Shane Lowry admitted he was stiff and jet lagged after a 17-hour odyssey from this weekend’s DP World Tour event in Dubai to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., site of Monday night’s TGL match.
So what was the secret of his counterpart, Rory McIlroy, who looked relatively stronger in a 9-1 thrashing of Ballfrog?
“He doesn’t have his plane,” McIlroy said.
The World No. 2 is back after a few weeks overseas, but things have already changed in his absence. Although McIlroy isn’t returning to the PGA Tour just yet — that’s expected in two weeks, when he defends his title at Pebble Beach — someone else is. Brooks Koepka, LIV’s first reverse ouster, will make it to Torrey Pines this week after reaching an agreement with Tour management.
While we’ll hear from Koepka himself Tuesday morning — he’s scheduled to speak at the Farmers Insurance Open at noon ET — McIlroy appreciated the motive behind it Monday night.
“I think it says more about Brooks than anything else,” McIlroy said, referring to the five-time major champion’s decision to change course. “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 going back to the PGA Tour.”
Koepka’s December split with LIV inspired the Tour to open a new eligibility category called “Returning Members,” essentially leaving the light on and the door open for recent major champions like Koepka to return immediately, facing only a few financial penalties. So far, Koepka is the only high-profile star at LIV returning to the PGA Tour, but the cracks are starting to show.
Patrick Reed Received he has not officially re-signed with LIV and is exploring his options Bryson DeChambeau has been uncommitted about his future with the league and the PGA Tour is firming up his plans as they anticipate other pros trying to make a comeback.
“You’ve seen others say that recently,” McIlroy said. “Patrick Reed said that in Dubai last week. It looks like some of those guys are maybe starting to realize they’re not getting everything they wanted going out there, and that’s definitely a great thing for the PGA Tour.”
Koepka and McIlroy have more in common than meets the eye. It’s the main count (five each, most of the post-Tiger-and-Phil generation), but they’ve also been partners in practice, and confidants at home in South Florida. It will be interesting to hear if Koepka consulted with McIlroy or others about this particular move.
So far, despite admitting nervousness about his return, Koepka has found plenty of support. Standing next to McIlroy on the podium, Boston Common’s teammate (and reigning US Ryder Cup captain) Keegan Bradley was even wilder about the move.
“I think it’s just an unbelievably wonderful thing that Brooks is coming back,” he said. “When I heard the news, I was thrilled. Brooks is an incredible competitor and someone who really helps the PGA Tour … (he’s) another guy that I think can help the Tour go to another place.”
At least publicly, this follows the Tour-pro response to Koepka’s return, which has been positive or at least neutral. Two members of the Bay GC squad – Lowry and Wyndham Clark – offered something closer to a shrug.
“I don’t really like it, I think a lot about it,” Lowry said. “I think it’s good for him that he’s back. I think it’s going to be good for certain tournaments that he’s back … he feels it’s the right decision for him and his family. Fair play to him for being the first to do it.”
“Yeah, I mean, we all love Brooks, at least on the Team USA side,” Clark added. “I think it just helps the tournament, and anything that helps the tournament is what I think we all want because it ultimately helps us all.”
Back to McIlroy, then. Koepka’s return isn’t the only change Rolapp and Co. have planned A review of the tour schedule is no. 1 on the priority list, with “rarity” a priority as Rolapp aims to start the season with a bang rather than this year’s slow rise.
For McIlroy, who decides to play the DP World Tour in the fall or winter anyway, this could be a perfect fit. And he described himself as a bystander rather than a decision maker here. But he seemed to have mixed feelings about the plan.
“Keegan and I were talking about this earlier. We’ve all heard the rumblings of not knowing what’s being said in those rooms and what they’re thinking — obviously I think we’ve all heard starting probably after the Super Bowl and then until the end of August before the football season starts again,” McIlroy said. “It seems too busy to me. It seems like a lot of golf in a fairly short period of time, depending on how many events they want to play. But it opens up opportunities for the other five months of the year around the world.
“I’m a member of the DP World Tour, a very proud member, and I think it opens up an opportunity for them to showcase some of their biggest events at the time.
of the year.”
McIlroy’s last PGA Tour start came at the Tour Championship last August; he has played eight DP World Tour events since then. An extended PGA Tour “off-season” could present opportunities for those events to become larger, for expanded World Tour offerings or for increased cooperation between the PGA Tour and its overseas partners.
Or the ones in south Florida.
“We’ve tried to do a good job of starting (TGL) early this year so that this season doesn’t become so much of a PGA Tour season,” he said. “I think if the tournament goes on that busy schedule, it opens up opportunities for others to take advantage of the other five months of the year, for sure.”
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