LIV Golf Captain Brooks Koepka Unloads on Teammate Matthew Wolff: 'I've Given Up on Him, the Talent's Wasted'

Wolff, a former PGA Tour winner, has had a number of low finishes recently in LIV Golf and withdrew from one event prior to the final round.

HERTFORDSHIRE, England — Brooks Koepka's Smash GC team in LIV Golf may look different next year, as a rift with team member Matthew Wolff appears to have advanced to the point of no return. 

Wolff arrived at this week's LIV event outside London off a 44th-place finish in Spain, his fifth consecutive poor showing which includes a withdrawal from May's event in Washington, D.C., prior to the final round, where he was 46th out of 48 players after 36 holes.

“I mean, when you quit on your round, you give up and stuff like that, that's not competing,” said Koepka, the Smash GC captain, in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I'm not a big fan of that. You don't work hard. It's very tough. It's very tough to have even like a team dynamic when you've got one guy that won't work, one guy is not going to give any effort, he’s going to quit on the course, break clubs, gets down, bad body language, it's very tough. I've basically given up on him—a lot of talent, but I mean the talent's wasted.”

Wolff had a solid start to the LIV Golf season with three top-10 finishes including a T5 in April in Florida, where Koepka won and Smash GC finished a season-best second as a team, sharing $1.5 million.

But Wolff, a 24-year-old former PGA Tour winner, finished T44 in the next event in Australia, then T41 in Singapore and T30 in Oklahoma.

After withdrawing prior to the final round at Trump National outside Washington, D.C., with an undisclosed injury, Wolff was partially removed from Smash GC's social media pages.

“I'm here, you know, trying to do what I can to play the best round of golf and that's going to help the team,” Wolff told Sports Illustrated, adding that he's healthy. “I'm just here to focus on myself and try to play some good golf and that's what everyone's really trying to do, because golf is trying to put the best score up and then if that helps your team it's great.”

When asked if he wanted to be on another team, Wolff stared, shook his head, and walked off.

Wolff is 27th on the money list, where the top 24 are guaranteed a spot in LIV for next season. Though in Wolff's case it may be with a different team. 

The other members of Smash GC are Jason Kokrak, who is 22nd on the money list, and Koepka's younger brother Chase Koepka, who is 45th.