Brooks Koepka is back on The Tour.
The five-time major champion announced his return to the PGA Tour on Monday, weeks after parting ways with LIV Golf after playing four seasons on the Saudi-backed league.
“I want to thank my family and my team for their continued support throughout every step of my professional career. When I was a child, I always dreamed about competing on the @PGATOUR, and I am just as excited today to announce that I am returning to the PGA TOUR,” Koepka said in a statement posted to his social media accounts.
“Being closer to home and spending more time with my family makes this opportunity especially meaningful to me.”
The two-time U.S. Open winner is rejoining the circuit as part of a new Returning Member Program, which new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp outlined in a memo Monday.
“Designed to provide an alternative path back to PGA Tour competition for past members who have achieved the highest accomplishments in the game, the Returning Member Program mandates heavy and appropriate limitations to both tournament access and potential earnings that we believe properly holds returning members accountable for substantial compensation earned elsewhere,” the message read.
“It also includes elite performance-based criteria that requires winning the Players Championship, Masters Tournament, PGA Championship, U.S. Open or The Open Championship between 2022 and 2025.”
Koepka fulfills that criteria, having won the 2023 PGA Championship.
He also agreed to the program’s “strict limitations,” which include “a five-year forfeiture of potential equity in the PGA Tour’s Player Equity Program,” and will also make a $5 million charitable donation. The PGA estimated the damages from not being included in the equity program would be between $50-85 million.
“I believe in where the PGA TOUR is headed with new leadership, new investors, and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake,” Koepka said Monday. “I also understand there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.”
The PGA Tour initially suspended players who joined LIV, with Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson among those who joined the rival circuit and agreed to monster contracts.
DeChambeau (2024 U.S. Open winner), Jon Rahm (2023 Masters champion) and Cam Smith (2022 Open Championship winner) are among the current LIV Golf players who could seek PGA Tour reinstatement with the new program, which closes Feb. 2.
Koepka, who shares a 2-year-old son with wife Jena Sims, applied for reinstatement with the PGA Tour following his split from LIV, where he served as the captain of Smash GC.
In a parting message, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said, “Brooks is prioritizing the needs of his family and staying closer to home.”
Koepka concluded Monday’s message with a timeline of his return.
“I look forward to seeing you soon at the Farmers Insurance Open and WM Phoenix Open,” he said.
The Farmers Insurance Open gets underway on Jan. 29, while the WM Phoenix Open is slated to begin Feb. 5.
