Could one of LIV Golf’s most notable stars be laying the groundwork for a return to the PGA Tour? He’s not saying no. ,
Brooks Koepka, five-time major winner and the most decorated player of his generation, has always kept LIV at something of an arm’s length. Where fellow stars like Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson have wholeheartedly embraced the LIV ethos, sporting their team logos at every opportunity, Koepka has always been more muted in his LIV fandom. Case in point: His response when asked about his future with the Saudi-backed golf league.
Prior to LIV’s Hong Kong event, Koepka was asked about recent comments by Fred Couples that seemed to indicate he was interested in a return to the PGA Tour. (Couples’ comments provoked a fiery, and quickly-deleted, social media reaction from Mickelson.)
Koepka didn’t exactly shower LIV with love in his response. “I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill,” Koepka said, “and then we’ll see what happens.” As statements of loyalty go, that isn’t exactly ride-or-die.
Couples made waves when he told a radio show that Koepka “wants to come back. I will say that I believe he really wants to come back and play the Tour.” That provoked Mickelson to declare, “If it’s not true he damaged a relationship which he cares about. If it is true he took away Brook’s [sic] control of the timeline and narrative. Either way this is a low class jerk move by Fred.”
Koepka has little use for these kinds of he-said, he-said back-and-forths in the media. He added on Wednesday that “Everybody seems to have their own opinion and no one asks me,” in response to being asked about Couples’ comment.
When Koepka jumped to LIV in 2022, he signed what is believed to be a contract through the 2026 season worth $100 million. (LIV does not release details of player contracts.) Koepka remains one of the biggest draws in the LIV circuit, primarily because of his ability to contend in virtually every major.
However, the state of golf is in such flux that it’s impossible to guess whether Koepka’s contract will remain in force through 2026, or whether LIV itself will even exist in its current form in 2026.
“I don’t know where I’m going, so I don’t know how everybody else does,” Koepka said. “Right now I’m just focused on how do I play better, how do I play better in the majors, how does this team win, and then we’ll figure out next year and how to play better again. It’s the same thing. It’s just a revolving cycle. I’ve got nothing. Everybody else seems to know more than I do.”
That might be the only real flaw in Koepka’s line of thinking … because nobody seems to know more than anyone else about where golf is headed.
