Brooks Koepka put in a lot of practice at Trump National Doral on Thursday. Koepka waited all day at the Cadillac Championship in Miami, staying sharp and hoping some players would withdraw so he could get some time as the second alternate.
Jake Knapp was pulled to bring in Kristoffer Reitan, but Koepka needed one more man to get away. That never happened, so Thursday turned out to be a good day for Koepka, who hasn’t qualified for a signature event since returning to the PGA Tour and has to rely on making it (he can’t accept sponsors’ invitations). That’s because Koepka, who joined the PGA Tour this year through the Returning Member Program after 3 1/2 years at LIV Golf, is still in the penalty box.
He did not participate in this week’s tournament, but he is in next week’s alternate course event in Myrtle Beach as a final tune-up before the PGA Championship, a tournament he has won three times.
Koepka paid one high price to return to the PGA Tour. But what about his former LIV colleagues?
“I think Brooks’ comeback has been great,” Cameron Young told reporters Thursday after he shot an eight-under 64 to take an early lead in the Cadillac Championship. “But it’s honestly not for me to decide; I don’t know what any of those guys are thinking of doing. I don’t know what’s going to happen with LIV.”
On Thursday, LIV Golf released a STATEMENT saying it is focusing on securing long-term financial partners for its future. A few hours later, Saudi Public Investment Fundwhich has funded the league since its inception, said what had been rumored for weeks: “PIF has made the decision to fund LIV Golf only for the remainder of the 2026 season.”
So what happens to LIV now? Or its players? These are questions with no immediate answers. Although the players in Doral were asked how they believe PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp should handle it if there are any plans to return to the PGA Tour this year or in the future. (Golf Digest reported On Thursday “representatives of several LIV players have contacted the PGA Tour to discuss a possible return.”)
Brian Harman said he thinks there should be a way back on the Tour for them.
“There have been guys that are coming back. I can’t speak to each one of them individually. It seems like they’re treating everyone on a case-by-case basis,” Harman said. “I would think the fans want everybody to play together and, you know, time heals all wounds. There’s still a feeling here, especially with all the litigation, those things are going to be tough to overcome. We play with all those guys in the majors, so, yeah, I think there’s got to be a way back.”
The “lawsuit stuff” Harman referred to is the antitrust lawsuit that a handful of LIV members — Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and Talor Gooch, among them — filed against the PGA Tour four years ago.
Some players also had a chance to return through the Returning Member Program, as Koepka did, but that deadline has since passed.
“We were very clear that this was a once-in-a-lifetime program of returning members, and I stand by that,” Rolapp told The Players last month. “I don’t know the contractual relationship or the terms of the others in the LIV tour, and they have contracts and they have to be respected. But we have a way; Patrick Reed is clearly taking advantage of this on the way as he is out of his contractual commitment. And so I think LIV players know what those paths are and until they change, those are the paths.”
Added Jordan Spieth on Thursday: “I think there’s a system for Brooks and a system for Patrick Reed — does it stay the same for guys in the same category as those two coming back? Or does it change now? Does it change for the guys that sued or gave up their memberships? There’s just a lot of different things that have happened in the last four years. I’m not comfortable trusting them in the guys’ room. Right decision.”
However, Harman reminded that LIV Golf is not over.
“They can secure funding from elsewhere and continue,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of big name players out there, guys that are moving the needle. Until it’s all over, until you have guys that are actually calling and trying to get back into the tournament, it’s not really an issue that we’re dealing with right now.”
However, not everyone can be so welcoming. Wyndham Clark said in January, not long after Koepka’s return was announced, “it’s kind of disappointing that he’s able to have his cake and eat it too. And if you had told me that I could have gone for a year and a half, made a boatload of money and then been able to come back, play in the tournament, I think almost everybody would have.”
Although on Thursday, some players simply decided to stay out of it.
“I just walked off the golf course,” said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, following his 71. “I don’t know what you want from me.” (laugh)
