PALM BEACH GARDENS — Brooks Koepka leaving LIV Golf and returning to the PGA Tour may or may not be the start of an exodus from the Saudi-backed league.
But PGA Tour players certainly will bring up the possibility at every opportunity.
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Jupiter’s Rory McIlroy once again raised the possibility that players who joined LIV could be regretting the move as the league continues to stagnate.
“It seems like some of those guys are maybe starting to realize they’re not getting everything they wanted out of going over there,” McIlroy said after his Jan. 26 TGL match. McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf defeated The Bay Golf Club, 9-1.
“And that’s obviously a great thing for the PGA Tour.”
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The Bay’s Wyndham Clark had the same thoughts.
“Who knows,” Clark said, “maybe he’s the first one of maybe many.
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“But I think it just helps the Tour. And whatever helps the Tour is what I think all of us want because that ultimately helps all of us.”
Koepka’s return this week at Torrey Pines will dominate the sports headlines and his peers continue to applaud the Jupiter resident for breaking his reported $125 million deal with LIV to return to the Tour.
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA – JANUARY 26: Rory McIlroy of Boston Common Golf lines up a putt on the seventh green against The Bay Golf Club at SoFi Center on January 26, 2026 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images)
Koepka, 35, had one year remaining on his five-year deal with LIV.
“I think it says more about Brooks than anything else,” McIlroy said. “He obviously is a very competitive person and wants to compete at the highest level. I think he made the decision that he thought competing at the highest level meant coming back to the PGA Tour.”
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Koepka, whose return became official Jan. 12, will hit his first shot as a PGA Tour member in nearly four years Jan. 29 at the Farmers Insurance Open. He is paying a steep price financially and on the course, where he will have to play his way into Signature Events.
Koepka is ineligible to earn equity from the Player Equity Program for the next five years, will not receive any payment from the FedEx Cup Bonus Program for the 2026 season and will make a $5 million charitable donation.
In addition, he is not eligible for Signature Events, but he can play his way into those fields via full-field events like the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches. He is not eligible for sponsor exemptions into Signature Events.
“I think it’s good for him that he’s back,” Jupiter’s Shane Lowry said. “I think it’s going to be good for certain tournaments that he’s back. He’s going to play tournaments maybe on the PGA Tour this year that not many big-name players are going to play, which is good.”
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One of those is Koepka’s home-town tournament. Cognizant is scheduled for Feb. 26-March 1 at PGA National. Koepka’s pathway to the Signature Events is by having success in those full-field events.
Koepka, the five-time major champion, became the first marquee player to leave LIV Golf. He became one of the most feared golfers in the world from 2017 to 2019 when he won four majors in a two-year span.
“I think it’s just an unbelievably great thing that Brooks is coming back,” said Jupiter’s Keegan Bradley, who plays for TGL’s Boston Common. “When I heard the news, I was thrilled. Brooks is an unbelievable competitor and somebody that really helps the PGA Tour.
“Happy for him, happy for the Tour, and another guy that I think can help the Tour get to another place.”
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McIlroy went deeper into his feelings about LIV Golf’s current challenges during an interview with The Telegraph.
“It’s not as if they made any huge signings this year, is it?” McIlroy said. “They haven’t signed anyone who moves the needle and I don’t think they will.
“I mean, they could re-sign Bryson (DeChambeau) for hundreds of millions of dollars, but even if they do, it doesn’t change their product, does it? They’ll just be paying for the exact same thing. And they’ve lost Brooks, so they’ll be paying out all this money and … ”
LIV has not made a significant signing since poaching Jon Rahm from the PGA Tour more than two years ago. Since, the league has lost all leverage against the Tour, which gives DeChambeau, LIV’s highest profile player, having considerable leverage over the league as he plays out the final year of his original contract.
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“A lot of these guys’ contracts are up,” McIlroy told The Telegraph. “They’re going to ask for the same number or an even bigger number. LIV have spent $5 billion or $6 billion, and they’re going to have to spend another five or six just to maintain where they are.
“I’m way more comfortable being on the PGA Tour side than on their side, but who knows what will happen.”
McIlroy, Lowry fighting jet lag, exhaustion in TGL match
PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA – JANUARY 26: Keegan Bradley of Boston Common Golf plays a shot on the eighth hole against The Bay Golf Club at SoFi Center on January 26, 2026 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/TGL/TGL Golf via Getty Images)
Jupiter residents McIlroy and Lowry arrived at TGL for their Jan. 26 match fighting jet lag and exhaustion.
The close friends both spent about 17 hours on a plane after departing Dubai a day earlier, where they played in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
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Lowry arrived in South Florida at 1 a.m. McIlroy landed about four hours later.
But they were impacted by the travel differently. McIlroy helped lead his team, Boston Common, to a 9-1 victory over Lowry and The Bay. McIlroy won both his singles matches against Lowry.
So how did McIlroy stay fresh?
“He doesn’t have his own plane,” he said about his closest friend on Tour.
McIlroy said he slept for seven or eight hours on the way home. Then he took about a two-hour nap before arriving at the SoFi Center.
“Hopped in the cold plunge, woke myself up and rallied,” he said.
Lowry, who flew commercially, said he was not moving like he normally would.
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“I’m pretty tired,” he said following the match. “But I signed up to play so I should have been better, and I wasn’t. Yeah, I had a long previous 24 hours.
“I came home and tried to get moving. I’m getting older. It’s getting harder. I was going to say without making excuses, but I just did make excuses there.”
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Rory McIlroy on Brooks Koepka leaving LIV: ‘Great thing for PGA Tour’
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