LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka is on the verge of announcing a new signing for his Smash GC team.
The official Smash GC X account has teased the news writing: “Team Announcement – 11/28 at 11am ET. Drop your guesses below for who’s joining the #SmashGC squad in 2024.”
🚨Team Announcement - 11/28 at 11am ET🚨Drop your guesses below for who’s joining the #SmashGC squad in 2024 👀 pic.twitter.com/16o7CIZ304November 27, 2023
So far, three of the four members of the team appear locked in, with the five-time Major-winning captain joined again by fellow Americans Jason Kokrak and Matthew Wolff for the 2024 campaign, which begins at El Camaleon Golf Club at Mayakoba on 2 February.
Koepka has a space to fill in his line-up because his brother, Chase, finished the season in the Drop Zone in the individual standings. That means without a finish in the top three of next month’s LIV Golf Promotions tournament in Abu Dhabi, his career on the circuit will be over.
The captain is clearly not prepared to wait to see if Chase can retain his place on the circuit, which would then see him enter the LIV Golf Draft with International Series Order of Merit winner Andy Ogletree and two others to determine their teams for 2024.
As the LIV Golf transfer window opened, five players in the Open Zone were out of contract. Of those, Bernd Wiesberger is returning to the DP World Tour, while Pat Perez has re-signed with Dustin Johnson's 4 Aces GC.
That leaves Matt Jones, David Puig and Graeme McDowell from the Open Zone still looking for a contract, while Carlos Ortiz is also on the hunt for a new team after tiring down a new contract with Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC. Following Smash GC's X post, The Telegraph's golf correspondent James Corrigan reported that the new man would be McDowell.
Whoever is confirmed as Smash GC's new signing, Koepka will hope he is the missing piece that helps elevate the team to a more prosperous season after it finished eighth from 12 in 2023.
That included a best finish of runner-up at LIV Golf Orlando amid reports that Wolff and Koepka didn’t see eye to eye, with Koepka saying back in July he had “basically given up” on a “wasted talent.”
Wolff still has another year left on his LIV Golf contract, meaning that, even though he finished outside the Lock Zone in the individual standings, he is likely to stay with the team, although that could change if he is traded during what remains of the Free Agency section of the transfer window. Such a move would need to be agreed upon by both teams and their respective captains.
Phase three will begin when four team roster slots remains. Currently, Crushers GC, Majesticks GC, Range Goats GC, Stinger GC and 4 Aces GC have confirmed their line-ups for the 2024 season.
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