Matthew Wolff Responds to Brooks Koepka, Calls Criticism 'Heartbreaking'

HERTFORDSHIRE, England —In a statement issued on Friday to Sports Illustrated, Matthew Wolff responded to the comments directed at the 24-year-old on Thursday from his Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka at the LIV Golf event outside of London.

Wolff’s statement reads:

“I read the SI interview with our Captain Brooks Koepka and it was beyond disappointing to me. When I chose to join his Team in 2023, I did so with much optimism about my new home as part of Team Smash and equally as important the chance to be around and learn from a player of Brooks’s stature. Like everyone who has ever played the game at the highest level, I have had competitive moments in the past that I feel I have let myself down and even others in our new team environment. This has been quite difficult for me. My challenges on and off the golf course with my mental health has been well documented. I deal with those challenges every day.

“However, while my 2023 season has not been all I had hoped for to this point, I have made positive strides in managing my life and feel like my game is turning for the positive. To hear through the media that our team leader has given up on me is heartbreaking. It’s not what a team member looks to hear from its leader, and I think we all know these comments should have been handled much differently. But I’m moving forward and won’t ever give up on myself. While on course results may not appear now to be positive indicators, I’m trying to win an even BIGGER game with my life.

“Finally, I trust Brooks wants what is best for our team. But it’s hard to imagine his comments in his recent SI interview in any way line up with those priorities. This will be my last comment on this matter. I’m heading out today to the Centurion Club trying to help our team win this week. I appreciate everyone’s continued support and your respect for my privacy.”

In an interview earlier this week with SI, Koepka vented about his frustration with Wolff’s performances and perceived lack of commitment. Koepka said he had “basically given up on him.”

“I mean, when you quit on your round, you give up and stuff like that, that's not competing,” Koepka said. “I'm not a big fan of that. You don't work hard. It's very tough. It's very tough to have even like a team dynamic when you've got one guy that won't work, one guy is not going to give any effort, he’s going to quit on the course, break clubs, gets down, bad body language, it's very tough. I've basically given up on him—a lot of talent, but I mean the talent's wasted.”

Wolff arrived at this week's LIV event outside London off a 44th-place finish at the LIV event Spain, his fifth consecutive poor showing which includes a withdrawal from May's LIV event in Washington, D.C., prior to the final round, where he was 46th out of 48 players after 36 holes.

After withdrawing prior to the final round at Trump National outside Washington, D.C., with an undisclosed injury, Wolff was partially removed from Smash GC's social media pages.“I'm here, you know, trying to do what I can to play the best round of golf and that's going to help the team,” Wolff told Sports Illustrated on Thursday, adding that he's healthy. “I'm just here to focus on myself and try to play some good golf and that's what everyone's really trying to do, because golf is trying to put the best score up and then if that helps your team it's great.”

When asked if he wanted to be on another team, Wolff stared, shook his head, and walked off.

Wolff is 27th on LIV Golf’s 2023 money list, where the top 24 are guaranteed a spot in LIV for next season. Though in Wolff's case it may be with a different team.