Brooks Koepka is preparing to play in this week’s LIV event in Orlando. While in Florida, the four-time major champion attended a Florida Panthers game.

At the game, Koepka was seen taunting Aaron Ekblad, who was the first overall pick in the draft in 2014, with a traffic cone.

Brooks can be seen in the video yelling, “Ekblad you suck” as well as calling him a “traffic cone” with the prop in hand.

Is that Brooks Koepka calling Ekblad a fucking traffic cone from the stands in Florida??

?: IG/floridapanthersfp pic.twitter.com/LqolbAuYYt

— Missin Curfew (@MissinCurfew) March 26, 2023

So far this season, Koepka has finished 31st at LIV Mayakoba and 29th at LIV Tucson. He’ll be teeing it up at The Masters next week in search of his 5th major championship.

More from the 19th Hole

• Pat Perez reportedly confronts journalist over ‘snarky’ comment at opening LIV event
• Paige Spiranac to take on PGA Tour legend in celebrity challenge match this Summer
• ‘That’s what everybody wants me to do’ – Is Anthony Kim about to make a sensational return to pro golf?

In an interview with Sportsmail, Gary Player spoke about which major championship he believes is the best among them. The 87-year-old won nine major championships, including the Masters three times and The Open Championship three times.

“But never mind the Masters, the Open is by far the greatest tournament on the planet.”

Interestingly, Player ranked the Masters fourth of the four majors.

“I rate the Open at one, the US Open two, PGA three and Augusta four,’ he adds. Four marvelous tournaments.”

When asked why he ranked the Masters after the other three, Player said it was because the others have been around longer.

“It’s the youngest of the majors. The others are steeped in tradition and history, and they still have to catch up. Nothing comes to the top without time.”

Speaking of The Masters, Player also spoke about Rory McIlroy’s quest for the career grand slam, of which he’s still one green jacket short. Player believes McIlroy will win and needs to do so sooner rather than later to cement his spot amongst the greatest players of all time.

‘He’s got the best swing in the world by a mile,’ Player says. ‘He’s won four majors but none since 2014. I think he will win the Masters because the course is made for him. I think if he does that, he’ll go down as one of the greats, but that’s something he has to do.

“I’ve always said my judgment of superstars is they have to win six majors. People these days say anyone who wins is a superstar. No. It’s not easily done, but I believe Rory can.”

More from the 19th Hole

• Pat Perez reportedly confronts journalist over ‘snarky’ comment at opening LIV event
• Paige Spiranac to take on PGA Tour legend in celebrity challenge match this Summer
• ‘That’s what everybody wants me to do’ – Is Anthony Kim about to make a sensational return to pro golf?

At one stage in his career, it looked as if Tiger Woods becoming the record major holder was a formality, but for whatever factors that never materialised.

In an interview with Sportsmail, Gary Player spoke about Tiger Woods and his quest to break Jack Nicklaus’s major championship record, and has his own view on why Tiger never surpassed Jack’s record.

Player, who won nine major championships himself, said that he believes Ben Hogan was the “greatest” golfer he’d ever seen, but Tiger Woods was the most talented.

‘The greatest I ever saw was Ben Hogan,’ he says. ‘He went to war for five years and then had a terrible car accident, so never played in 30 majors. Nobody had a streak like he had (winning his nine majors in the space of 16 starts). If I was a young boy today, I’d watch his swing from 1953 every day.”

‘Tiger Woods was the most talented golfer the planet has ever seen but he made a few bad decisions, which we all do.”

“Having lessons when he won the US Open by 15 shots was inconceivable — if he never went for a lesson, he would have won 20 majors minimum and he would have beat Nicklaus’s record.”

Player is referencing the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which Woods won by 15 shots. Just two years later, Tiger completely renovated his golf swing, which in retrospect looks as if it may have been a mistake.

More from the 19th Hole

• Pat Perez reportedly confronts journalist over ‘snarky’ comment at opening LIV event
• Paige Spiranac to take on PGA Tour legend in celebrity challenge match this Summer
• ‘That’s what everybody wants me to do’ – Is Anthony Kim about to make a sensational return to pro golf?