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Brooks Koepka needs a miracle at East Lake to avoid paying off a season-long bet to Justin Thomas

August 22, 2019
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Keyur Khamar

Justin Thomas is in position for a huge payday at this week's Tour Championship after taking the FedEx Cup lead. Turns out, he's also probably going to collect more money from Brooks Koepka on Sunday.

The two stars explained on Wednesday that they have a season-long bet that ends at East Lake—and Koepka needs a miracle to win.

"Yeah, in Korea [last October], we were playing together, and we were talking about how all through the year, we were going to have a little action on how many times we holed out," Koepka said. "I can't even remember the last time I holed out."

Imagine that? The World No. 1 having zero hole outs (Their terms were it has to be from more than 50 yards to count) during another incredible season? Golf is a crazy sport.

"It's just a little thing we have between us two, just kind of a hole-out bet, and the monetary value doesn't matter," Thomas said. "Again, it's kind of like I was saying earlier, it's more of the fact of me doing that. But that's just something a little fun between us that we've done."

The money—reported at $1,000 per hole-out by The Action Network's Jason Sobel—may not matter much, especially with the two competing in Atlanta for that $15 MILLION prize. However, the bet clearly does as evidenced by Thomas' reaction to knocking in a shot from 180 yards out during his victory at last week's BMW Championship. Watch closely and you'll see him say to his caddie, "I got some of that Brooks Koepka money!"

A gambler should never count his money before a bet is officially over, but Thomas should feel pretty safe with a 3-0 cushion entering the season finale. Koepka seems resigned to handing over the money on Sunday as well.

"I've got the cash," Koepka said. "I can go pay him. That's fine. I've got it here with me. I've got enough."

He'll mind even less if he's carrying a super-sized check for $15 million.