Brooks Koepka Addresses PGA Tour Return Rumors

LIV golfer, Brooks Koepka has responded to rumors he might be looking to switch back to the PGA Tour - a narrative which surfaced following comments by Fred Couples earlier this month.

Speaking to Dave Mahler and Dick Fain of Seattle-based KJR FM on Monday, March 3, the 1992 Masters champion said he felt the 54-hole league's most successful player was more than open to returning to the historic US circuit less than three years after departing it for a deal worth over $100 million.

Couples said: “I talk to Brooks Koepka all the time. I love Brooks Koepka. And, I’m not going to say anything extra except I talk to him all the time - where are you playing next and, you know, when you going and all this stuff - and he wants to come back, I will say that. I believe he really wants to come back and play the Tour."

Couple's opinion caused something of a stir online and led Phil Mickelson to call his former PGA Tour peer "a low-class jerk" in a quickly-deleted post on X.

As he and his Smash GC teammates prepared for LIV Golf Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club's Serapong course this weekend, Koepka was asked to clarify if there was any truth to the claims in the team's pre-event press conference.

Koepka said: "Yeah, Fred texted me after, I guess, the comments came out. I don’t know when it was. Sometime last week. Yeah, everybody seems to have their own opinion and no one asks me.

"I talked to Fred quite a bit, but we don’t go too much into detail about what’s going on. Like I’ve said before, I’m not in those rooms. I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens. I don’t know where I’m going, so I don’t know how everybody else does.

"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."

The length of Koepka's LIV contract has not been officially confirmed, although it is common knowledge that another of the league's big names - Bryson DeChambeau - sees his deal with the PIF-backed circuit end in 2026.

DeChambeau has also been questioned over his future in recent weeks, with the Pull Hook podcast publishing a post on X which claimed the two-time Major winner was set to rejoin the PGA Tour as soon as next season having failed to agree a contract extension with LIV. The unverified post claimed DeChambeau was "looking for a $280M extension, which PIF rejected."

Asked about the story prior to LIV Golf Hong Kong, DeChambeau said: "I’m very excited about the future of LIV Golf. I’m very excited to be the captain of the Crushers and continue our legacy that we’re starting to create.

"That’s my goal, to create this lasting legacy where we impact millions and millions of golfers’ lives around the world. That should tell you everything you [need to] know."

Even if either player were keen to make a return, their respective contracts and current PGA Tour rules would prevent that from happening for the time being, at least.

As it stands, a unification deal involving the LIV Golf League and the PGA Tour does not exist. And, according to PGA Tour rules, no player who has competed in a LIV event at any point during the past 12 months is eligible to take part in one of its sanctioned events. Laurie Canter is set to be the first former LIV golfer to tee it up on the PGA Tour this week, with his previous LIV start February 2024.

Speaking ahead of The Players Championship on Tuesday, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan admitted part of a potential restructure could allow LIV pros to occasionally compete on the PGA Tour, but as long as the US circuit's product was not "diminished."

Monahan said: "As part of our negotiations, we believe there's room to integrate important aspects of LIV Golf into the PGA Tour platform. We're doing everything that we can to bring the two sides together.

"That said, we will not do so in a way that diminishes the strength of our platform or the very real momentum we have with our fans and our partners. While we've removed some hurdles, others remain. But, like our fans, we still share the same sense of urgency to get to a resolution.

"Our team is fully committed to reunification. The only deal that we would regret is one that compromises the essence of what makes the game of golf and the PGA Tour so exceptional."