Brooks Being Brooks
Ryder Cup 2023: This Brooks Koepka quote about guys 'wanting the ball' is PEAK Brooks Koepka
Brendan Moran
As a massive Kobe Bryant fan, it's no surprise that Brooks Koepka is a guy who "wants the ball" in crunch time. His major championship record speaks for itself in that regard.
Of course, everybody always says they want the ball. What else are you supposed to say? "No thanks, I'm good"? But saying and doing are two very different things, and Koepka has done enough to be classified as a dude who can walk that walk and talk that talk, which is likely why he had no issue dropping an all time Brooks Koepka quote when he was asked about guys "wanting the ball" on Wednesday at the Ryder Cup.
Here's the exchange:
Q. If the Ryder Cup came down to one match on the course to decide it, I suspect if you ask all 24 guys here if they want the ball, they'd say yes. How many of them do you think really mean it?
BROOKS KOEPKA: Very few. False confidence, I think.
Shots. Freaking. Fired.
As Koepka went on to explain, there is no problem with believing in yourself, a discussion teammate Wyndham Clark has ignited with some of his comments this week.
"Guys should believe in themselves, but everybody else has got to be thinking that they don't," Koepka added. "That's why I think that way. You've got to think you're the best player on the golf course, best player on the team, best player in that current time, and if you don't, then there's something wrong with you.
"You've always got to believe you're the best and want to be the best and have that drive, and that's what's going to put you over the edge."
The five-time major winner clarified that a lot of guys do have that gene, before dropping another hammer.
"But I don't know how many guys would want an eight-footer with this on the line."
Biggest indicator that the Ryder Cup has major championship energy is Koepka dishing out these fiery one-liners in the pre-event press conferences. This man is not messing around in Rome. Dare we say ... GULP ... #Pray4Europe?