LA JOLLA, Calif. – The most interesting part of Brooks Koepka’s first PGA Tour press conference? How nervous he said he would be there.
“I’m definitely a little more nervous this week just coming back,” he said as he took his place in front of a group of reporters in the Farmers Insurance Open media center shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday. “But I feel good. I’m so grateful to be back.”
It’s understandable that someone in Koepka’s position would be nervous. He is the first LIV golfer to return to the PGA Tour. He is at the center of golf’s geopolitical war. He knows some Tour pros feel like he got off easy. And he’s not sure how fans will welcome his return. Of course he would have some butterflies.
“I think the nervousness was probably more about that, to get this out of the way to be fair,” he said, referring to his media duties.
That was the only surprising part; this is Koepka, who by reputation doesn’t care what others think. Although there were signs of that Koepka – “I don’t regret anything I do… I’ve always enjoyed the journey no matter where I am,” he said – mostly he was subdued, humble, hopeful. And he admitted that what other people think has weighed on his mind.
“I’m just excited about it — maybe a little bit bummed to get to Thursday just so I can get back to playing golf and feeling more comfortable here. But obviously I was just nervous about that,” he said.
“Only my family”
What brought Brooks back? That was the question on everyone’s mind. His departure from LIV was undoubtedly complex; The departure meant an early end to his contract and the end of his team captaincy. There were layers to the negotiations and the decision. But he kept his explanation relatively simple and tinged with pain.
“Just my family. A lot has happened in the last five, six months with my family. That played a big part in the comeback,” he said.
Last fall, Koepka’s wife, Jena Sims posted for a miscarriage she had suffered at 16 weeks. “Too often, these battles happen in silence,” she said has written. “We are devastated but remain hopeful to give (their son) Crew a brother one day.”
Koepka appeared to be referring to that loss.
“Just having my family is very important,” he said. “I’ve grown a lot over the last few years and especially the last few months. Just being able to be around them means a lot to me.”
While playing the PGA Tour doesn’t necessarily mean playing fewer tournaments than the LIV, Koepka said the US-based tour would allow the whole family to travel together more often.
“I think the ability to have my family out all the time,” he said, when asked what he missed about the PGA Tour. “Because they haven’t traveled much in the last few years, but they’re coming out this week, so I’m really excited to have them out.”
“I Called Tiger”
Koepka made it clear that he was not interested in driving the LIV-PGA Tour pot. He thanked LIV’s leadership, stating that he was “very grateful to 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 about dollars, cents or negotiating terms.
“I’d like to keep all this underwear,” he said.
But he offered a rough timeline of events.
In the fall, he said, he started having conversations about “what’s best for my family.” Eventually on 23 December he and the 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 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 so young. And Jay (Monahan) was going to be the next call. I felt like Tiger was someone I’ve relied on in the past for questions and answers and how to go about things and I felt like that was the most comfortable call for me.”
What about Woods’ reaction? Koepka extended it to one 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, as we all know from 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 definitely very happy at the end that he was able to try to get me back and get me out. I think he played a big part in that and, you know, I owe him a lot.”
According to Koepka, he had no timeline and no specific return expectations — but Rolapp had no interest in waiting. On Thursday night, January 8, Koepka fielded a call from the CEO, who asked if he could meet the next day at Ponte Vedra Beach, where he entered Tour headquarters through a side door.
“I was prepared to do whatever was going to happen, whatever the punishment was going to be,” Koepka said. A few hours later the Tour made their offer, introducing the Returning Members Program to welcome him back; Koepka said he was “obviously very happy with the decision they made.”
And here he is.
“An unbelievably big thing”
Koepka seemed nervous about his reception from some of his peers; he expects some difficult conversations. But mostly he’s been pleasantly surprised by how excited the players are to have him back.
“I think it says more about Brooks than anything else,” Rory McIlroy said Tuesday after TGL. “He’s obviously a very competitive person and he wants to compete at the highest level. I think he made the decision that he thought competing at the highest level meant getting back on the PGA Tour … and that’s obviously a great thing for the PGA Tour.”
Next to him, Keegan Bradley was even wilder.
“I think it’s just unbelievably great that Brooks is coming back. When I heard the news, I was thrilled. Brooks is an incredible competitor and someone who really helps the PGA Tour,” he said. “I’m nothing but very happy for him, happy for the tournament and (he’s) another guy that I think can help the tournament go to another place. I’m very happy for him.”
While others have been less enthusiastic — “I don’t really like it, I have a lot of opinions on it,” Shane Lowry said — watching Koepka walk around Torrey Pines was a reminder that, by and large, Tour players see his return as a victory for their circuit.
“It was a lot of ‘good to see you, glad you’re back.’ Yeah, I’d say maybe 15 guys,” Koepka said Tuesday morning. “Watching the guys, I mean, I was blown away with the messages I got from the 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 golf. Koepka starts on Thursday along with Max Homa and Ludvig Aberg. Not counting majors, it will be his first start on the PGA Tour since March 2022, when he finished T5 in the WGC-Match Play. At that event, his last two matches came against Jon Rahm (he won) and Dustin Johnson (he lost). They are both now in LIV. Koepka was too.
Now he is back.
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