Brooks Koepka returns to PGA Tour

Brooks Koepka is now a member of the PGA Tour after PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp presented an olive branch to the five-time major winner and also opened a transfer portal for three other LIV golfers that will close on February 2.

On December 23, it was announced that Koepka would not return to LIV, and 19 days later, he was reinstated to the PGA Tour.

The general punishment for LIV players who left the tour was a one-year suspension. But the new PGA Tour CEO decided to move up Koepka's timeline by 346 days. Now, Koepka does have some financial consequences. He can’t take part in the equity deal for five years, and he has to donate $5 million to charity.

Koepka will tee it up in the Farmers Insurance at Torrey Pines in two weeks.

What a turn of events.

The other thing that makes this more interesting is that there is now a window of time for Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, and Bryson DeChambeau to take a similar deal. That trio all have something in common with Brooks - they have won a Players Championship or major since 2022.

Guys like Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, and Henrik Stenson are all major winners but were left out of this transfer portal window. Mickelson’s last major win came in 2021 at the PGA Championship.

Here are some thoughts about this news.

The Tables Have Turned.

The news about signing players was always one-way. Something that LIV lorded over the PGA Tour. Text chains and Twitter feeds would light up every now and then with rumors that a player was leaving the PGA Tour for LIV.

This is the first time that a big player left LIV to return to the PGA Tour. It made news because the rules had to change for this reinstatement to happen.

Now, LIV is sitting around until this return policy ends on February 2 wondering if Cam Smith, Jon Rahm, or Bryson DeChambeau will follow Koepka out the door.

In addition, Koepka will play in his first event before the window closes on Feb 2. for the other players to make their decision.

Greg Norman always said he wanted free agency, and now here it is.

This post will continue for members of Bay State Golf.

Subscribe to Supporter to read the rest.