambeau Dormie After Birdie on 8

Bryson has broken out the protein shake here on the Par-4 8th in hopes of channeling a comeback against Koepka. 

While DeChambeau outdrives Koepka on 8, Brooks outclasses Bryson with a stellar hook wedge to about 4 feet out of the rough. 

Bryson knocks it to about maybe 10 feet or so, but is understandably disappointed with it considering his position in this match. 

Dechambeau barely slides his birdie putt by on the low-side, (and is visibly annoyed with the commentators talking in his earpiece during his putting stroke.)

Brooks easily drops his putt in for birdie, and trolls Phil with a quick, "How are you feeling about your prediction?" after Mickelson picked Bryson to win before the match began.

It's getting extremely late for DeChambeau, as Brooks has him dormie. Koepka leads 4-up with 4 holes to go. 

DeChambeau Misses Chance to Cut Into Lead

No cart golf from these two on No. 7, as Brooks misses "left of left" off a tree, and Bryson's drive takes a nasty hop off the cart path way to the right. 

Bryson actually has a fantastic angle to the pin, and pays it off with a shot to about 10 feet pin-high. 

Koepka's angle is less than ideal, but he also hits a shot to pin-high. However, his shot is a bit further away, somewhere around 25 feet. 

Brooks' right-to-left slider misses low, giving Bryson a birdie putt to get the putt back to 2-down.

Bryson's putt misses high, and both players concede their respective par putts. 

Phil has been chirping a lot to Bryson over the ear piece about putting his mind into "theta" or "beta...." Whatever that means...

As we head to the 8th, Koepka has shown to be the alpha thus-far. 

Brooks is 3-up with 5 to play. 

(For what it's worth: "Yoga is just stretching, they just call it yoga to charge you more," is an iconic line from Charles Barkley.)

Brooks Koepka Takes Commanding Lead Through 6 Holes

The Par-3 6th Closest to the Pin Contest provides another opportunity for our players to do some good for charity. 

Koepka cashes that in by knocking it to 10 feet 7 inches and wins 500,000 meals for Feeding America. 

DeChambeau hits a shot that lands near the hole, but spins aggressively and gives him about 15-20 feet. Bryson burns the edge here on the par 3, and Koepka has a chance to take a commanding lead at the halfway point. 

Brooks pours in the birdie putt to go 3-up at the halfway point of this 12-hole match.

With the win, Koepka moves to a heavy -1205 favorite in the betting markets. 

As Koepka said after draining the putt, "Any questions?"

Koepka Cashes In Lucky Break, Goes 2-Up Through 5 Holes

For the second hole in a row, Koepka again hits a wayward drive, but again is quite fortunate, this time barely avoiding the water on the left of this long Par 5th. 

Meanwhile, DeChambeau hits a booming drive that just finds the first cut.

Koepka hits an incredible recovery shot that bounds onto the front of the green and gives him a chance for eagle. 

DeChambeau attempts a high, slinging hook into the green, but his ball clips a tree and gets a fortunate kick into the fairway just in front of the green. 

Bryson hits a pretty routine chip shot to give himself about 5 feet up the hill. Koepka's eagle putt misses by a few inches to the left, and has his birdie putt conceded. 

DeChambeau finds himself needing to make another putt to stay just 1-down, but after a misread, he misses his putt to the left and falls to 2-down through 5 holes.

Players Share a Wild 4th Hole, But Score Remains the Same

Koepka blows one way right off the Par-4 4th tee, which initially looks like it's dead, but he luckily finds a parallel fairway.

Brooks recovers beautifully with a fantastic high-cut approach that finds the center of the green.

After a bomb of a drive to the middle of the (correct) fairway, DeChambeau juices one over the green, flipping the outlook of the hole. 

DeChambeau has a cheeky putt from off the green to about 4 feet, while Koepka again leaves his birdie putt short and is given his par. 

Bryson saves his par, and Koepka remains 1-up after 4 holes. 

DeChambeau Misses Golden Opportunity To Square Match

Koepka misses his tee shot to the right on the par-3 3rd hole, while DeChambeau hits a beauty to 11 feet and wins $50,000 to the charity of his choice in the Closest to the Pin competition.

Brooks hits a nice pitch to about 4 feet to set up an opportunity to save par.

DeChambeau has a birdie putt to win the hole, and it just misses on the low side. 

Koepka saves his putt for par and remains 1-up through three holes. 

Brooks Koepka Takes 1-Up Lead Through 2

Approach shots on the 2nd are almost identical to the 1st, with DeChambeau finding the bunker and Koepka finding the green in regulation. This time though, Brooks takes advantage of his close approach, and drains his putt for birdie. 

Koepka ever so kindly gives his DeChambeau his putt for par.....

First blood is taken here in Vegas. 

Bryson and Brooks Make Two Pars After Nervy Starts

After both players miss right off the 1st tee, Bryson flares his approach shot into the right bunker, while Brooks finds the center of the green.

After DeChambeau left his bunker shot about six feet past the hole, Koepka had a 20-foot putt to win the match but left it about three feet short.

