The 73rd Hole: US Open & Open Championship predictions, Koepka validates LIV Golf, more after PGA Championship

The PGA Championship is over and we’re heading to The 73rd Hole to break down US Open and British Open predictions, Brooks Koepka and LIV Golf, and more. 

Brooks Koepka, for the third time, is holding the Wanamaker Trophy as the PGA Championship winner. And there was no doubt. He held the 54-hole lead, but Viktor Hovland didn’t let up until a costly mistake sunk the ship. Make no mistake, though, Brooks Koepka had the chance to go out and take his fifth major, and he did just that.

So now what? What does that mean for LIV Golf and its viability in the golfing landscape now that one of the members has won a major championship since joining the tour? What does it mean for the 2023 US Open and 2023 Open Championship and how we look at those fields and the potential winners? What does it mean for some other players in the field who didn’t hold up the trophy after 72 holes?

We’re onto the 73rd hole to break that down with predictions, takeaways and more after the PGA Championship.

PGA Championship: 5 predictions and takeaways after Brooks Koepka wins Oak Hill

5. What Brooks Koepka’s PGA Championship means for the validity of LIV Golf

There was no LIV Golf party on the 18th green as Brooks Koepka won the first major championship as a non-PGA Tour member since several prominent members of the PGA Tour (and some less prominent ones) joined the new league, creating a fracture in the golf world. But that didn’t mean there weren’t some LIV players speaking on the effects of the win for establishing the validity of LIV Golf.

Bryson DeChambeau, who faded from real contention but still finished T4 for the week, perhaps summed that feeling up the best, via Bob Harig of SI Golf.

"“It validates everything we’ve said from the beginning,” DeChambeau said. “We’re competing at the highest level. And we have the ability to win major championships. I really hope people can see the light now that we’re trying to provide golf something new and fresh. At the end of the day, both sides are going to have to come together at some point. It’s for the good of the game”"

Koepka, for his part, noted that it was a boost for LIV Golf, but spoke more to his personal journey, which golf fans got a front seat to during his episode on Full Swing, the Netflix golf documentary that followed the now-five-time major champion prior to his decision to bolt from the PGA Tour.

“Yeah, I definitely think it helps LIV, but I’m more interested in my own self right now, to be honest with you,” Koepka said, via ESPN’s Mark Schlabach. “Yeah, it’s a huge thing for LIV, but at the same time, I’m out here competing as an individual at the PGA Championship. I’m just happy to take this home for the third time.”

But what does this mean for the validity of LIV Golf, which has often been called into question?

There are always going to be jokes about 54 holes, shotgun starts, the lack of viewership and so on. One thing that may have wrongly been questioned by many, though, is that Koepka, at times DeChambeau, Cameron Smith, Dustin Johnson and others on LIV Golf are still some of the elite players in the game of golf today.

Perhaps it’s somewhat damning that they aren’t regularly contending during LIV events but, at the same time, if they can peak for major weeks — as we’ve seen many players on the PGA Tour try to do as well — and don’t mind the results week-to-week, who cares?

That’s plenty enough validation to prove that they can still compete with the best.

At the same time, though, Koepka’s performance and the talent of the players like DeChambeau, Smith, DJ and the like against the best players on the PGA Tour only heightens the simple fact that it sucks for golf fans that we don’t see this more than four times per year at the major. It brings the fracture in the golfing world more into focus in an extremely negative way.

I’m not smart enough to propose any kind of solution for how to fix that divide at this point. That’s above my pay grade. But as a lover of golf, a fan of golf, and someone who enjoyed the PGA Championship to the utmost with some of the best characters that golf has to offer that we don’t see in the spotlight as regularly as we once did compete at the top of the leaderboard together, the simple truth is that I’ve missed that. And any way to get it back more often is good with me.