{"id":553358,"date":"2026-01-30T06:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/553358\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T06:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:41:10","slug":"koepka-gets-through-first-pga-tour-round-after-leaving-liv-with-a-73-at-torrey-pines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/553358\/","title":{"rendered":"Koepka gets through first PGA Tour round after leaving LIV with a 73 at Torrey Pines"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO (AP) \u2014 Brooks Koepka felt nerves he had not experienced in years. The swagger that was such a hallmark of his five major championships was replaced by concern about the reception he would get upon his return to the PGA Tour after nearly four years on Saudi-funded LIV Golf.<\/p>\n

Koepka didn\u2019t make a birdie until his final hole Thursday. He failed to break par on the tough South course at Torrey Pines in the Farmers Insurance Open. <\/p>\n

And there was a small measure of relief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just grateful to be out here and have a chance to compete with these guys,\u201d Koepka said.<\/p>\n

A large gallery followed him around on a glorious day along the Pacific bluffs with occasional shouts of, \u201cWelcome back, Brooks.\u201d On his way to the second tee, two young boys called out to him and Koepka walked over for fist bumps. He walked the entire 30 yards of a fence where fans wanted his autograph after his 1-over 73.<\/p>\n

\u201cI care about what everybody\u2019s thinking out here, what everybody\u2019s doing, and just trying to be as good of a person and good of a player as I can be,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cJust wanted a warm reception. Just like everybody else, you walk into a room, nobody wants to feel exiled. They just want to be loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koepka was freed from the final year of his nine-figure contract with LIV Golf on Dec. 23, applied for his PGA Tour membership about two weeks later and in three days was provided a path back<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hard part was how he would be received. That\u2019s what brought the relief, and a big smile even after a round in which he hit the ball cleanly and couldn\u2019t buy a putt. The 8-footer for birdie on the 18th was the longest putt he made all day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the only one in the entire world that\u2019s going through this situation so it\u2019s very difficult to explain,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cBut I\u2019m enjoying it, I really am.\u201d<\/p>\n

And now he has company, with former Masters champion Patrick Reed leaving LIV Golf<\/a> with a chance to return to the PGA Tour as early as September. Koepka didn\u2019t see that coming and only learned about it during his pro-am Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it\u2019s wild,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cWhatever Patrick wants to do and to be the best golfer he can be, best for his family, I\u2019m in full support of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koepka said he felt nervous on the first tee, though it didn\u2019t show. He piped his drive 301 yards at sea level into the fairway, one of his better iron shots of the day to 10 feet and missed his putt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I should have been more nervous the rest of the round,\u201d Koepka said.<\/p>\n

The South course is among the strongest on the PGA Tour, producing more pars than any excitement. Koepka missed birdie chances on both par 5s on the front nine, and he made a sloppy bogey on the par-5 13th when his flip wedge up the steep hill to a flag he couldn\u2019t see was too strong and went into the rough behind the green.<\/p>\n

He was 11 shots behind Justin Rose, who had a 62 on the easier North course, and eight shots worse than Seamus Power, who had a 65 for the low score on the South. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a while since I played competitive golf, so I like the way I\u2019m playing,\u201d said Koepka, who last played Oct. 5 at the Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. \u201cI just need to kind of play my way into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

His departure to LIV Golf in 2022 \u2014 one of the biggest surprises among the players who left the PGA Tour for the guaranteed Saudi riches \u2014 felt much longer ago. Koepka couldn\u2019t recall if he heard any comments outside the ropes in Portland when he made his LIV debut.<\/p>\n

And he wasn\u2019t sure what to expect in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like thinking ahead at all or trying to anticipate what was going to happen, but I wasn\u2019t sure, which is kind of weird being uneasy,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom the first tee on, it was great. It actually made me settle down a little bit. Like I said, it made me feel good just to be out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koepka is in the Phoenix Open next week. He is not in the $20 million signature events unless he qualifies. His return also stipulates a $5 million charity donation, no access to PGA Tour equity shares for five years, no FedEx Cup bonus money he might earn this year.<\/p>\n

The tour also said whenever Koepka plays he will be added to the field to not take a spot from anyone. And then two more players get into tournaments on Monday of tournament week to make sure every group is a threesome.<\/p>\n

The two beneficiaries this week were Jackson Suber and Lanto Griffin, a big deal to Griffin because Torrey Pines is his favorite course and he otherwise would not be in except for Koepka.<\/p>\n

That led Griffin to say jokingly, \u201cIf Brooks really wants to create some goodwill, he should enter every tournament and then withdraw on Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP golf: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/golf<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO (AP) \u2014 Brooks Koepka felt nerves he had not experienced in years. The swagger that was…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":553359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[19412,276,12111,6064,723,1430,242507,37867,123887,10123,3549,242506,235115,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-553358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-brooks-koepka","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-compensation-in-sports","11":"tag-fl-state-wire","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-golf","14":"tag-jackson-suber","15":"tag-justin-rose","16":"tag-lanto-griffin","17":"tag-patrick-reed","18":"tag-san-diego","19":"tag-seamus-power","20":"tag-send-to-apple-news","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115982688757144126","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}