When it comes to fans and players, Brooks Koepka thinks everyone can do a better job at being respectful to one another.
Speaking to reporters Thursday at the Tour Championship, Koepka said he understood the PGA Tour’s new fan conduct policy, which aims to curb harassing or disruptive behavior and comments during tournaments. But he added that he hasn’t experienced too much of what he would deem as such.
“I mean, when you’re out there, you can hear everything, so everybody’s been told something or said something they didn’t like and, I mean, that’s sports,” Koepka said. “It’s not a sport if you got people cheering for you and against you. It’s kind of difficult to call it a sport, isn’t it? But, yeah, I mean, I think there comes a time a place I think where you can see fan behavior get a little excessive. You kind of see it in the NBA a little bit. Maybe out here, as well.
“But, like I said, everybody try to be as respectful as you can be. Players, the fans, everybody could use a little bit more respect.”
While Koepka did make headlines earlier this summer for offering to buy beer for fans who got kicked out of the Memorial Tournament for heckling his rival Bryson DeChambeau, Koepka has backed off of late. The “Brooksie” chants hadn’t, though, until Thursday’s opening round at East Lake, the first test of the new policy.
Koepka: Players, fans ‘all can do a better job’
Full-field scores from the Tour Championship
Koepka added that it’s not hard to hear comments from the gallery, but he also rarely acknowledges the noise, which he categorizes as “somebody just trying to show off for their friends.”
“If I got something smart to say, I’ll say it,” Koepka said. “But I mean, most of the time I don’t give them the time of day. I hear everything. It doesn’t matter what you say, I’m so focused on what I got to do. And let’s be honest, most of them wouldn’t say that stuff if they were in the street right next to me, so, and I know that, but you put a rope in between us and they think it’s going to protect them.”