Brooks Koepka Left LIV And Reportedly Wants To Come Back To The Tour And The PGA Should Welcome Him Back With Open Arms

Let Brooks back in. Hell, let them all back in. 

News broke on late Friday that Brooks Koepka, the five-time Major winner who left the LIV Tour in December after three years, has applied for reinstatement on the PGA Tour. From ESPN. 

Brooks Koepka applied for reinstatement of his PGA Tour membership Friday, sources told ESPN, the first step in the five-time major champion's potential return to the tour.

Koepka, 35, left the LIV Golf League on Dec. 23 with one year left on his contract with the Saudi Arabian-financed breakaway circuit.

It wasn't immediately clear when Koepka, a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour, will be permitted to return. He didn't renew his membership before the 2022-23 season, sources previously told ESPN.

Koepka last competed on the PGA Tour when he tied for 12th at the Valspar Championship on March 22, 2022.

For the handful of guys who have gone through this before, the PGA Tour has generally told them to wait a year or more, as a penalty for leaving in the first place. 

Laurie Canter left LIV a few years ago. He went through the DP World Tour to get his PGA Tour card back, and to his credit, put himself in a position to do so. Then, he decided last minute to go back to Liv?!? The issue is that Canter was never ON the PGA Tour before he joined LIV. 

Hudson Swafford was. He got a longer ban, based on what he told Sports Illustrated. 

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Swafford—who has battled numerous injuries and missed most of the 2023 season before being relegated following the 2024 season—said he was told he was receiving a one-year ban dating to 2022 for each of the five events he played that year for LIV Golf that conflicted with regular PGA Tour events for which he was eligible before the FedEx Cup playoffs.

(By that guideline, Koepka would be eligible in 2026 because he, too, began playing LIV Golf in 2022 but played one less event than Swafford.)

That five-year ban, he said, lasts into next year. 

So Canter got a year, decided not to come back. Swafford got five years based on the SI story. The PGA doesn't seem interested in discussing this stuff publicly in detail. Back to Brooks. 

As a selfish golf fan, I'd have no problem if Brooks were back playing in the Sony next week. 

Giphy Images.

I like Brooks. He hits the ball far and doesn't take himself too seriously. My friend and co-worker Kirk Minihane used to make fun of me for liking him, basically saying all he did was bench press and play golf.

Yep, and that's why I like him. Plus, he plays best in the biggest events. You could always count on Brooks to show up in a Major…well, before the last two years. His best finish in his last 10 Majors was a T-12 at last year's US Open. And you have to imagine that's one of the reasons he's coming back. He knows that playing on LIV does not really prepare you for the competition of a Major. 

What I'm about to say is not fair to the guys who didn't take the big LIV money. I get it. But I'd let all these guys back on the PGA Tour when they wanted to come back. 

I love watching golf. I love betting on golf. I'm a guy watching Jake Marsh call the first-round action on a Thursday in Detroit for the Rocket Classic. I don't watch LIV and have no interest, so I want the PGA product to be the best it can be. That means Brooks, Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann, and a bunch of other really good players back in the fold. Don't penalize the golf fan because the PGA Tour could not find a way to keep these guys here in the first place. 

Don't force any LIV defectors to wait; fine them a bunch of money, donate it to charity, and let Brooks and anyone else who wants to come back…come back. Making them wait only hurts the sport - it's much better when Scottie Scheffler has a real challenger every once in a while.

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Plus, you have to imagine being back on Tour might help Brooks win that elusive Blake of the Year Award. 

The PGA Tour is better when it's filled with the best players. Brooks Koepka makes the Tour better. Here's hoping he's welcomed back with open arms in 2026.