LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The affiliations of players, whether they belong to the PGA Tour or LIV Golf, no longer seem to be much of a talking point except to note who’s playing at the start and who wins at the end.
But two majors into the year, a couple of LIV players are worth noting for barely being visible.
Brooks Koepka has never gone more than one major outside the top 20 when healthy. Now he has gone three straight majors out of the top 25 dating to The Open last summer. He tied for 45th at the Masters and tied for 26th at the PGA Championship this year, with a LIV victory in between.
Asked to assess his week, Koepka replied, “Not very good. I think it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?”
Dustin Johnson is building a larger sample size, and it is not impressive for the two-time major champion. He had to birdie three of the last five holes Friday at Valhalla to make the cut on the number. He has never missed three straight cuts in the majors.
The 39-year-old Johnson has played eight majors since joining LIV and only twice has he finished inside the top 20. He tied for 10th in the U.S. Open last year and tied for sixth at St. Andrews in the 2022 Open.
The small sample size belongs to Jon Rahm, but stands out given he was No. 2 in the world when he left for LIV in December.
The defending Masters champion, Rahm looked certain to miss the cut this year at Augusta National until the ferocious wind moved the cut line and he made it with one shot to spare. He didn’t break par that week.
And then he missed the cut at the PGA Championship. That ended 18 consecutive cuts made in the majors, the longest active streak. And that will make the attention a little more heightened next month at the U.S. Open.
