BROOKS, CAM, DJ GROUPED FOR FIRST TIME AT LIV GOLF DC
POTOMAC FALLS, Va. – After winning his fifth major last weekend, Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka will return to work Friday.
The new PGA champion will be playing alongside two other LIV Golf members with major pedigrees – reigning Open champion Cameron Smith (Ripper GC) and two-time major winner Dustin Johnson (4Aces GC).
It will be the first time at a LIV Golf tournament that those three captains have all played in the same group. The featured trio will tee off No. 1 in the shotgun start at 1:15 p.m. EDT at Trump National Golf Course, Washington, D.C.
Since joining LIV Golf for the first U.S.-based tournament in Portland last year, Koepka has been paired with Johnson twice and with Smith three times. Smith, who joined midway through the season, has been paired with Johnson six times, including the final round of the Team Championship in Miami.
But they’ve never filled out an entire threesome until this week.
Cumulatively, they’ve won eight majors, with Koepka winning his third PGA Championship last week at Oak Hill. It was the first major won by any LIV golfer. All three players will participate in the next major, the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, June 15-18.
In addition to their major success, the three also are accustomed to lifting LIV trophies. Koepka became LIV’s first two-time individual winner with his win earlier this season in Orlando. Johnson’s win two weeks ago in Tulsa also made him a two-time winner. Smith won last year in Chicago in his second LIV start.
In addition to the Team Championship, Johnson’s 4Aces have won five regular-season team titles, while Koepka’s Smash won the regular-season finale last year in Jeddah.
Other notes from the Round 1 groups:
The trio of Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Mito Pereira off the No. 2 tee includes high finishers from last week’s PGA Championship. DeChambeau, the Crushers GC captain, tied for fourth, while Reed (4Aces GC) and Pereira (Torque GC) tied for 18th.
Another all-captains group includes HyFlyers GC’s Phil Mickelson, RangeGoats GC’s Bubba Watson and Henrik Stenson, one of three Majesticks GC co-captains. The threesome will start on hole No. 3.
Reserve player Andy Ogletree, who is filling in for injured Crushers veteran Paul Casey, is grouped with Scott Vincent (Iron Heads GC) and Jason Kokrak (Smash GC). Ogletree is the current International Series Order of Merit leader; Vincent was the Order of Merit winner last year, which earned him playing privileges for the full season in this year’s LIV Golf League.
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