Matthew Wolff is heartbroken after reading what his LIV Golf team captain had to say about him on Thursday in London.
Wolff, just a day after Brooks Koepka made scathing comments about Wolff’s efforts and “wasted” talents on the golf course, wasn’t happy to hear what was being said about him.
“To hear from the media that our team manager has abandoned me is heartbreaking,” Wolff said in a statement to Sports Illustrated ahead of the LIV golf tournament this weekend in London. “That’s not what a member of the team expects to hear from their boss, and I think we all know those comments should have been handled very differently.”
Brooks Koepka bursts in on Matthew Wolff
Koepka is the team captain of Smash GC on LIV Golf. Wolff, Jason Kokrak and Chase Koepka complete this team.
Wolff has struggled on the course lately. He finished 44th out of a possible 48th in Spain, which followed his withdrawal to Washington D.C. before the final round due to an undisclosed injury. He was ahead of just two players in the standings before retiring.
Although he had three top-10 finishes at the start of the season, he hasn’t done better than T30 in the last five events. Wolff also entered this week’s event ranked 25th in LIV Golf’s individual standings, just shy of earning a guaranteed spot on the tour next season.
So Koepka, clearly fed up with Wolff, didn’t hold back on Thursday.
“I mean, when you stop your turn, you give up and stuff like that is not competition,” Koepka told Sports Illustrated on Thursday. “I’m not a big fan of that. You don’t work hard. It’s very hard. It’s very hard to even have a team dynamic when you have a guy who’s not going to work, a guy who’s not going to put in the effort, he’s going to drop out of class, break clubs, get down, bad language bodily, it is very hard. I basically gave it up – lots of talent, but I mean the talent is wasted.
Wolff cites past mental health struggles
Wolff, 24, got off to a very promising start on the PGA Tour before leaving for LIV Golf. Wolff earned just his fourth Tour start at the 3M Open in 2019. He also held the 54-hole lead at the US Open in 2020, before finishing second behind Bryson DeChambeau.
But in 2021, Wolff began to struggle. He was disqualified from the Masters after signing an incorrect scorecard, then took a months-long hiatus from golf to focus on his mental health.
“Some of the feelings I had were like getting up in the morning knowing I had to get out of bed and just like not being able to, being like I didn’t want to get out of bed,” he told Golf Digest. in 2021. “I just want to stay in my bed and not be in front of everyone and not screw up in front of everyone.”
Wolff also cited his past mental health issues in his statement on Friday. Although his golf game hasn’t been great lately, Wolff said he feels good about the direction he’s headed, even with Koepka’s opinions of him now open.
“It’s been quite difficult for me,” he said in a statement. “My challenges on and off the golf course with my mental health have been well documented. I face these challenges every day.
“However, even though my 2023 season has not been everything I had hoped for so far, I have made positive progress in managing my life and I feel like my game is turning for the better. the positive… I’m moving forward and I’ll never give in. Although the results on the course don’t seem like positive indicators, I’m trying to win an even bigger game with my life.