Wyndham Clark, who once turned down LIV offer, ‘torn’ on Brooks Koepka decision

Brooks Koepka’s pathway back to the PGA Tour after four seasons with rival LIV Golf was made possible by the Tour’s new Returning Member Program.

The one-time offer, which expires Feb. 2 (two days before LIV’s fifth season begins), was narrow in scope, as it only applied to four players – Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith, all of whom had won majors since the start of 2022.

Wyndham Clark also has won a major title in the past four years, lifting the U.S. Open trophy at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023. Though Clark hasn’t bolted for the Saudi-backed tour, he did reveal in early 2024 that he had rejected a lucrative signing bonus to join LIV ahead of that season.

Now, in wake of the Koepka news, Clark is conflicted.

“I personally really like Brooks, and I think it’s ultimately really good for the PGA Tour,” Clark said Wednesday on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio. “But also, as a guy who had an opportunity to go to LIV, it’s kind of frustrating that he’s able to get the cake and also eat it. I don’t know, I’m very torn because at the end of the day, I want whatever’s best for the PGA Tour, and I think if guys come back, especially top players like Brooks, it’s only going to help the Tour, which is ultimately going to help me. So yeah, I mean, I don’t know really how I feel…

“If you would’ve told me that I could have gone for a year and a half, make a boatload of money and then be able to come back and play on the Tour, I think almost everyone would have done that.”

Clark added that he was in favor of the penalties levied on Koepka, which could potentially cost Koepka up to $85 million in potential earnings, as well as the deadline to accept reinstatement, which the other three players said they don’t plan to do.

“I just hope they stick with that,” Clark said of the one-time offer, “and they don’t waver with that maybe in like a year or two.”