2 minutes from Brooks Koepka’s return he said something his golf couldn’t

Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour this week. The five-time winner looked rusty, but he made a few cuts to the weekend.

“I wanted to play four rounds,” Koepka said Friday at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Koepka will be the first to tell you that he hasn’t played Brooks Koepka golf in the past year. He wasn’t a factor in four majors last year and hasn’t been heard from on the majors since winning the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. In a pre-tournament press conference Tuesday, Koepka wouldn’t lay the blame for his disparate performance against Brooks at the feet of LIV Golf or the league system. He’s the one who hasn’t released any more. Simple and easy.

Kopeka said he is looking forward to competing on the PGA Tour again and competing against Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy more than four times a year. That means a lot to golf’s biggest alpha. But competitive enthusiasm was behind Koepka’s main reason for breaking LIV Golf and engineering his return to the PGA Tour.

“Just my family,” Koepke said before the tournament about the biggest factor in his comeback. “A lot has happened in these five, six months with my family, that has played a big role in my return.

“Just being with my family is very important. I’ve grown a lot in the last few years, especially in the last few months. Being able to be close to them is very important to me.”

So, Koepka came out Thursday at Torrey Pines and shot a one-over 73 on the South Course. He hit it poorly (six of 14 fairways) and lost 1.469 shots on the green. There is no sound statement from Koepka for the first 18 holes back. Golf is a game about consistent success. One poor or average cycle here and there means little in the big picture. Whether Koepka can return to his championship-killing form will be determined in the coming months.

But it was what came after his first PGA Tour round in nearly three years that spoke volumes.

Koepka said before the first round he was nervous. He was nervous to face the media, fans and other members of the PGA Tour who may still be upset about his initial decision to leave LIV Golf. When you look at it, that doesn’t match Koepka who famously cared about nothing but winning majors. The flamboyant, flamboyant champion rarely entertained the opinions of others.

So, what gives? Growing up – as Koepka put it – being a father and going through the peaks and valleys of life off the course has a way of giving you perspective. The passage of time has a way of making everything easier.

“Because I care about them,” Koepka said after the first round. “I think I’ve fallen in love with the game again. And to be honest, watching my son play a little bit and I want to see him watching me, or I think I want him to watch me play well and see how much this game has given me, how much fun it is and how fun it is to be out there.”

Koepka came out on Friday needing to find something on the North Course for the weekend. The under 68s did it. What did it mean? Two more rounds to start the next chapter of Brooks Koepka’s professional life. That’s all.

He was 14 shots behind 36-hole leader Justin Rose. The Brooks Koepka we’ve become accustomed to may find it annoying or see all the possibilities of the January tournament in San Diego as little more than practice for an important response. It was nothing more than a shadfly could endure for a while.

But there was Koepka walking toward the media after making his first PGA Tour cut in nearly three years, carrying his son, Crew. Cameras caught Koepka asking the crew if they saw any planes or anything cool during his afternoons in the Southern California sun. That’s why Koepka wanted to come back, in times like that.

“It was good, it was good,” Koepka said as he greeted his wife and son after teeing off on the 18th green. “I don’t know when I last had a cut and they were still there. … It was good to have them there. It was good. I don’t know, my son doesn’t really know what’s going on, but it’s good for me to have them here.”

Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour. He will play this weekend at Torrey Pines and wrap it up next week at the WM Phoenix Open. Those six or eight rounds won’t matter in the big picture, for Koepka the golfer and Koepka the family man.

It is said that time is a river. One we will fish in, and events will create a collision – some that disappear quickly and some that have an impact that doesn’t leave us.

Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour for his family. As the San Diego sun beat down on Brooks and Crew Koepka on Friday, there was a flow in Koepka’s river — one that could be as meaningful as any great putt.