After roughly four years with LIV Golf, Brooks Koepka is officially back on the PGA Tour and will start this month. The golfer left LIV in December and has officially rejoined under heavy financial penalties. The Tour opened a pathway for him, Cam Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, and Jon Rahm to return before February 2.
Later this month, Koepka will make his first start. He’s played with some of these players in Major tournaments, but this will be his first non-Major with anyone on the PGA Tour since he left. There’s a lot riding on this, and Koepka admitted that he’s got some work to do and some nerves to work out.
Brooks Koepka is nervous about his PGA Tour reunion
Relationships between golfers were severed when LIV Golf formed and players joined on. If nothing else, the relationships were fundamentally altered, probably irrevocably. Words were said, battles were waged. That all seems to be dying down now, especially with Brooks Koepka’s return.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do with some of the players,” Koepka said via ESPN. “There’s definitely guys who are happy, and definitely guys who will be angry. It’s a harsh punishment financially. I understand exactly why the tour did that — it’s meant to hurt. But (my departure) hurt a lot of people.”
“If anyone is upset, I need to rebuild those relationships,” he added. The golfer understands what he did and how it affected his fellow players and the sport of golf, and he knows that the onus is on him to rebuild what was broken.
As for his return under steep penalties, Koepka said it hurts, but that “it’s meant to hurt” and he understands. The path back after everything isn’t easy, and it’s not supposed to be. With all the people hurt, Koepka is more than willing to accept some penalties on his return.
“The first week I’ll be a little bit nervous,” Koepka said of his impending first start. “There’s a lot going on than just golf. I’ll be glad to put the first week behind me — dealing with the media, dealing with the players, and then getting some of those tougher conversations. But I’m looking forward to it.
He added, “Am I nervous? Yes. Am I excited? Yes. In a weird way, I want to have those conversations.” For the first time in years, he’ll be in a tee group with golfers as a part of a normal tournament.
Jordan Spieth opens up on the return
What does Brooks Koepka need to do to make it up to everyone? According to Jordan Spieth, he doesn’t need to grovel. He just needs to play good golf, which is what everyone is hoping to get by reunifying the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.
“You’re not going to ask somebody to change to please other people,” Spieth revealed. “I don’t think he needs to play Monday pro-ams or walk along the range and shake everyone’s hand and say, ‘I’m sorry.’ He just comes back and plays really good golf. That’s good for everybody.”
What might the reception be? “There’s probably a mixed bag of ‘We’re happy you’re back, welcome home’ to ‘You shouldn’t be here.’ I understand everybody’s point of view,” Koepka said. “I was going to be sitting out possibly a year, and I’m extremely thankful the tour gave me this opportunity.”
There were a ton of questions over the years about how golfers would return if and when they wanted to. Now, the Tour made it rather easy for Koepka and didn’t even make him serve a suspension. That’s only available for him, DeChambeau, Rahm, and Smith for a couple of weeks, though. It remains to be seen what everyone else might have to do.
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