Masters caddie controversy: Brooks Koepka's caddie appears to help rivals

Masters equal-leader Brooks Koepka has been involved in an opening round controversy. Despite him being cleared, not everyone’s happy.

Masters joint leader Brooks Koepka has been cleared of a possible rule breach in an opening round Augusta controversy.

However, not everyone was happy with the findings, with one analyst saying, “It’s staggering that they denied it”.

Television cameras picked up the former Major winner’s caddie appearing to mouth the word “five” in the direction of Gary Woodland’s caddie after the American played his approach shot at the 15th hole.

Players and caddies are not allowed to share or trade information on club selection, with guilty parties copping a two-shot penalty.

Brooks Koepka’s caddie appears to mouth the word “five” in the direction of another player’s caddie.

The Masters Tournament Committee investigated the footage and spoke to the involved parties after the completion of their round.

However, they found no evidence a breach had been committed.

A notice from the committee said: “All involved were adamant that no advice was given or requested.”

But not everyone agreed with the findings.

Former professional and Golf Channel analyst Paul McGinley said that while it is “common practice” for players and caddies to discreetly share information, this was a clear breach and should have been addressed.

Koepka finished the first day as equal leader.

“It’s very obvious,” McGinley said.

“Anybody looking at those pictures, it’s very obvious what happens.

“It’s staggering that they denied it because the video evidence is there.

“It’s very clear there. Maybe an incident like this where the evidence is so overwhelming, if the rules authority want to stamp it out and come down on this, make an example of it.”

Fellow Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said: “It looked to me that Ricky Elliot (Koepka’s caddie) was clearly looking at (Woodland’s caddie) when he said ‘five’.

Koepka was asked about the incident in his post-round press conference but denied any rules had been broken.

“Yeah, we looked at it when we got back in. GW (Woodland) and Butchie (Koepka’s caddie) had no idea what we were hitting,” he said.

“They didn’t even know because, I know that fact because GW asked me what we hit walking off, when we were walking down. So that’s all I can give you.”

Koepka is tied for the lead at -7 with Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm.

Originally published as Masters caddie controversy: Brooks Koepka's caddie appears to help rivals