All eyes followed Brooks Koepka from the eighteenth green at Torrey Pines to the clubhouse after his second round at the Farmers Insurance Open. It hadn’t been fireworks: Koepka sat at 3-under through two rounds, squarely on the cut line. But in a sense, it was a triumph. It was his first PGA Tour start in nearly four years—and he made the cut. He lived to see the weekend. That was more than Ludvig Åberg, Xander Schauffele, or Patrick Cantlay could say that time.
“I’ve never gotten so many congratulations on making a cut before,” he joked afterward.
Brooks Koepka defected from the PGA Tour in 2022, jumping ship alongside Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and more to LIV Golf—an abrasive, Saudi-backed upstart characterized by a looser schedule, an enormous budget, and little regard for golf’s old-money conventions.
By then, Koepka had already built an all-time great résumé: four major championships and a combined 47 weeks atop the world rankings between 2018 and 2020. At 32 years old, he cashed out.
It was a decision mired in controversy, but Brooks was never one for apologetics.
“F–k all of those country club kids who talk s–t about me. You think I give a f–k what they think? You think I care what people say about me? I just had three surgeries, and I’m supposed to turn down $130 million? I grew up with nothing. After signing that contract, the first person I called was my mom. We both cried,” Koepka said in excerpts from Alan Shipnuck’s 2023 book LIV and Let Die.
Koepka’s LIV tenure opened in a honeymoon phase. That summer, he edged out Scottie Scheffler to win the PGA Championship—his fifth major—reasserting himself among golf’s elite and delivering a breakthrough moment for the league. Jon Rahm, then the reigning Masters champion, would follow him to LIV later that year.
The success, however, was short-lived. Koepka’s play fell off a cliff. He struggled to contend in the majors that followed, culminating in a disastrous 2025 season in which he missed three of four cuts. In his mid-thirties, Koepka had already become an artifact.
Even after jumping ship, he never seemed to fully buy into LIV’s vision for professional golf. By the time I saw him at Bolingbrook Golf Club last August, his presence on the tour was that of an afterthought. While swaths of fans followed Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, and the cash-cow Bryson DeChambeau, fanfare around Koepka was nearly nonexistent—largely by his own design.
By year’s end, the relationship had severed. On December 23, 2025, Koepka announced his departure from LIV Golf, walking away from a reported $50 million.
A fuss followed among players and media about what to do with the turncoat, a divisive question among PGA loyalists. But PGA Tour commissioner Brian Rolapp ultimately made a business decision: Brooks Koepka would be welcomed back with open arms. His homecoming was slated for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. For the first time since 2006, ESPN announced it would carry coverage of all four rounds. It was no coincidence.
His performance wasn’t spectacular. He finished 4-under, tied for 56th. But after nearly four years away, Koepka returned and played four steady rounds of competent PGA Tour golf. The message was clear: he still had it.
“I think I’ve fallen back in love with the game,” Koepka said after the first round. “Watching my son a little bit, and wanting him to see me play well, made me realize how much this game has given me.”
It’s only the beginning of a long season for Brooks Koepka. But if there’s anyone with the mental clarity to flip the “on” switch, shake off the scaries, and muscle his way back into the fold, it’s him.
The next test comes quickly. Koepka tees off Thursday at 1:44 p.m. CT at the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale, where he has won twice before.
