By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Brooks Koepka was freed from the final year of his contract with Saudi-funded LIV Golf and the first person he called was Tiger Woods. Three weeks later, the PGA Tour created a path back for him that starts at Torrey Pines.
Koepka said Tuesday he can’t wait for the week to end because of all the attention. The gratitude of returning to the PGA Tour comes with the kind of nerves the five-time major champion rarely experiences — wondering that others think about him.
“It feels a little bit different,” he said ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open, his first non-major on the PGA Tour since he lost in the quarterfinals of the Match Play in March 2022. “I’m definitely a little bit more nervous this week just coming back. But it feels good. I’m super grateful to be back.”
Koepka cited the need to be closer to family as his main reason for wanting out of LIV. His wife announced in early October she had a pregnancy loss at 16 weeks.
Woods was partially responsible for Koepka’s path back, along with other player-directors on the PGA Tour board who worked with CEO Brian Rolapp in coming up with a plan for select players to return. Koepka is the first LIV defector, and it came at a price.
He is making a $5 million charity contribution (still to be decided with the tour), receives no FedEx Cup bonus money this year and has no access to equity shares in the PGA Tour for five years, a value the tour has estimated at $50 million and beyond.
He also can’t play the $20 million signature events until he qualifies on his own.
“I guess it’s a fresh start for me, which is cool,” Koepka said. “It’s just another chapter I guess in my book. I’m excited for that. I feel like my game’s in pretty good shape and I want to see where it’s at. Obviously this week is a little bit different. Would just like to get this week over and just feel like I can start playing golf again.”
Woods never contemplated going to LIV and disparaged those who did — “They’ve turned their back on what has allowed them to get to this position,” he said a month after LIV began — and he now is the leading player’s voice on the PGA Tour board.
Koepka said he’s always had a good relationship with Woods. Besides, he had never met Rolapp, who had been on the job barely six months. Commissioner Jay Monahan, who attended Koepka’s wedding a month before Koepka left for LIV in 2022, would have been next on his list.
“I felt like Tiger was somebody that I’ve relied on in the past for questions and answers and how to deal with things and I felt like that was maybe the most comfortable call for me,” Koepka said.
Woods has been among several players who supported the decision to let Koepka back in, saying it made the PGA Tour stronger and ultimately would raise value for players who have been receiving equity shares. “It’s a win for everyone,” Woods said earlier this month.
Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player who shares the same manager as Koepka, also supported the decision.
“I think it’s good getting someone back on tour that want to be back,” Scheffler said last week. “Brooks had a desire to come back to the tour. The last few months he certainly had a large desire to get back to the tour, and I’m glad that Brian and the team and the board was able to find an avenue for him to be able to get back and start competing out here again.”
Still to be determined, at either Torrey Pines or next week in the Phoenix Open, is how golf fans receive a player who bolted from the PGA Tour after the 2022 U.S. Open for a rival league that was paying outrageous signing bonuses. Koepka once confirmed his was “nine figures.”
“Maybe I’m a little nervous about that as well, just to see how the fans respond to it,” Koepka said. “I hope that they’re excited. I hope that they’re happy that I’m out here.”
Koepka could not remember the last time he was at a tournament on Monday except for the majors. Just pulling into the parking lot was such a blur that he doesn’t recall whom he first saw. There were hugs with Billy Horschel and Harris English on the range.
And then it was off to the South Course to play the back nine. He played with rookie Marcelo Rozo. Joining them on the 18th tee were Akshay Bhatia and Matti Schmid, neither of them on the PGA Tour when Koepka left. Nearly half of the field in the Wednesday pro-am didn’t even have PGA Tour cards when Koepka left.
“There’s a lot of new faces,” Koepka said. “But excited to meet those guys and feel like I’m part of the tour.”
He returns to a PGA Tour in the midst of big changes. Woods leads the Future Competition Committee that is reshaping the schedule so that every event feels like a big one. There are 11 tournaments with prize money of at least $20 million, not counting the four majors.
Is it better than when he left?
“I’m two days in,” Koepka said with a smile.
Justin Rose answered that for him last week when asked about Koepka’s return.
“We’ve all benefited from this chaos in one way or another,” Rose said. “It’s been good for tour players in the sense the powers that be pushed a little harder in our direction with equity in the tour and prize funds.
“But we need a premium product,” he said. “And this is the first time we’ve had someone who moves the needle come back our way.”
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