THE bitter feud between Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka erupted on the flight to Paris before the Ryder Cup started.
Their row — which tore apart the USA team — is believed to centre around Johnson’s conviction that Koepka was getting too close to his fiancee, Paulina Gretzky, while consoling her over their relationship problems.
Gretzky sparked rumours the couple were on the rocks when she deleted all trace of Johnson from her Instagram page.
SunSport revealed how the pair clashed in the European team room where they went to drown their sorrows after America’s 17½-10½ thrashing.
Witnesses say Koepka threatened to flatten world No. 1 Johnson, whose relationship troubles were heightened by his links to California society girl Yassie Safai.
But the bitterness had already been simmering for a week.
The pair clashed on the plane from Atlanta following the Tour Championship and one insider described the atmosphere in the USA team room as “poisonous” after that.
The source was quoted by French sports paper L’Equipe, who said USA captain Jim Furyk urged them to put their personal differences aside for the good of the team.
Furyk had intended sending out the big-hitting duo — known as the Bash Brothers because of their close friendship — as a partnership in all four-ball and foursomes sessions.
But the only time they went out together was in the Saturday foursomes, after Furyk pleaded with them to show team spirit with the US trailing 8-4.
It did not work. They were beaten 2&1 by Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.
Johnson was guilty of a huge understatement when he tweeted: “Disappointing end to an unforgettable week in Paris.”
Sunday’s bust-up in the European team room, where the two players had to be dragged apart, has been confirmed by several witnesses — though none wanted to be identified.
Yet Koepka’s agent Blake Smith claimed: “From what I gather, someone made this story up.”
The American in-fighting continued yesterday.
Patrick Reed had said he was “blindsided” by the decision to end his successful partnership with Jordan Spieth.
USA Today reported a non-playing member of the US team accused Reed of being “full of s***”.
He added: “He begged to play with Tiger Woods.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
