Rory McIlroy hits back at Brooks Koepka with defense of Dustin Johnson

Rory McIlroy went after Brooks Koepka on Sunday in defense of Dustin Johnson.

Koepka entered the final round of the PGA Championship two back of Johnson, who led the field. Koepka said he liked his chances entering the final round because he had more major wins than anyone else high on the leaderboard, including Johnson, who only had won one major.

Koepka also recognized how tough it is to win a second major.

Spoke with @BKoepka after his 3rd Rd of @PGAChampionship and I think he likes his position. “I WAS GLANCING AT THE LEADERBOARD AND OF THE TEN GUYS THAT ARE UP THERE, THERE’S BEEN WHAT THREE MAJORS? DJ HAS BEEN IN THIS SPOT A COUPLE OF TIMES AND HE HASN’T BEEN ABLE TO CAPITALIZE.”

— Todd Lewis (@ToddLewisGC) August 9, 2020

Well, McIlroy didn’t like what he perceived to be a shot at an accomplished player like Johnson, and made his feelings known.

“Sort of hard to knock a guy that’s got 21 wins on the PGA Tour, which is three times what Brooks has,” McIlroy said on Sunday.

Koepka’s comments from Saturday are getting attention — especially among his peers as we can see — but he didn’t seem to be taking a voluntary shot at Johnson or the other players. He seemed to be responding to a question and giving a truthful answer, and that is that he has more experience than some of the other contenders. That is truthful. But when Koepka is actually trolling someone, you can tell.

McIlroy obviously saw things in a different way.