{"id":818080,"date":"2026-03-11T04:04:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/818080\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T04:04:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:04:15","slug":"brooks-koepka-dodges-players-question-i-know-what-youre-trying-to-bait-me-into-saying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/818080\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooks Koepka dodges Players question: “I know what you’re trying to bait me into saying”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooks Koepka refused to be drawn into whether or not <\/strong>The Players Championship<\/strong><\/a> should be elevated to the fifth men’s major.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Koepka<\/a> is competing in the PGA Tour’s flagship event at Sawgrass this week for the first time in three years.<\/p>\n

The American controversially quit the American circuit for LIV Golf<\/a> in 2022 but made a sensational return via a returning member programme last December after leaving the PIF-backed league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the last few weeks, it has been made very clear that PGA Tour officials are making a concerted effort to amplify the importance of The Players.<\/p>\n

A promotional campaign in February came with the tagline: “March is going to be major”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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It led to an intense debate as to whether it should be fully recognised as the fifth major championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Controversial Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee claimed not only was it a major but in fact the best one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy<\/a>, who is an injury doubt<\/a> this week, said The Players doesn’t need to have such a status as it “stands on its own without a label”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So from an identity standpoint, I think The Players has got it nailed,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McIlroy, instead, argued that the PGA Championship should be moved back to August.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Koepka was asked for his opinion on the matter during his pre-tournament news conference on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think you’ve got to have one big event on the PGA Tour, and it’s their staple, and I think it’s a good thing.”<\/p>\n

Koepka compared the tournament to the flagship BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think that’s what makes this event so cool,” he added. “I think it’s awesome that we come back to the same golf course every year. I think that’s really, really fun and makes it enjoyable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I mean, I know what you’re trying to bait me into saying, but listen, it’s the Players Championship. Everybody knows it’s a tournament you want to win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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“It’s a tournament that’s, like I said earlier, the kick-off of the big season of the golf, and that’s what makes this fun.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brooks Koepka refused to be drawn into whether or not The Players Championship should be elevated to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4106],"tags":[33197,2826,4299,4298,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-818080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-brooks-koepka","9":"tag-golf","10":"tag-liv-golf","11":"tag-pga-tour","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116208564014837781","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}