Jim Harbaugh defends PGA Champion Brooks Koepka’s toughness on social media

Michigan football head coach Jim Harbaugh was at the PGA Championship this weekend in New York, where Brooks Koepka became the champion two years in a row.

A day removed from Koepka’s victory, Jim Harbaugh took to Twitter to defend Koepka from one of his critics, golf analyst Brandel Chamblee.

Chamblee has fired shots at Koepka of late, accusing him of losing weight for ESPN’s Body Issue, saying “Now, for him to change his body and his body chemistry, for vanity reasons, for a vanity shoot, is the most reckless self sabotage that I have ever seen of an athlete in his prime.” During the same segment at The Masters, Chamblee made comments that many in the golf community felt were directly questioning Koepka’s toughness.

A few weeks removed from The Masters, and now with another PGA Championship under his belt, Koepka talked about how those comments made him feel.

“Telling me I wasn’t tough,” Koepka said. “That pissed me off. That really pissed me off.”

Apparently the comments ticked Harbaugh off too. However, after facing blowback from his banter, Chamblee is changing his tune about Koepka.

One thing is for sure, Koepka is tough, and looks built like a linebacker, not a golfer. Koepka isn’t a flashy player trying to be the center of attention on tour, he goes about his business in a serious and focused manner, traits that Harbaugh must appreciate. For those same reasons, other people do not like Koepka. It may not make sense, but it’s the way things go sometimes.

It remains to be seen whether Koepka and Chamblee will ever bury the hatchet, but seeing as one of Koepka’s most recent tweets (May 4) is still up and features Chamblee with a red clown nose, I don’t think he’s ready to forgive him any time soon.

Jim Harbaugh has competed in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am multiple times the past decade, and I’m thinking Harbs and Koepka need to be paired up with one another next year.