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Brooks Koepka is returning to the PGA Tour at a steep price after his breakup with LIV Golf.
The 2023 PGA Championship winner announced Monday he will rejoin the U.S.-based tour he left in 2022 for the lucrative Saudi rival. Koepka, 35, said he will see fans at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines later this month.
As part of the announcement, the PGA Tour unveiled its “Returning Member Program” that subjects Koepka and any other participating golfers to “one of the largest financial repercussions in professional sports history,” according to a statement from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp.
Players will give up five years of participation in the Tour’s Player Equity Program, which Rolapp estimated could result in $50 million to $85 million worth of losses in potential earnings. Returning players will be eligible for the Presidents Cup and TGL, but they will be ineligible for this year’s $100 million FedEx Cup bonus program. The Tour said Koepka agreed to make a $5 million donation to charity.
“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 in a statement Monday. “I also understand there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.”
Only players who have won the Players Championship, Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, or the Open Championship from 2022 to 2025 will qualify for the new program, and they have only a few weeks to apply by a Feb. 2 deadline. “Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again,” Rolapp said.
In addition to Koepka, that list includes LIV golfers Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith. DeChambeau’s LIV contract expires at the end of this year.
Koepka and LIV parted ways in December with a year left on his contract. “Family has always guided Brooks’s decisions, and he feels this is the right moment to spend more time at home,” his representatives said in a statement at the time.
In a statement on Monday, LIV said it has “championed an open ecosystem and freedom, for all. Not just for a limited few,” and that its “vision remains unchanged.”
The five-time major champion becomes the first former PGA Tour member to rejoin its ranks after departing for LIV. Laurie Canter decided to re-sign with LIV after earning a spot on the PGA Tour this fall.
Koepka won five individual tournaments with LIV, resulting in $38.3 million in individual prize and bonus money, plus he captained the league’s Smash GC team. His PGA Tour prize money, including from his major championship victories, is $43.8 million.
Rolapp said “fields will be expanded as needed,” so Koepka and any other potential returning players don’t take away spots from current Tour members. His 2023 PGA Championship win gets him into all four majors this year, but he’ll have to earn his spot for other signature events.
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