DORAL — Brooks Koepka has done everything the PGA Tour asked.
The five-time majors champion accepted his penalties, agreed to every bullet point on the “Returning Member Program,” and said all the right things as he started the process of regaining his reputation – and perhaps restoring his legacy — after four years on the LIV tour.
Yet, the Jupiter resident still will be forced to play in an opposite-field event, the Myrtle Beach Classic, next month as he attempts to regain the status that allows him into the best tournaments on the PGA Tour.
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Koepka committed to Myrtle Beach, scheduled for May 7-10 at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club, after missing out, again, on one of the PGA Tour’s signature events, the Cadillac Championship, which is being held this week at Trump National Doral. A site that has hosted four LIV events in the last five years.
Myrtle Beach is opposite the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club, another signature event. The most recognizable names playing Myrtle Beach, outside of Koepka, are the Hojgaard brothers, world No. 37 Nicolai and No. 60 Rasmus, along with major champions Webb Simpson and Danny Willett.
And this is Koepka, who is back in good favor with the Tour that gave him his start and made him a very rich man.
How does that bode for his peers who now will be forced to come crawling back as LIV crumbles?
PGA Tour will not be easy on LIV players seeking return
LIV Golf’s demise is happening. And perhaps quicker than we thought. The beginning of the end came two weeks ago and has hit overdrive this week.
In the last few days:
And the one piece of news everyone saw coming … LIV players are reaching out to the PGA Tour about returning.
Which now becomes the most compelling story.
What does the future look like for Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Cam Smith and the handful of others the PGA Tour would even be interested in bringing back?
LIV is dead. A demise that came sooner than expected when Saudi Arabia decided pouring more than $5.3 billion into a project with little return was not sound business. The PIF is shifting its investment strategy from high-cost international projects — including sports funding — to focus on domestic initiatives as the Iran war has cut Saudi oil production by 30%.
That is an irony considering LIV’s most notable advocate early in its existence, U.S. President Donald Trump, is the man who has accelerated its fall by starting the Iranian war.
What does that mean for the handful of players the PGA Tour would welcome back? And what does that return look like?
Koepka’s punishment was harsh. He is ineligible to take part in the Player Equity Program for the next five years. He will not receive payment from the FedEx Cup Bonus Program for the 2026 season. He is ineligible for signature events but can play his way into those fields via full-field events.
In addition, Koepka made a $5 million charitable donation at the request of the PGA Tour.
Koepka, who walked away from the final year of his five-year LIV contract that paid him a reported $125 million, could miss out on $51 to $85 million in potential earnings.
Now, with LIV players having zero leverage, expect those penalties accepted by Koepka, and Patrick Reed, who also is working his way back but through a different path, to be just a starting point.
Reed is serving a one-year suspension and has all but guaranteed his return in the fall by working his way back to eligibility through the DP World Tour.
So what will the Tour offer DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith after each was given the opportunity to return under the same program Koepka accepted, and declined?
Then, what about Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann. Or Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, if the latter two even care about returning.
With a lack of young, talented players, the PGA Tour will welcome Tom McKibbin, Caleb Surratt, David Puig, Josele Ballester and Michael La Sasso.
But what will that road look like for these 21- to 24-year-olds, especially since they will not have status with the Tour?
A pathway back will exist. But the penalties will be harsher than those for Koepka and Reed. DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith were given a chance in January because they, along with Koepka, were the only players to fall under the performance-based Returning Member Program by having won The Players Championship or one of the four majors from 2022-2025.
Players will be treated differently depending on whether they violated PGA Tour regulations by joining LIV, resigned their PGA Tour membership or were never a Tour member.
And the 11 players who joined the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour — including Mickelson and DeChambeau — likely will be handed another layer of punishment.
“There were rules, and they were broken,” PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp told the Wall Street Journal. “With rules comes accountability.”
Brian Rolapp only joined PTA Tour in 2025
Rolapp also said the scar tissue of these players defecting from the PGA Tour to join LIV is not as deep with him. He joined the PTA Tour in June 2025 after more than two decades in the NFL.
Before adding: “But there are plenty of people around our tour who do. It has to be accounted for in some shape or form.”
Opinions of players returning has varied from eight-time major champion Tom Watson saying at the Masters that Koepka should not have been allowed to return (or at least without much harsher penalties) to current members, like Rory McIlroy, who has softened his stance and now believes players should be allowed to return with no penalties.
When Rolapp says “We’re interested in having the best players who can help our tour, not every player can do that,” who is he talking about?
When it comes to LIV players, just two undeniably fit that category — DeChambeau and Rahm.
Whether its the superstars, those hoping to extend their career or a young player with promise, the PGA Tour is in charge and will not be easy on any of them.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: What does LIV golf’s demise mean to players seeking PGA Tour return?
Reporting by Tom D’Angelo, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
