Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka announced his return to the PGA Tour on Monday under a new program that creates a pathway back to the tour for stars who joined the Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit. Koepka, who confirmed last month he would play no part in LIV Golf’s 2026 season, said in a statement on X he accepted returning to the PGA Tour would come with financial penalties.
“When I was a child, I always dreamed about competing on the @PGATOUR, and I am just as excited today to announce that I am returning to the PGA TOUR,” Koepka said. “Being closer to home and spending more time with my family makes this opportunity especially meaningful to me. I believe in where the PGA TOUR is headed with new leadership, new investors, and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake. I also understand there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.”
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PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp said Koepka’s decision to leave LIV last month had prompted officials to consider how they handled the issue of embracing players who wanted to rejoin the tour. The result was the PGA Tour’s new “Returning Member Program,” which Rolapp said would come with “severe and justified consequences.”
“The Returning Member Program mandates heavy and appropriate limitations to both tournament access and potential earnings that we believe properly holds returning members accountable for substantial compensation earned elsewhere,” Rolapp said. The program is open to returning members who have won either The Players Championship, the Masters, the PGA Championship, the US Open, or British Open between 2022 and 2025. Koepka won the PGA Championship in 2023.
Under the program rules, other LIV Golf players who could now be eligible for a return to the PGA Tour would be 2024 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2023 Masters winner Jon Rahm, and Australia’s Cameron Smith, who won the 2022 Players Championship and Open Championship. Rolapp added that the program’s limitations included a five-year forfeiture of rights to participation in the PGA Tour’s player equity program. Rolapp said Koepka’s absence from the equity sharing program could mean him missing out on between $50-85 million in potential earnings.
Rolapp said Koepka had also agreed to make a $5 million charitable contribution to a recipient that will be determined jointly by Koepka and the PGA Tour. Rolapp, meanwhile, said the program would be open to other LIV stars mulling a switch back to the PGA Tour – but only during a limited window that expires on February 2. “Other eligible players interested in seeking PGA Tour reinstatement must do so by the time the returning member program closes on Monday, February 2,” Rolapp said. “This is a one-time defined window and does not set a precedent for future situations. Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.”
Launched in 2022, LIV Golf’s emergence led to bitter divisions throughout the sport after a slew of golf’s biggest names left the PGA Tour after signing big-money deals.
© 2024 AFP
