Brooks Koepka Takes Brutal Shot At Rory McIlroy Ahead Of The Masters While Reminding Him Of His Five Majors

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The two most-talked about players heading into the 2024 Masters not named Tiger Woods may very well be Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy. For Koepka, it's a revenge spot after he surrendered a 54-hole lead a year ago before Jon Rahm won the green jacket. McIlroy, on the other hand, is carrying all the pressure in the world as it is his 10th attempt at winning the Masters to complete the career grand slam.

Not only would a win this week propel McIlroy closer to the top of the list of all-time greats, it would also give him as many major championship victories as Koepka. 

Koepka earned major win No. 5 a year ago after winning the PGA Championship for the third time in his career. While him leapfrogging McIlroy on the major wins list was a big-time story at the time, Koepka wanted to remind everyone that he has one more major championship trophy on his mantle than McIlroy ahead of this week's Masters.

The approach he took to remind the world he has five majors to his name was a unique, not-so-subtle one.

Koepka joined 'Pardon My Take' in the leadup to Augusta and was asked about the fact that he only warms up with the odd-numbered irons in his bag. This opened the door for him to take his shot at McIlroy.

"I don't know, I've always done it that way," Koepka said about his warmup routine. "I never really look at anybody else or what they're doing on the range. I would say guys probably do the same thing, maybe not the odd clubs, they might go even, you know? Rory is probably even with four, it's even, five is odd."

Good. Grief.

 (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

If anyone out there was still on the fence about Koepka perhaps being the greatest trash talker of his generation among professional golfers, that debate is now over.

If Koepka captures major win No. 6 in his career he'd join a list of just three other players who have accomplished the same feat, putting him in a tie for the 12th most major championship wins in the game's history.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.