New York (AFP) – Brooks Koepka, a five-time major winner who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in 2022 but quit the Saudi-backed series last month, has applied for PGA reinstatement, ESPN and Golf Channel reported Friday. The 35-year-old American, a nine-time PGA Tour champion and five-time LIV winner, departed LIV with a year remaining on his contract, but it was unclear when he might be allowed to return to the PGA Tour, according to the reports.
ESPN reported that the PGA Tour will begin a reinstatement and disciplinary process that includes input from players on the board of directors. Koepka, a two-time US Open champion and three-time PGA Championship winner, has not competed in a PGA Tour event since the Valspar Championship in March 2022. After jumping to LIV Golf, Koepka became the first active LIV golfer to win a major title when he captured the 2023 PGA at Oak Hill, which has made him eligible to compete in all four majors this year. Koepka won the 2018 US Open at Shinnecock, where this year’s US Open will be contested in June.
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The PGA Tour ban on Koepka did not keep him from playing for the United States in the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy. LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil said in December that Koepka and LIV “mutually agreed” to his departure. Koepka won LIV titles in 2022 at Jeddah, 2023 in Orlando and Jeddah, and 2024 at Singapore and Greenbrier. Since leaving the PGA Tour, Koepka has not been critical of the tour and was not among players who filed a lawsuit against the tour over its ban of defectors to LIV from its tour events.
“Brooks Koepka is a highly accomplished professional and we wish him and his family continued success,” the PGA Tour said in a statement when the Koepka-LIV split was announced. Another LIV star, two-time US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau, is not signed with LIV Golf beyond the 2026 season. DeChambeau won the 2020 US Open and became the second active LIV player to win a major when he captured the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst. DeChambeau has won nine times on the PGA Tour and three times in LIV Golf, including last year’s South Korea event.
Rory McIlroy, who completed a career Grand Slam by winning last year’s Masters, spoke on the subject of players returning to the PGA Tour from LIV in the “Stick to Football” podcast. “They’ve made the money, but they’ve paid their consequence in terms of the reputation and some of the things they’ve lost by going over there,” McIlroy said of PGA defectors to LIV. “If it made the overall tour stronger to have Bryson DeChambeau back and whoever else, I would be OK with it. But again, it’s not just me and I recognize that not everyone is in my position. It would be up to the collective group of PGA Tour members to make that decision.”
Asked about the issue, two-time major winner Xander Schauffele said, “It’s going to be hard to make everybody happy, I can answer that.”
© 2024 AFP
