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LIV Golf has been facing an uphill battle to generate positive coverage for the majority of its existence, and it arguably cracked the code based on what unfolded at the event it recently hosted in Australia after setting up shop at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide.
The upstart league has attempted to position its tournaments as a party, and Cam Smith helped further that reputation when he did a “shoey” courtesy of the DJ who convinced him to chug some hard seltzer out of his sneaker.
However, the real highlight of the weekend came courtesy of Chase Koepka, who was responsible for the absolute scene that unfolded when fans channeled the spirit of spectators at the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open by showering him with beer and other beverages after he hit a hole-in-one.
HOLE-IN-ONE FOR CHASE KOEPKA! 🚨#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/hFyd1qLopw
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) April 23, 2023
That perfect shot gave LIV some of the positive publicity it desperately needs—although it may have been a little too perfect based on a fairly unfounded conspiracy theory that’s nonetheless made the rounds online.
On Wednesday, Christopher Powers of Golf Digest cast a little bit of doubt on what unfolded on an episode of The Loop podcast where he asserted something felt a little off about Koepka’s ace.
Was the Chase Koepka ace …. *gulp* … real?
It was conspiracy theory hour on this week’s episode of The Loop podcast pic.twitter.com/4A2aVmwxeT
— The Loop (@GoToTheLoop) April 26, 2023
It’s pretty clear Powers isn’t really sold on the theory in question, but he couldn’t stop himself from pointing out some of the suspicious circumstances surrounding the hole-in-one, saying:
“I’m not going to go as far as to call the Koepka thing staged—I know some people kind of jokingly trolled about that—but something feels very off about the many videos I’ve seen of it…
It was on tape delay, right? It happened in the middle of the night here.
A couple of big times social media accounts—Burt Kreischer was there, I saw the Country Club Adjacent guys were there—who seem to all be literal paid LIV actors all happened to get the perfect video of Chase Koepka’s hole-in-one from the fans’ vantage point…
It just feels a little too perfectly crafted for me. My Spidey Senses are tingling and my Spidey Senses are pretty good.”
The only real explanation that was floated was that the ball was somehow controlled by a third party via drone, although all the podcast hosts agreed the most likely culprit was the dead-center pin placement Koepka undoubtedly benefited from.
As Powers stressed, the conspiracy theory is exactly that, but it doesn’t make the idea any less entertaining.