Brooks Koepka is rejoining the PGA Tour, so is this a big deal?
Yes and no. Or more precisely, yes and … maybe?
Explain.
Okay. Brooks Koepka is comfortably one of the best golfers of his generation. He has won five majors – that’s the same as Rory McIlroy. It’s one more than Scottie Scheffler and a distance clear of most of the other big names in the sport. So getting him back from LIV is undeniably a coup for the PGA Tour.
Why did he leave in the first place?
Cash money. LIV paid him at least $100 million (€86 million) when he first signed up. Unlike some of his LIV compatriots, Koepka was never coy about his motivation. The Saudis dangled a nine-figure contract in front of him at a time when he had been ravaged by injuries. He didn’t think twice about snapping it up.
How has it worked out for him?
Very well, moneywise. On top of his signing fee, Koepka has earned a little shy of $45 million in his four years playing on the LIV tour. His on-course earnings place him seventh on the overall money list. He won five individual tournaments – only Joaquin Niemann has more, with seven.
Wasn’t Koepka supposed to be washed up because of injury?
Turned out he wasn’t. Once his knee cleared up, he was easily one of the best LIV players. Crucially, he picked up his fifth major in 2023, becoming the first player to win a major while playing on the LIV Tour. Later that year, he was the only LIV golfer on the US Ryder Cup team.
Brooks Koepka holds The Wanamaker Trophy after the final round of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in May 2023. Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Seems like it all worked then?
Up to a point. He won twice more in 2024 on LIV, but his form went downhill again last year. He hasn’t had a top-10 in a major since that PGA Championship win in 2023 and he finished 31st on the LIV standings in 2025. There was backroom chat all the way through last year that he might jump ship.
So did he just bail?
It wasn’t that simple. First, he had to get out of his LIV contract, which would have cost him a fair chunk of change. Nobody knows for sure, but some reports have him down as leaving at least $20 million on the table. Whatever it took, they found an accommodation and he announced two days before Christmas that he was done.
[ Brooks Koepka returns to PGA Tour after quitting LIV Golf ]
Meaning he was free to start back on the PGA Tour?
Not so fast. The PGA Tour had to find a way to make it happen that wouldn’t enrage the players who resisted the lure of the LIV money and stayed put. While they definitely wanted Koepka to come back, they couldn’t just pretend that the last four years hadn’t happened.
Koepka would have to pay a price then?
Indeed. He’s donating $5 million to charity and will forgo his slice of PGA Tour equity for the next five years. The Tour says that will cost him between $50 million and $80 million in time, although the maths involved are a little opaque. More immediately, he will have to qualify to play in the big money signature events.
Is that enough to pacify the other players?
It’s good enough for the players who matter. Koepka never fell out with anybody. He didn’t sue the PGA Tour as some of the other LIV players did. So nobody has a huge problem with him coming back. They would, however, have raised a stink if the door were opened for a flood of repatriations. The Tour had to find a way to avoid that scenario.
How did they do that?
They basically invented a rule that would apply only to the golfers they want to come back and not to the others. They created a sort of amnesty for LIV golfers who met a few specific and comically pointed conditions: you have to have won a major or the Players Championship at some stage between 2022 and 2025.
Bryson DeChambeau greets fans during the Ryder Cup last September in New York. Photograph: Jamie Squire/Getty That fairly narrows it down
Precisely. The only four who meet the conditions are: Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith. The PGA Tour couldn’t be more clear on who they want back from LIV. They want Koepka, Rahm and DeChambeau. Everyone else – Smith included, in all honesty – they can take or leave.
Will anyone follow Koepka?
We’ll find out pretty quickly. One conditions laid down by the tour for what it’s calling “the returning member programme” is that you have until Monday, February 2nd, to sign up. For various reasons, it seems unlikely any of the other three will jump that soon, if at all.
Why wouldn’t they?
Let’s take them in reverse order or importance. Smith seems fairly happy on LIV, albeit he hasn’t won there since 2023. By contrast, Rahm cuts quite an unhappy figure and rumours are always in the ether that he would like to find a way back. But he was a late mover on LIV, so he has a while left in his contract. Moving would surely cost him serious money.
And DeChambeau?
He’s the really interesting one. Bryson’s LIV contract is up this year and, uniquely among LIV golfers, his profile has skyrocketed in the years since he left the PGA Tour. His YouTube channel towers over everything, which annoys the LIV people who want their brand to be at the forefront of everything their players do.
Koepka’s leaving gives DeChambeau serious leverage in his contract negotiations. If the Saudis don’t give him everything he wants, there’s a path now for him to leave.
Why is this happening now?
The short answer is that the PGA Tour is under new management. Former NFL executive Brian Rolapp took over as Tour CEO last June and this is his first big move. It has been an impressively decisive one: Koepka is back in the fold and Rolapp has kept the majority of his players onside while doing it.
When will we see Koepka’s return?
Sooner than most people thought – he has committed to play the Phoenix open in the first week of February.
And the LIV guys?
You probably won’t see them at all, since nobody watches it.