Brooks Koepka’s injured knee took a battering in wild scenes on the 18th fairway at the PGA Championship

Phil Mickelson was looked after as crowds rushed down to the 18th fairway, but Brooks Koepka was not happy about being left to fend for himself.

Phil Mickelson got the protection Brooks Koepka didn’t as fans swarmed the 18th fairway at the PGA Championship. Picture: Patrick Smith/Getty Images/AFP

An angry Brooks Koepka walked away from the PGA Championship hoping his injured knee wasn’t damaged any further after he got “bumped a few times” as boisterous fans swarmed the 18th fairway.

The four-time major champ was relegated to a tie for second at Kiawah Island as 50-year-old Phil Mickelson stormed to a historic victory.

But the scenes of fans mobbing the two players and their caddies as they headed to the 18th green didn’t go down well with Koepka, who said his knee was “dinged” a few times.

Mickelson was shepherded through the heaving masses by a few police and marshals and soon emerged into a protected area near the green, but it was some time before Koepka emerged to sanctuary.

Koepka, who is recovering from a dislocated kneecap, suggested some of the bumps he received could even have been deliberate.

“It would have been cool if I didn’t have a knee injury and got dinged a few times in the knee in that crowd because no one really gave a sh-t, personally,” he said.

“If I was fine, yeah, it would have been cool. It‘s cool for Phil but getting dinged a few times isn’t exactly my idea of fun.

“I don‘t mind waiting or being in that crowd. I don’t know, it felt like somebody tried to, I don’t know what the deal was. Be putting (the knee) in ice (tonight). It feels like sh-t right now.”

The walk golf will always remember.#PGAChamp | @PhilMickelsonpic.twitter.com/bUGhrPEBYg

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 24, 2021

Koepka said his knee was hurting after the final round and it was going to need more treatment.

“I don‘t think anybody really understands until you actually you’re coming out of surgery how — I mean, even when I was doing rehab and there’s five people kind of standing by your knee, you get a little skittish,” he said.

“It got bumped a few times.

“Somebody jammed Rickie (caddie Rickie Elliott). Rickie stopped unintentionally because he got drilled in the face, and then I got drilled in the bag because he got stopped so quickly.

“But I don‘t know what someone tried to (do) or what the deal was. There were so many people around.”

Originally published as Brooks Koepka’s injured knee took a battering in wild scenes on the 18th fairway at the PGA Championship