Inside Rory McIlroy’s curious relationship with Brooks Koepka

Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka appear to be obvious rivals, with the division between the two golf greats only further explained by Koepka’s social-media post from Tuesday of his wife in a bikini, hours after the McIlroy’s divorce became public knowledge. 

The Northern Irishman filed for divorce from his wife, Erica Stoll, on Monday, three days before the beginning of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky. 

Minutes after the shocking breakup news was announced, Koepka posted a photo of his wife, Jena Sims, wearing an animal-print bikini on Instagram. McIlroy’s ex-fiancé, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki commented on the post ‘Hot mama’ with fire emojis.   

Koepka has been accused of ‘mind games’ ahead of one of the biggest tournaments of the year, with the pair taking different paths to success. 

Yet, the relationship between McIlroy and Koepka is much more nuanced than on-course rivals with beef off the links too.   

McIlroy’s divorce from Erica Stoll was announced on Tuesday after seven years of marriage

Koepka posted about his bikini-clad wife, Jena Sims, on Instagram minutes after news broke

Although McIlroy and Koepka could be rivals, the duo have a more complex relationship

McIlroy has stayed true to the PGA while Koepka defected to LIV Golf with one of the first big-money moves to the rogue, Saudi-backed league. Both have been chasing major victories on pro tours for well over a decade. 

Yet, it appears there is no actual drama between the duo outside of their on-course battles. 

‘Rory’s a good dude,’ Koepka said to Golf.com. ‘We’ve had some good talks. We get some good laughs out of it because everybody just — all the stuff going on in golf, sometimes you just have to sit there and laugh. The funny thing is, we’ll do that when nobody’s around.’

‘I think, especially when I was first coming up, from ’12 to ’16, obviously I don’t want to say “idolized”, that would be the wrong word. But I looked up to him a little bit,’ Koepka continued. 

‘At the time, he was battling his way through the Challenge Tour and DP World Tour and eventually onto the PGA Tour; McIlroy was establishing himself as a multiple major champion,’ Koepka added. 

McIlroy has also not said anything negative about Koepka in the public eye, letting his fierce play on the PGA Tour do the talking for him – however he has expressed his desire to get the better of him when it comes to their majors tallies.

‘Brooks and I are tied on four majors apiece,’ McIlroy said in the Full Swing series on Netflix last year. ‘So you don’t really want someone to go by you.’ 

Unfortunately for the Brit, that has proven the case, with Kopeka picking up his fifth victory in last year’s PGA Championship.

The pair are expected to both be in contention for a PGA Championship victory this weekend in Louisville.