According to Tiger Woods, here’s how Brooks Koepka got back on the PGA Tour

Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour, the same day LIV Golf announced that Brooks Koepka was leaving the league, received a letter from him asking if he could rejoin the circuit he left in 2022, and the process for him to return began, Woods said.

But the 15-time winner also said the Tour had been “looking at situations for a long time” about players returning to the Tour from the competitive circuit. And as for whether he’ll reach out to three LIV Golf players who may soon return to the Tour, Woods had this to say exclusively on Tuesday night:

They, too, will have to write a letter to Tour CEO Brian Rolapp and commissioner Jay Monahan.

Woods’ comments came after playing in TGL, the role-playing league he co-founded — and a day after the Tour announced Koepka would return next month under a newly created “Returning Member” program. Under that policy, Koepka and three current LIV players – Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith – would be allowed to return to the PGA Tour for their major championship wins over the past four years, but would have to agree to a series of conditions, including making a $5 million charitable donation and not gaining access to the Tour’s bonus program for five years or 20 bonus years.

As part of the announcement, Rolapp said Koepka agreed to those terms, a process Woods said began Dec. 23 and continued into the new year. Koepka’s letter was immediately forwarded to the PGA Tour Policy board and the PGA Tour Enterprises board, the two leadership committees where Woods serves.

“We took that letter,” Woods said, “and we took it to both boards and tried to implement a plan that would be fair and reasonable, allowing for Brooks’ time away from our tour, the fines that are given, the penalties if necessary, what the merger would look like on our tour, and obviously the bonus payments, yes or no.”

“We had many meetings that followed, we worked on holidays. There were no days off. We just worked every day, and we came up with a plan that we presented.”

Koepka was welcomed back, though, Woods said.

He also lined him up.

“We’re getting a player of his generation who might be at the top level who went on another trip,” Woods said, “played over there, and he was surprised to come back here and he came back early.”

“That says a lot about the PGA Tour, where we’re going, what we’ve done, what we’ve accomplished with the players that have stayed and supported the Tour. To have another world-class player that these guys are going to try to beat, that’s what the fans wanted. That’s what the fans wanted with our fan program, and I think we’ve done that.”

Next month, LIV will begin its fifth season, and Koepka was among those who took huge, guaranteed payouts to leave the Tour and join the Saudi-backed circuit. Talks to unify men’s golf are largely at a standstill, although Woods said Tuesday that a meeting 11 months ago at the White House with President Donald Trump renewed talks “to get our sport back together.”

“But this is a first step,” Woods said, “which is a great thing.”

There is a lot of energy, too.

Under the Returning Member Program, DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith could also return to the PGA Tour, and the district set a Feb. 2 to decide. Notably, each was part of LIV’s season preview press conference on Tuesday, and each had different answers to the president’s question directed at Koepka.

Said DeChambeau: “Yeah, I mean, look, I’m under contract until 2026, so I’m excited about this year.

Said Rahm: “Yeah, I’m not planning to go anywhere. Very similar answer to what Bryson gave. I wish Brooks the best. Personally, I’m focused on the league and my team this year, and hopefully we can repeat as champions again.”

Smith said: “I mean, I don’t really have any thoughts. I haven’t had much time to think about it. But I know I’m here to stay. I’m here to support LIV. I’m the captain of a great team and a great group of people. I’m happy where I’m at. I’m proud of where I’m at. I think we’re doing a lot of good things, especially this league that I can’t wait for in Australia.”

Can they be swayed by Woods, though?

Responding to a reporter’s question on Tuesday night, he said:

“Actually the CEO is Brian, so they need to talk to Brian, they need to write a letter to Jay and Brian to get the ball rolling.”

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