PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Brooks Koepka had no idea how rewarding reentry would be.
The aura Koepka exudes when he’s in his public domain — on the golf course competing and speaking to the media — has never been warm and fuzzy.
This isn’t at all to say Koepka hasn’t been cooperative, accountable and professional. He has. He’s just never been a smell-the-roses kind of guy.
When Koepka and a number of the game’s stars left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf’s countless millions in June 2022, the move was polarizing, characterized as hostile by the PGA Tour.
So when Koepka became the first player to rejoin the PGA Tour earlier this year on the “Returning Member Program,’’ he had no idea what to expect in the way of fan and player reception.
Would he feel a cold shoulder or feel embraced?
Koepka, who has five major championships on his résumé, was ranked 19th in the world when he left for LIV.
When he tees it up at the Players Championship in Thursday’s opening round at TPC Sawgrass for the first time since 2022, he’ll do so ranked 221st in the world and more than three years removed from his last PGA Tour victory.
If there was any player on LIV who missed the juice of playing against the best players in the world on the PGA Tour, it was Koepka.
He did win the 2023 PGA Championship as a member of LIV and was runner-up at the Masters earlier that year.
But Koepka’s results in major championships dropped precipitously in the past two years, with nothing better than a tie for 26th in 2024 and missed cuts in three of the four in 2025.
Since his return, at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, Koepka has been taken aback by how emotionally affected he’s been.
“I didn’t think it was going to be maybe as emotional for me, but it was,’’ Koepka said Tuesday. “It was honestly a great feeling. Sometimes, I can be very good at burying my emotions. I just look at it as this is a job, just be robotic and go about your process. I’m pretty sure everybody sees that when I’m on the golf course.
“But when I get away from it, I’m very chill, very relaxed and enjoying life. Taking in the moment and appreciating where I was … I think that was something I haven’t done in my professional career, and it was just enjoyable.’’
Koepka on Tuesday spoke like someone who’s smelling the roses now. He’s embracing what he didn’t realize he missed so much in the PGA Tour.
Since his reentry onto the PGA Tour, Koepka finished tied for 56th in the Farmers Insurance Open, he missed the cut at the Waste Management and tied for ninth two weeks ago at the Cognizant in the Palm Beaches.
“The first week was just trying to get that out of the way,’’ he said. “Then the second week, I felt like it was very disappointing [missing the cut]. I made a few changes — a new putter, working on a few different mechanical things in the putting. I felt like it started to click Thursday afternoon after round one at Cognizant, feeling good, hitting it good … just building momentum.’’
The PGA Tour’s “Returning Members Program,’’ which was introduced in January, created a pathway for the LIV Golf members who’d been away for at least two years to rejoin the tour if they’d won a major championship or the Players Championship between 2022 and 2025.
The only players eligible for that were Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed and Cameron Smith.
Only Koepka took the tour up on it, agreeing to the provision that he pay a $5 million fine to go to charity.
There’s speculation that Brian Rolapp, the newly hired PGA Tour CEO who was behind creating the “Returning Member Program,’’ is about to expand that program in an aggressive approach to entice more LIV players to return.
“I didn’t know what to expect, but the fans have been great, and the players have been great, too,’’ Koepka said. “So it’s a good feeling. It feels good to be back.”
