Brooks Koepka insists he will relish the ‘chaos’ surrounding men’s professional golf at the US Open

Soon a major golf tournament will break out in Los Angeles. Until that point is reached, one of this US Open’s most dangerous protagonists is only too happy to see his sport’s political squabbles continue to rage.

That would be Brooks Koepka, the majors’ rejuvenated beast and a figure who has positively enjoyed the confusion his rivals have caused by last week’s foe fusion. As he put it on Tuesday, “I enjoy the chaos.”

And chaos it is. The frenzy surrounding the pact between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s money boom was so great that Rory McIlroy took the step of canceling his press conference here. If that meant wisely abandoning his role at the forefront, Jon Rahm proved no less feisty when he performed.

By breaking his silence on the most thorny issues, the Masters champion added his weighty voice to the masses of disgruntled PGA Tour professionals. His keyword? Cheating.

Rahm has long been notable for his refusal to criticize LIV, and indeed remains a key figure among their targets, assuming they even have a future, but the world No. 2 was forceful in his critique of his own circuit.

He was one of many blindsided by the PGA Tour’s sudden U-turn announcement last Tuesday and made no secret of his disgust at the situation, saying: “There are a lot of unanswered questions and it is hard if it’s the week before a major.

“I think it’s getting to a point where you want to have confidence in management, and I want to trust that it’s the best for all of us, but obviously that’s not the consensus. I think the general feeling is that a lot of people feel a bit betrayed by management.

“I can see why they had to keep it so secret – we couldn’t hold a meeting for more than 10 minutes before people spilled the beans (in the media). It’s just not easy as a player who has been involved, like many others, to wake up one day and see this bombshell.

“That’s why we’re all in a bit of a limbo because we don’t know what’s going on and how much has been finalized and what they can talk about as well. It’s a state of uncertainty that we don’t like, but I’m not a business expert. There are still too many questions to answer.

“I think, like everyone else, we just want to know what the future holds.”

For now, that uncertainty extends to just about every aspect of this merger, with the lack of clarity including the question of where LIV events could fit into a unified schedule and the question of compensation for those who, like Rahm, were encouraged to stick to stick to the PGA tour. Just this week, the US Senate introduced a new complication with an inquiry into the partnership, so there is a clear lack of solid ground.

All of this has crept into the minds of the game’s elite ahead of the third major of the season with varying degrees of success. Rahm, if he can compartmentalize his frustrations, will be among the front runners, and there is also some promise in McIlroy’s gradual awakening since missing the Masters.

The latter has previously spoken of the exhaustive nature of the LIV debate, underlining the competitive opportunity spied by Koepka when he watched it play out.

Last month’s US PGA Championship winner, once a dead-eyed fighter, said, “The more chaotic things get, the easier it gets for me. Everything starts to slow down and I can focus on what I need to focus on while everyone else is dealing with distractions, worrying about other things. I enjoy the chaos.’

With five majors to his name and a smoking streak behind him this season, Koepka may be the only player in this field who doesn’t need an added advantage.