Upon Return to PGA Tour, Brooks Koepka Holds Both Long- and Short-term Value

There exists palpable irony in that a player who so often downplayed regular PGA Tour events in relation to major championships is now being celebrated for returning to those very PGA Tour events.

Or in other words: Brooks Koepka is officially back.

Fifteen days after being reinstated by the PGA Tour, the LIV Golf refugee was on-site at Torrey Pines, dapping up his old buddies, meeting with the media and prepping for this week’s Farmers Insurance Open – his first start in a non-major, PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament since the 2022 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, a period of nearly four years which is only exacerbated by the fact that event doesn’t even exist anymore.

“It feels good,” he said. “I’m super grateful to be back.”

In the aftermath of Koepka leaving LIV and the PGA Tour reinstating him and his impending return, there will be plenty of takes on what it all means. On what type of precedence this sets moving forward; on what this says about the current arms race between the two rival circuits.

If you’ve clicked here, though, you’re probably more concerned with how Koepka will fare moving forward. That, of course, isn’t a linear path.

There are both long- and short-term assessments to be made about his game, so let’s start with the latter, as he’ll begin his return on Thursday alongside Max Homa and Ludvig Aberg.

Quite frankly, Koepka is already behind the eight-ball – and it has nothing to do with readjusting to PGA Tour life. Most of the other 146 players – though not pre-tourney favorite Xander Schauffele – have already teed it up once or twice this year, knocking off the wintry rust and getting those competitive juices flowing again.

Koepka hasn’t been inside the ropes since a T-15 result at the Alfred Dunhill Championship during the first week of October. It’s hard to imagine he’s coming into this one in elite form, even if there wasn’t a maelstrom of headlines swirling around him right now.

In four previous starts at the Farmers, he owns a T-41 and three missed cuts, though he did finish in a share of fourth place at Torrey South during the 2021 U.S. Open, which essentially epitomizes how much more the majors mean to him.

If you’re really itching to play Koepka as soon as possible, my recommendation would be to wait another week, when he’ll tee it up at the WM Phoenix Open, site of two of his three career non-major PGA Tour victories. He won at TPC Scottsdale in both 2015 and ’21, and at a boisterous venue where fans love cheering for the brawniest rock stars, it’s not just the course which suits his eye, but the entire vibe.

Getting into contention at the Farmers would surely be a statement, but climbing the leaderboard in front of tens of thousands of adoring fans in Phoenix might send an even bigger message.

From there, he’s committed to play the Cognizant Classic in late-February and revealed during his Tuesday press conference that it would be a “good assumption” he’ll be at The Players, as well.

He’s not currently qualified for any of the eight signature events or, obviously, the FedEx Cup playoffs, but that alone might be enough rationale to play him elsewhere.

“I’ve got to play well,” he explained. “You play good golf, everything takes care of itself. I’d like to try to get in those signature events and play well, but I understand I’ve got to earn that and I’m looking forward to that challenge. It would be something where it will be a little different spot and I’ve got to work my tail off and I’m excited about that. We’ll see what happens, but I would love to come out and get a win.”

Koepka is at least talking the part of a player who seems more motivated to find success at events which aren’t major championships, but let’s be real here: Those are always going to be his bread and butter.

He is a five-time major winner, having won the PGA Championship on three occasions and the U.S. Open twice. That alone, though, doesn’t tell the entire story of his major exploits.

From the 2014 U.S. Open through his most recent major title at the 2023 PGA Championship, he finished top-10 in 18 of 33 major starts, with four runners-up among those five wins. Since that triumph at Oak Hill three summers ago, however, he’s 0-for-10 in reaching the top-10 again.

On Tuesday, he wouldn’t use the LIV schedule as an explanation for any lack of preparation, instead placing all the blame on himself.

“I just didn’t play good last year,” he offered. “I’m not going to put an excuse on anything else other than I’m the one holding the club, I’m the one who’s got to execute everything and I just didn’t do a good enough job.”

Perhaps with more reps in more PGA Tour events, Koepka at age 35 will continue that assault on the majors which has him tied with Rory McIlroy and one ahead of Scottie Scheffler.

There might be questions about Koepka’s potential for success in the very short-term, but over the long haul, he still holds tremendous win equity at the ones which mean the most to him.