PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods defended the PGA Tour’s decision to swiftly reinstate Brooks Koepka, who is set to make his official return just over a month after announcing his departure from LIV Golf.
“He’s not taking a spot away from any player. That was one of the main concerns and one of the big things that myself and the other player directors demanded, that that was never going to be the case,” Woods said Tuesday following the first TGL match of the season for his Jupiter Links Golf Club. “He’s an additive.”
Koepka is planning to make his return at the Farmers Insurance Open, which begins Jan. 29. Woods said Koepka sent a letter to PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp on Dec. 23—the day he announced he would not play for LIV in 2026—saying that he wanted to come back.
“We had lots of subsequent meetings, worked through the holidays,” Woods said. “There was no days off. We just worked through it day after day after day, and we came out with a plan that we unveiled.”
Woods, chairman of the PGA Tour’s newly formed Future Competition Committee, said the goal was to “implement a plan that would be fair and adequate, that justifies Brooks’ time away from our tour, the penalties served, the fines if necessary, what the integration would look like on our tour, and obviously the bonus payouts, yes or no.”
Koepka is ineligible for this year’s FedExCup bonus money and is forfeiting any potential equity in the PGA Tour’s Player Equity Program for the next five years. The terms are part of the new “Returning Member Program.”
“Yes, we’re not going to satisfy every player. This plan was created for a very select few players that met the criteria. You know the names.”
LIV stars Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cam Smith are the only players other than Koepka who could apply for reinstatement before the Feb. 2 deadline. However, all three said Tuesday they don’t plan to do so this year.
“We’ve been rolling through scenarios for a very long time,” Woods said. “Ever since our talks at the White House last February to now.” (Woods attended a meeting last year with President Donald Trump, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and fellow PGA Tour policy board player director Adam Scott.)
“There was always ways in which—how do we make our sport unified again? Is it total unification, some type of integration, how do we do it, where do we do it? Different tours are involved,” Woods said. “But this is a first move, which is a great move.”
Ultimately, Woods called Koepka’s return “a win for everyone.”
“The whole idea is to make our tour better than what it was,” Woods said. “With Brooks’s addition to the Tour, it does. It makes it a better place to play. Now with players who have earned equity—and there are four more years of potential earning of equity for these players—the fact that they own the tour, if Brooks plays, it puts more money in their pocket.”
