With the Ryder Cup less than a week away, there has been plenty of speculation about which players U.S. captain Steve Stricker will pair together for the team formats.
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas? That’s a given after the buddies went 3-1 as a duo in Paris.
Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay? Possibly, as the two are close and frequent practice-round partners.
Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka? Wait, what?! That’s what Butch Harmon wants to see.
Speaking with his son and fellow instructor, Claude Harmon III, on Harmon III’s podcast, “Off Course,” the elder Harmon believes that, as crazy as it sounds, the two feuding Americans would make a good pair.
“I’d pair them together,” Harmon said. “I’d say, ‘All right boys, get your heads out of you’re a—- and go play.’ I’d put them out the first day, first match out, Brooks and DeChambeau. I’d say, ‘Guys, I want you to suck it up and go win a damn point. This isn’t about you; this is about the Ryder Cup. This is about your team. … You can have your battles next week.’”
Koepka and DeChambeau have been embroiled in controversy dating to the 2019 Northern Trust at Liberty National. The “pillow fight,” as Harmon III described, ramped up this summer, forcing Stricker to pull the two players aside and ask them to “put to bed” their beef for the matches at Whistling Straits.
So, why pair Koepka and DeChambeau? Harmon III pointed out how much flak Hal Sutton got as captain for teaming Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at Oakland Hills, to which Harmon contended, “It wasn’t that Phil and Tiger feuded, they just didn’t get along, they just didn’t have anything to do with each other. It wasn’t like they were mad at each other like these do are pretending to be, and I think a lot of it has become an act to be honest with you.”
“Well,” Harmon III added, ending his dad’s wild idea, “We’re not going to see [them together].”
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