Facing the potential of a 1-down deficit, DeChambeau ran in his par putt to keep the match square. To the second we go.

DeChambeau Rocking Two Drivers 👀

Bryson is channeling his inner Phil Mickelson and bringing out TWO drivers for the match. One can only assume the longer shafted driver goes 600 yards opposed to Bryson's typical 550 yards. 

In This Corner....

We are almost ready to go from The Wynn Las Vegas. What would a heavyweight Las Vegas title fight be without an iconic pre-match stare-down photo? 

Phil Drops The Hammer

Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson isn't playing in this edition of The Match, but you really think that would stop him from taking an opportunity to gloat about his PGA Championship win?

Mickelson is serving as an Executive Producer for this Bryson vs. Brooks brawl, but it doesn't appear that his move to the booth is going to dethrone him at the PGA TOUR's smack-talk king.

Disrespect Spans All the Way To Custom Carts

As in previous iterations of The Match, players are rocking custom golf carts.

Look past the advertisements to the details, as both players are featuring a bit of trolling on their rides. 

The origin of the Brooks vs. Bryson feud

brooks-koepka-eye-roll

AP golf writer Doug Ferguson doesn't buy this feud as totally real but he does have some good background here on why Brooks and Bryson don't like each other:

Koepka and DeChambeau’s dislike for each apparently goes back to the first time they played together in the final round of the 2016 Masters.

“I never really liked him,” Koepka said.

It became public at Liberty National in 2019 at the start of the PGA Tour postseason.

Koepka had been vocal about slow play, and it was clear DeChambeau — who was glacial — was the target. So when DeChambeau saw Koepka’s caddie talking to two reporters on the practice green, he walked over and told Ricky Elliott to tell his boss that if Koepka had any problems he could always go straight to him.

“You can tell him that,” Elliott replied, and sure enough, that’s how it unfolded a short time later. And that supposedly was the end of it.

But then DeChambeau was doing a live streaming video game on Twitch when he was overheard making fun of Koepka by saying “he didn’t have any abs” in ESPN’s “Body Issue” magazine.

In Koepka’s mind, it was game on. And on it went.

There was the leaked video of Koepka rolling his eyes as DeChambeau walked behind him at the PGA Championship. Fans began shouting “Brooksie” at DeChambeau.

Both stand to make money off this silly social media dispute, and there remains no small measure of skepticism that it’s all staged as part of the hype Las Vegas loves.

The PGA Tour is offering a $40 million bonus pool for a “Player Impact Program” that is measured by various metrics, and DeChambeau suspects that’s what has been driving Koepka.

“It’s disgusting the way the guy has tried to knock me down,” DeChambeau said. “There’s no need for it in the game of golf. For what reason? I don’t know. Maybe he’s jealous and wants to get part of that PIP money from the tour.”

Koepka figures he’s already 1 up in talking smack. DeChambeau looks forward to a chance at “kicking his butt.”

One can only hope that what happens in Las Vegas really does stay there.

Bryson DeChambeau celebrated Thanksgiving at the Wynn

Very on-brand for all the sponsor's water to be properly arranged:

Bryson DeChambeau at 14 was already Bryson

Bryson DeChambeau says this feud is 'all real'

Las Vegas based journalist Brian Hurlburt was at the Koepka and DeChambeau media sessions in the desert this week, which you can read about here. These are some of the best quotes from his piece:

  • Brooks Koepka: “I think I've said it like 10 different times, I mean, I've never really liked him ... I think I've already won the trash talking and I think that's a given." 
  • Bryson DeChambeau: "This is all real from my end, at least. It's disgusting the way the guy has tried to knock me down. There's no need for it in the game of golf." 

John Hawkins makes his prediction for the Match

Longtime golf journalist John Hawkins breaks down Brooks and Bryson right here and predicts the winner. The entire piece is worthing reading, of course, but we'll spoil it a little bit here. Hawkins likes DeChambeau to prevail. His reasoning: Brooks Koepka saves his best play for the majors — and this isn't that — and comes to Las Vegas after two missed cuts.

Daniel Wooters likes Bryson at -120

Daniel Wooters makes weekly PGA Tour picks for us at si.com/golf. You can read his entire take on this match here. He leans more toward Bryson DeChambeau because he has more to prove than the too-cool-for-school Brooks Koepka.

The hype has begun for The Match

The last time we can remember seeing the the roof at Wynn Las Vegas was when Steve Wynn shot a commercial there for the resort's 2005 opening:

Wynn no longer owns the resort, but there's still some happenings up on the roof:

A brief history of who's been in The Match

This is the fifth version of The Match. The first was also in Las Vegas and played at Shadow Creek, north of downtown, in 2018. Phil Mickelson defeated Tiger Woods to win $9 million. 

The next was in May 2020 when Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods teamed up to beat Mickelson and Tom Brady by a shot at Medalist in Hobe Sound, Fla.

Charles Barkley and Mickelson defeated Peyton Manning and Stephen Curry in the fourth Match at Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Ariz., in November 2020.

The most recent was in July when Aaron Rodgers and DeChambeau defeated Brady and Mickelson at The Reserve Golf Course at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Mont.

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