In-round interviews have been a part of European Tour coverage for the last few years. They range from the mundane, to the entertaining, to the insightful.
Brooks Koepka, who has proven to be a more intriguing voice in recent years given his willingness to speak with the same blunt force that he applies to his golf ball, isn’t here for any of it, though.
“I don’t know any other sport that does interviews in the middle of play,” the world No. 1 told told reporters at the Saudi International. “I know football you’re not doing it unless it’s in the Pro Bowl, basketball you’re not doing it unless it’s halftime. This is the only sport where you’re talking to players when they’re playing.
“I won’t do it. I’m not trying to talk about what just happened, what’s ahead, the difficulty of what the holes might be ahead. I’m just focused on one shot at a time, where my ball’s at.”
Koepka, who shot 65 Saturday to move within six strokes of the lead, went on to say that while he understands such an exercise might be beneficial to fans, it’s not to him, adding, “I don’t like it.”
It turns out doing one can also be problematic. Earlier this week, Graeme McDowell was hit with a bad time after he took too long over his second shot on the fourth hole — his 13th — after he’d conducted an in-round interview with Sky Sports.
“I just did an interview with Tim Barter, so I was 50 yards behind the guys,” McDowell told The Scotsman newspaper.
If McDowell, who has a one-shot lead over Victor Dubuisson going into the final round and is looking for his first European Tour victory since 2014, is issued another bad time, he’ll be hit with a one-stroke penalty.
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