Robert TheodorsonIf you never tuned into watch LIV Golf to follow Brooks Koepka, or you did but decided it wasn’t for you, we’re going to do a quick review of exactly what the five-time major championship winner has been up to for the past four years.
This Thursday, Koepka makes his return to The PGA Tour at Torrey Pines. The first high-profile golfer to return to the Tour, all eyes will be on Big Game Brooks to see how he matches up against his former colleagues.
Koepka Won 5 Times on LIV
Brooks quickly made a name for himself by winning the inaugural LIV Jeddah tournament in 2022, the same year the breakaway league was formed.
Jeddah would become something of a major tournament for LIV, as the event served as the penultimate experience for the league’s inaugural and 2023 seasons, which Brooks also won. A win at LIV Orlando in 2023 paired with that win in Jeddah surged Koepka ahead in the individual rankings, giving him a 3rd place podium finish. It would be his best ever finish during his tenure in the league.
2024 served as something of a last hurrah for the elite version of Koepka, winning both LIV Singapore and LIV Greenbrier, and finishing 5th overall in the standings that season. His Smash GC team, which never really took off, was less fortunate and finished in dead last place that same season.
Then came our most recent season in 2025, where the wheels really started to fall off, and in retrospect with new information, we can understand why Koepka looked disinterested throughout the season.
A second-place finish at LIV Singapore (a tournament he won the previous year) was the highlight of his year before the season eventually spiraled out of control. Brooks recorded several bottom 20 finishes including an unexplained withdrawal from LIV Dallas and a 50th place finish at the season finale in Indianapolis. The season culminated in a 31st place finish, by far his worst finish since joining the league.
Koepka became the first golfer on LIV to win five tournaments, a record that has since been surpassed by Torque captain Joaquin Niemann who now has seven.
His 2023 PGA Championship Did More to Legitimize LIV Than You’ll Ever Know
Back in 2023 you must remember that LIV was just in it’s second season, and the first real season where teams and team play was being legitimized. The big stars like Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks himself were all there, but critics weren’t convinced if they still had what it took to compete against the world’s best.
Brooks and Phil did their best to answer that question, both coming in T2 at the 2023 Masters, but ultimately falling short to eventual LIV-signee Jon Rahm. It was a reminder that the LIV guys were still among the best, but maybe not great enough to beat the PGA Tour’s best.
That all changed at Oak Hill when Koepka shot 9-under to secure his 3rd PGA Championship and 5th career major.
Enthusiasm for LIV was at an all-time high, and the breakaway league proved that, yes indeed, they could compete and win against the best in the world on the biggest stage. The league would carry that momentum all the way to the 2024 U.S. Open when Bryson DeChambeau eclipsed Koepka’s win with his now-famous up and down from the greenside bunker to beat heavy favorite Rory McIlroy by a single stroke at Pinehurst.
2025: The Down Season That Led to the Decision
2025 was a year to forget for Koepka who failed to record a win of any kind for the first time since the 2020 COVID season on the PGA Tour.
We previously discussed the downward spiral on LIV that included porous finishes down the stretch. Those finishes eventually started the conversation as to whether or not Brooks was fully committed to his next season on LIV, for which he was under contract.
However, it was the 2025 majors results that proved to be the real indicator that something was not right.
Koepka has made the cut at major championships more often than not, and his record speaks for itself: 7/10 at The Masters, 12/13 at The PGA Championship, 11/12 at The U.S. Open, and 8/11 at The Open.
For the first time in his career, Brooks missed the cut at The PGA Championship, the major he was won three times including the aforementioned 2023 tournament. This moment proved the turning point where it became quite apparent that something had to give.
The Return
Other than an out-of-nowhere T12 finish at the U.S. Open at Oakmont, Koepka returns to the PGA Tour with little momentum, but a ton of enthusiasm.
Eager to resume his career and simultaneously staying closer to home in Florida, the PGA Tour’s next couple of events take place on the West Coast before eventually returning to Koepka’s native Florida for two tournaments in early March.
Now a member of The PGA Tour once again, Koepka is eligible to take part in Tomorrow’s Golf League, or TGL, based out of the SoFi Center, mere miles from his home in Jupiter.
While he may not be the favorite this weekend, rest assured that Koepka, who has not appeared in a Tour tournament since 2021, will be the star attraction.
We wish him well, and good luck!
