After leaving LIV Golf, Brooks Koepka’s schedule is pretty open at the moment.
While hils potential path back to the PGA Tour is unclear, Rory McIlroy would like to see Koepka play in TGL, his and Tiger Woods’ tech-infused golf league, should that appeal to the five-time major champon. Koepka would be value added to the simulator league. He’s one of the game’s biggest stars. But McIlroy notes that it’s not as simple as him being OK with Koepka playing, even though he is a co-founder of the league.
“I would say that’s up to people that are more powerful and more important than me. But I am one of the founders. I would love him to play,” McIlroy said Friday after his Boston Common team’s 7-5 victory over Los Angeles Golf Club. “If there’s space on a team for Brooks to come and play, it only makes what we’re trying to do stronger. He’s a five-time major champion. He’s been one of the best players of our generation. If he decides it’s something that he wants to do, I’m sure we’ll find a way to include him.”
The PGA Tour is a part-owner of TGL, so allowing Koepka to participate in the league would raise a number of questions for which no one currently has answers. No LIV golfers participated in the first season of TGL. Tyrrell Hatton was set to be on McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf team but was replaced by Hideki Matsuyama when he bolted for LIV. Jon Rahm was also initially set to be part of the TGL roster but dropped out before making his own move to LIV.
Koepka joined LIV Golf in 2022 and played four seasons before deciding to split with the league on Dec. 23. In a statement about the parting of ways, Koepka’s representatives said he was going to focus on spending more time with his family but noted that this was not the end of Koepka’s competitive career.
“Brooks remains passionate about the game of golf and will keep fans updated on what’s ahead,” the statement said.
The PGA Tour has not commented on Koepka’s future other than putting out an ambiguous statement after Koepka’s break with LIV was announced.
“Brooks Koepka is a highly accomplished professional, and we wish him and his family continued success,” the PGA Tour said in a statement. “The PGA Tour continues to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness.”
McIlroy, who was once the frontman in the PGA Tour’s crusade against LIV, has since softened his stance toward those who defected to the Saudi-backed league and believes it should be an easy decision for the PGA Tour to find a way to bring Koepka back if he wishes. But the path back is unclear due to a number of issues.
“Does it make sense if Brooks wanted to play the PGA Tour again to get him back as soon as possible? Absolutely,” McIlroy told The Palm Beach Post on Friday. “What Brooks has done in the game of golf, it would be good for everyone to have him back.
“It’s hard (because) you can’t treat one person differently than you treat others. And as much as the Tour would like to treat Brooks differently, it sets a legal precedent, because of the lawsuits that have been going on and everything else behind the scenes.He’s still exempt on Tour because of his major wins. That’s not the hurdle. The hurdle is how they have treated others that have tried to come back, serve suspensions, or whatever it is. That’s the difficult thing.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan suspended players who competed in LIV events without conflicting-events releases. Hudson Swafford told GOLF’s Subpar Podcast that he is currently serving a five-year suspension for playing on LIV for three seasons.
While not everyone on the PGA Tour shares McIlroy’s view, the career Grand Slam champion would be fine with letting LIV stars return to the Tour to bolster the product and unify the game.
“They’ve made the money, but they’ve paid their consequence in terms of the, you know, you talk about the reputation and some of the things that they’ve lost by going over there,” McIlroy told The Overlap’s Stick To Football Podcast. “If it made the overall Tour stronger to have Bryson DeChambeau back and whoever else I would be okay with it, but again, it’s not just me, and I recognize that not everyone’s in my position, so, you know, it would be up to the collective group of PGA Tour members to make that decision,” McIlroy said.
As the start of the 2026 PGA Tour season nears, Koepka’s immediate future is unclear. But it’s McIlroy’s hope that the major killer will soon be back on the PGA Tour and also stalking the SoFi Center turf should he desire.
But those decisions are out of McIlroy’s control.
