Robert TheodorsonOn an otherwise relatively quiet week before Christmas, five-time major championship winner Brooks Koepka shocked the golf world and announced his departure from LIV Golf.
Both teams report an amicable split with Koepka preferring to send out thank-you letters by way of social media, while LIV’s CEO Scott O’Neil responded in kind with no further official reasoning from LIV’s media department.
After becoming one of the charter members of LIV, Koepka, along with big names like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson were the de facto leaders of LIV when the league started in 2022. Koepka along with Dustin Johnson appeared on Netflix’s Full Swing series and did their best to explain their decision to depart the PGA Tour and help create their own league.
After a tumultuous end to 2025 we examine why Koepka made the decision he did as well what’s next for him, LIV Golf, and the PGA Tour.
Why it Made Sense for Koepka – Staying Close to Home
When you compare the 2026 schedules of the PGA Tour to LIV you’ll notice that the two tours have become polar opposites in what markets they are trying to attract.
The PGA Tour regularly starts the season on the West Coast before gradually moving towards the East Coast after The Masters. The Tour then gradually creeps back westward towards Central Standard Time locations (Texas and Midwest). It’s an old schedule that ensures good playing conditions and that tournaments are evenly spread throughout the U.S.
For the golfers, it’s a predictable schedule that’s easy on the mileage.
Then there’s LIV, who has repeatedly indicated that they wish to become more of an international tour rather than focus on one particular country or continent.
For LIV, the U.S. is essentially shunned until May 7th, a week before the PGA Championship in Philadelphia.
Travel between the Middle East, Australia, and the Pacific Rim could be made easy through proper itineraries, however the league has decided to spend two entire months on four tournaments: Riyadh, Adelaide, Hong Kong, and Singapore with an incredible amount of downtime between Adelaide and Hong Kong meaning players will likely travel home from Australia for a month before returning to relatively close Hong Kong and Singapore.
Outside Adelaide, which has been and will likely continue to be the league’s biggest success story, the crowds are few and far between in Riyadh and Hong Kong, and almost unwatchable on television for the U.S. market.
With Koepka being a Florida native with a relatively young family, the options between flying to California once every couple of weeks before The Masters is infinitely more palatable than spending February and March in Asia.
Not to mention that Koepka has likely also had his eye on Tomorrow’s Golf League, or TGL, which he has attended in the past and is based out of nearby Palm Beach Gardens, an enclave a few miles south of Jupiter where several PGA Tour players live and practice during the offseason.
Three Possible PGA Tour Responses – One Makes Sense
Until more information is revealed by the man himself, the rumors are that BK is eyeing a return to the PGA Tour. Being a five-time major winner and one of the Tour’s most favourite players, it’s an obvious path that will eventually come to fruition, the question right now being how.
After some thought there’s three scenarios that could play out, either over the course of several months, or immediately.
- The PGA Tour sticks to its guns and requires Koepka to serve his one-year suspension. This would make BK eligible to rejoin at the start of the 2027 season.
- The suspension pertaining to golfers who joined LIV is waived/lifted due to Koepka’s status as a multiple major championship winner, the most recent being the 2023 PGA Championship, won at Oak Hill Country Club. This is a special exemption that is made on a person-by-person basis, though if we’re being honest it would absolutely be the same for Bryson DeChambeau and perhaps to a lesser extent Dustin Johnson.
- Koepka is offered reinstatement on The PGA Tour but defers to 2027 due to the amount of tournaments he would be required to play per season, opting instead to only participate in major championships and/or DP World Tour events at his leisure.
There are a few reasons that The PGA Tour would be smart to go with option number two but namely it would be to increase viewership instantly by getting a multiple major championship winner back in the field immediately.
People tuned into LIV because it had/has players like Brooks Koepka. Fans want to see the best of the best and if he’s able to return to form sooner than later, Koepka is still one of the best golfers in the world.
Another reason, and this would be considered playing the long game, is that by showing Koepka clemency, it would send a clear signal to other huge stars in LIV like Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
If the process is as simple as returning a portion of the money signed under the contract, it might entice someone like Rahm or DeChambeau who are unquestionably two of the best golfers in the world, and will be for at least a few more years. The PGA Tour would need to revise their media restriction rules for DeChambeau, that is a conversation for another time, but one worth having.
No matter what pathway both Brooks Koepka and The PGA Tour decide on, there’s no doubt that we will see Koepka no later than April 9th, the first round of The Masters.
Any additional play before or after Augusta will be decided between the two parties and how much they feel they need each other.
