‘I’m very torn’: Major champ critiques Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour return

Ever since the PGA Tour announced Brooks Koepka’s return, people on both sides of golf’s civil war have largely stuck to the script. For those on the PGA Tour side of the equation, it’s a certain coup. For LIV Golf’s backers, it’s no big deal.

But now one PGA Tour pro and major champion is breaking the trend.

In a new interview, Wyndham Clark expressed his “conflicted” feelings about Koepka’s Tour return, admitting it’s “really good for the PGA Tour” but also revealing his frustration with the controversial situation.

Wyndham Clark frustrated Koepka could ‘get the cake and also eat it’

Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, joined SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio’s “Gravy & the Sleeze” show this week, and co-host Colt Knost quickly got to the point, asking Clark what he thinks about Koepka’s Tour comeback.

“Gosh I’m so torn,” an animated Clark began.

He then detailed that while he does think Koepka coming back is good for the Tour, and ultimately him, he doesn’t think it’s quite fair.

“I personally really like Brooks [Koepka], and I think it’s ultimately really good for the PGA Tour. 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.”

Clark’s primary issue is that he turned down a big offer from LIV back in 2024, not knowing at the time that if he had gone to LIV and secured a big financial windfall, he could have come back to the Tour as Koepka did, via the Returning Player Program.

“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 explained.

When Clark revealed he had rejected an offer from LIV in 2024, he said at the time, “I ultimately declined going to LIV because I felt like I still have a lot of things left in the tank on the PGA Tour and I wanted to chase records, I wanted to chase world ranking. My dream is to try to be one of the top players in the world if not the top player. I just grew up always imagining winning PGA Tour events. So ultimately, I chose my legacy over LIV and that’s really what it came down to.”

Interestingly, Clark previously expressed support for LIV players with exemplary PGA Tour “pedigrees” being allowed to return to the Tour. He even name-dropped Koepka as one of the players he approved of returning.

“Guys that have had the career where they should be lifelong PGA Tour players, they deserve the right to come play the PGA Tour,” Clark said on the No Laying Up podcast in October 2024. “If Dustin Johnson wants to come back and Phil Mickelson and guys that have won, Brooks, who have won majors and are most likely Hall of Famers, they deserve to play wherever the hell they want, because they’re so good.”

Clark thinks Koepka’s Tour punishments should have been harsher

But that wasn’t the only issue Clark addressed in his “Gravy & the Sleeze” interview. He also revealed he has a problem with the financial penalties Koepka agreed to in order to return to Tour.

Between equity forfeitures, FedEx Cup bonus restrictions and a large charitable donation, Koepka’s penalties could rise to $100 million.

Clark doesn’t think that’s enough.

“I wish maybe there was a few more repercussions,” Clark said on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio, “but I’m glad that the things they put in place I think are pretty decent.”

Finally, Clark expressed support for another aspect of the PGA Tour’s Returning Player Program: that the opportunity for players to return to the Tour closes on February 2, 2026.

“And I also like the hard deadline. I think that’s good,” Clark said. “I just hope they stick with that, and they don’t waver with that maybe in like a year or two.”

In other words, Clark hopes that the PGA Tour does not offer this unique opportunity to LIV players again in the future, such as one year from now when Bryson DeChambeau’s LIV contract is over.