Brooks Koepka close to tears after winning LIV Golf event and banking £4.2m

Brooks Koepka struggled to fight back the tears after clinching his maiden LIV Golf title in Jeddah to win an eye-watering £4.2 million in prize money. The American secured the victory in dramatic style, defeating his Smash GC teammate Peter Uhlein via a three-hole play-off.

The pair were tied on 12-under-par across 54 holes, and required an added three to split them which the four-time major champion eventually edged. As well as taking the individual prize of £3.6 million, Koepka and his Smash GC teammates Uhlein, Jason Kokrak and his brother Chase Koepka also claimed the team title, sharing £2.6 million.

The victory in Jeddah was the American's first since February 2021, after a recent rocky period on the golf course for the four-time major champion.

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In his post-round interview afterwards in which an emotional Koepka was fighting back the tears, he said: "These last two years… they haven't been fun. It has been a long road, I am super excited.

"We got the band back together a couple of months ago, got Claude [Harmon] back on the time, and Pete [Cowen], I've worked with Pete very, very hard and Jeff [Pierce] as well so shout out to them, this for them." Throughout his career, Koepka has announced himself as one of the world's top players, spending 47 weeks at world No. 1 and winning four majors in just two years.

Remarkably though, the 32-year-old admitted that he 'thought his career was over' during his recent tough patch, making Sunday's win all the more meaningful. He went on: "I didn't know if my career was over for half a second so… I told Claude I wasn't sure if I was even going to play.

"So it is nice to be able to come back and be able to win." Koepka's time out of the winners' circle was mainly down to his struggles with a knee problem, that has plagued his form over the past two years. After his win, he went on reveal that a knee replacement is on the cards 'in a few years'.

What did you make of Koepka's mega-money victory? Let us know in the comments section.

"It's been before LIV, when I blew my knee out and my foot was pointed that way, almost backwards and sideways,” Koepka said. “Credit to Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache; throw his name out there. I mean, eventually I'm going to have to have a knee replacement in a few years.

"But I wasn't sure whether I could even move the same way and if I want to play if I could move the way I wanted. I'm fortunate [to] be in the spot that I'm in right now.”

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