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Mark Schlabach
Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka is returning to the PGA Tour, and he’ll be back in action at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines outside San Diego later this month.
In a stunning development, the PGA Tour on Monday reinstated Koepka’s membership after he bolted for LIV Golf in June 2022, and it agreed to let him compete immediately, with heavy financial penalties and limited playing opportunities in lucrative signature events.
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It’s an about-face for the PGA Tour, which suspended Koepka and others for competing in LIV Golf tournaments without conflicting-event releases.
It’s also a sign that things will be done differently under new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. Unlike in the past, the tour acted decisively and quickly in bringing back Koepka under its newly created Returning Member Program.
How will LIV Golf react? Will other LIV Golf stars follow Koepka back to the PGA Tour? How much will golf fans see Koepka on the PGA Tour this season?
Why do you think the Tour brought back Koepka now?
The PGA Tour wanted to find a way to potentially bring the game’s biggest names back together, and Koepka leaving LIV Golf on Dec. 23 and applying for reinstatement of his PGA Tour membership allowed that to happen.
said in an open letter to fans Monday. «And one thing has been clear across each of those conversations — you all want the best players in the world competing against each other more often.»
Under the conditions of the Returning Member Program, which is only available to golfers who left the PGA Tour at least two years ago and won the Players Championship or one of the four majors since 2022, there are only three other LIV golfers who are eligible to come back: 2024 U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm and 2022 Players Championship and Open Championship winner Cameron Smith.
They won’t have much time to decide. The window for DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith to apply for their PGA Tour membership to be reinstated opened Monday and closes Feb. 2, two days before LIV Golf’s season opener in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
«This is a one-time, defined window and is not a precedent for future situations,» Rolapp wrote in a memo to PGA Tour players Monday. «Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.»
The PGA Tour basically created criteria in which it could decide which LIV golfers it wanted back and block those it didn’t. It’s probably no coincidence that the requirement of winning the Players Championship or one of the four majors wasn’t pushed back to 2021.
Phil Mickelson, who captured the last of his six majors at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, would have been eligible if it were a five-year window. I’m not sure «Lefty» would have wanted to return to the PGA Tour, and I’m certain that the PGA Tour didn’t want him changing sides again after he helped recruit many golfers in the initial waves that defected to the breakaway circuit in 2022.
Will Koepka have to pay a fine?
Under the terms of Koepka’s deal, he’ll be required to make a $5 million donation to charity, won’t be eligible to receive equity shares in the tour’s Player Equity Program, and won’t be eligible to receive a bonus from the season-long, $100 million FedEx Cup Bonus Pool. All told, the PGA Tour estimates Koepka could forfeit between $50 million to $85 million in potential earnings, depending on how he performs this season.
In a memo to PGA Tour members Monday, Rolapp called the penalties «one of the largest financial repercussions in professional sports history.»
Comparatively, Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson served an 11-game suspension and was fined $5 million for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy in August 2022. Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest was suspended 55 games, losing about $5 million in salary, for his role in a fight with Detroit Pistons fans in the «Malice in the Palace» in November 2004. The Houston Astros were fined $5 million and lost draft picks for two years for their camera-based sign-stealing system used during the 2017 and ’18 seasons.
«I believe in where the PGA Tour is headed with new leadership, new investors, and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake,» Koepka said in a statement. «I also understand that there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.»
Will any other LIV golfers follow him back to the PGA Tour?
multiyear contract worth more than $300 million in December 2023. He has two years left on his contract, according to sources.
The Spanish golfer has refused to pay about $3 million in fines to the DP World Tour for playing in LIV Golf tournaments without a conflicting-event release. He appealed the fines to a UK-based sports court, which allowed him to compete in the Ryder Cup last year.
Would Rahm be willing to accept the financial penalties Koepka did? It’s also unclear if Koepka or the others will have to pay a financial penalty if they exit their LIV Golf contracts prematurely.
Smith, from Australia, was at the height of his career when he joined LIV Golf in August 2022. He was fresh off winning the 150th Open Championship at the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland. Smith is a three-time winner in LIV Golf, but he missed the cut in each of his past five majors.
Maybe Smith needs a restart, but it’s unclear how much golf he wants to play.
There are other notable golfers in the LIV Golf League, such as Joaquín Niemann, Talor Gooch, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson, Tyrrell Hatton and others. They’re not eligible to return to the PGA Tour at this point.
What will be the reaction on Tour?
I’m sure it will be a wide range of emotions. While reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy and other big-name players have pushed for LIV golfers to return to the PGA Tour without severe penalties, some won’t be so welcoming to Koepka when he shows up at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in late January.
One prominent PGA Tour player told ESPN this weekend that he would be very angry if Koepka was allowed back without serving a season-long suspension. But once details of Koepka’s agreement became public, the golfer said the conditions made it more «palatable.»
Rolapp said the Returning Member Program was designed to mandate «heavy and appropriate limitations to both tournament access and potential earnings that we believe properly holds returning members accountable for the substantial compensation earned elsewhere.»
Bringing LIV golfers back during a season in which the PGA Tour is reducing field sizes in many tournaments wouldn’t have gone over well with golfers who were outside the top 50 in FedEx Cup points last season and aren’t eligible for the eight signature events that have $20 million purses. And especially not among the golfers who were outside the top 100 in points and will have limited playing opportunities.
That’s one thing the tour got right. Though Koepka is exempt to play in full-field events and the Players Championship, he’ll have to earn his way into the signature events like everyone else outside the top 50. He can do it through the Aon Next 10, Aon Swing 5 or the top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
If Koepka plays in a tournament, the field will be expanded so no current PGA Tour members will lose playing opportunities. Other golfers will be added to ensure that groupings and tee times are drawn in two or three players.
The same goes for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Koepka is eligible to earn FedEx Cup points, and if he makes the playoffs, he will be added to the field, and no golfers will be dropped from the top 50 if he does.
