Tiger Woods and his fellow PGA Tour board members have been, in Woods’ words, “rolling through the scenarios for a very long time, ever since our talks at the White House last February.”
With Woods’ backing, the Tour took a major step in unifying the sport again by creating the Returning Member Program and welcoming Brooks Koepka back from LIV Golf after four years.
The one-time offer for Koepka and three other major winners since 2022 – Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith – expires on Feb. 2, two days before LIV’s fifth season gets going. While DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith told reporters on Tuesday during LIV’s media day that they’re staying with the Saudi-backed league through at least this year, Koepka was officially reintegrated on Monday, culminating a process that began with Koepka leaving LIV with a year remaining on his contract and subsequently writing a letter to PGA Tour CEO and outgoing commissioner Jay Monahan on Dec. 23.
“We took that letter and then took it to both boards and tried 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,” Woods explained. “We had lots of subsequent meetings, worked through the holidays. There were no days off. We just worked through it day after day after day, and we came out with a plan that we unveiled.”
The pathway back for Koepka included making a $5 million charitable donation, forfeiting equity payments for five years and FedExCup bonus money for this season. Rolapp said in a letter to fans that Koepka projects to miss out on $50-85 million in potential earnings due to these penalties.
‘There are opinions from both sides,” Woods added. “We’re not going to satisfy everyone. We know that. But the whole idea is to make our tour better than what it was. With Brooks’ 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. It’s a win for everyone.”
Woods made sure to note, too, that not only will Koepka not take a spot away from a PGA Tour member – he’s committed to play the Farmers Insurance Open and WM Phoenix Open in back-to-back weeks – Koepka’s inclusion in fields will actually lead to one or two more players getting in, depending on the pairings format.
“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. “He’s an additive. … The alternate list, I think they’re going to be impacted getting in one or two more events, which is a positive thing, and on top of that, we get a probably top-3-of-his-generation player back that went to another tour, played over there, and was adamant about coming back here and got out early to come back.
“That says a lot about the PGA Tour, where we’re headed, what we have done, what we accomplished and the players who have stayed and who have supported the Tour. Having another world-class player that these guys are going to try and beat, that’s what the fans demanded.”