LA JOLLA, Calif. — The most interesting part of Brooks Koepka’s first PGA Tour press conference back? Just how nervous he said he was to be there.
“I’m definitely a little bit more nervous this week just coming back,” he said as he got settled in front of a group of reporters in the Farmers Insurance Open media center just after 9 a.m. on Tuesday. “But it feels good. I’m super grateful to be back.”
It’s understandable that someone in Koepka’s position would be nervous. He’s the first LIV golfer to return to the PGA Tour. He’s at the center of golf’s geopolitical struggle. He knows some Tour pros feel like he got off easy. And he’s not sure how fans will greet his return. Of course he’d have some butterflies.
“I think the nervousness probably was more for this, to get this out of the way to be quite fair,” he said, referencing his media duties.
That was the only surprising piece; this is Koepka, who by reputation doesn’t care what other people think. Although there were signs of that Koepka — “I don’t regret anything I do … I’ve always enjoyed the ride no matter where I’m at,” he said — mostly he was subdued, humble, hopeful. And he acknowledged that what other people think has been weighing on his mind.
“I’m excited just to — maybe a little bit antsy to get to Thursday just so I can get back to playing golf and that’s where I feel the most comfortable. But I was definitely nervous just for this,” he said.
“Just my family”
What brought Brooks back? That was the question on everybody’s mind. His LIV departure was undoubtedly complex; leaving meant an early end to his contract and the termination of his team captaincy. There were layers to the negotiation and to the decision. But he kept his explanation relatively simple, and tinged with heartache.
“Just my family. A lot’s gone on over the past five, six months with my family. That played a big role into coming back,” he said.
Last fall Koepka’s wife Jena Sims posted about a miscarriage she’d suffered at 16 weeks. “Too often, these struggles happen in silence,” she wrote. “We are devastated, but remain hopeful to give [their son] Crew a sibling one day.”
Koepka appeared to reference that loss.
“Just having my family around’s really important,” he said. “I’ve grown up a lot over the last few years and especially the last few months. Just being able to be close to them is super important to me.”
While playing the PGA Tour doesn’t necessarily mean playing fewer tournaments than he would on LIV, Koepka said the U.S.-centric Tour would allow the entire family to travel together more often.
“I think the ability to have my family out all the time,” he said, asked what he’d missed about the PGA Tour. “Because they didn’t travel too much over the last few years, but they’re going to be out this week, so I am super excited to be able to have them out.”
“I called Tiger”
Koepka made it clear that he wasn’t interested in stirring the LIV-PGA Tour pot. He thanked LIV leadership, declaring he was “super grateful for Yasir [Al-Rumayyan, PIF governor and LIV chairman] and Scott [O’Neil, LIV CEO] for the way they handled things.”
Nor did he want to talk dollars, cents or terms of negotiation.
“I’d like to keep that all internal,” he said.
But he did offer a rough timeline of events.
In the fall, he said, he began having conversations about “what’s best for my family.” Ultimately on Dec. 23 he and LIV leadership reached an agreement; he was released. And then?
“I called Tiger [Woods] right away, then that process got the ball rolling,” Koepka said.
Why Woods?
“I’ve always had a good relationship with Tiger … That was the first person that kind of came to mind,” he said. “I didn’t know [PGA Tour CEO] Brian [Rolapp], I didn’t have a relationship with him obviously just because he’s pretty new. And Jay [Monahan] was going to be the next call. I felt like Tiger was somebody that I’ve relied on in the past for questions and answers and how to deal with things and I felt like that was maybe the most comfortable call for me.”
As for Woods’ reaction? Koepka expanded on that in an interview with SiriusXM’s Gravy and the Sleeze.
“Uh, I don’t know,” he said with a laugh. “He’s pretty good at keeping a game face, as we all know in watching him over the years. So his voice didn’t really change when I told him. But, yeah, it was an interesting conversation. And I think he was obviously ultimately very happy to be able to try to get me back and get me out. I think he played a big part of this and, you know, I owe him a lot.”
According to Koepka, he had no timeline nor specific expectation of return — but Rolapp had no interest in waiting. On Thursday night, Jan. 8, Koepka fielded a call from the CEO, who asked if he could meet the next day in Ponte Vedra Beach, where he entered Tour HQ through a side door.
“I was prepared to do whatever was gonna happen, whatever the punishment was going to be,” Koepka said. A few hours later the Tour made their offer, introducing the Returning Member Program to welcome him back; Koepka said he was “obviously very happy with the decision they made.”
And here he is.
“An unbelievably great thing”
Koepka sounded nervous for his reception from some of his peers; he expects some tough conversations. But mostly he’s been pleasantly surprised by just how excited players are to have him back.
“I think it says more about Brooks than anything else,” Rory McIlroy said on Tuesday post-TGL. “He obviously is a very competitive person and wants to compete at the highest level. I think he made the decision that he thought competing at the highest level meant coming back to the PGA Tour … and that’s obviously a great thing for the PGA Tour.”
Beside him, Keegan Bradley was even more effusive.
“I think it’s just an unbelievably great thing that Brooks is coming back. When I heard the news, I was thrilled. Brooks is an unbelievable competitor and somebody that really helps the PGA Tour,” he said. “I’m nothing but very happy for him, happy for the Tour, and [he’s] another guy that I think can help the Tour get to another place. I’m really happy for him.”
While others have been less enthusiastic — “I sort of don’t really like, have too much of an opinion on it,” Shane Lowry said — watching Koepka walk around Torrey Pines was a reminder that, in general, Tour players see his return as a win for their circuit.
“It was a lot of ‘good to see you, glad you’re back.’ Yeah, I would say maybe 15 guys,” Koepka said Tuesday morning. “Seeing guys, I mean, I was kind of overwhelmed at the text messages that I received from guys on both sides and it meant a lot to me. Like I said, I’m grateful, I’m excited and I just want to get back to playing golf.”
Now comes the golf. Koepka tees off Thursday alongside Max Homa and Ludvig Aberg. Not counting majors, it’ll be his first start on the PGA Tour since March 2022, when he finished T5 at the WGC-Match Play. In that event, his last two matches came against Jon Rahm (he won) and Dustin Johnson (he lost). Those two are now on LIV. Koepka was, too.
Now he’s back.
