Brooks Koepka one decision away from PGA Tour wish | Golf | Sport
Brooks Koepka during his final round at the Masters (Image: Getty)
Brooks Koepka is now just one withdrawal away from playing in the RBC Heritage. Koepka, with five majors to his name, was the most successful player to join LIV Golf but shocked the golfing world by announcing in December he was severing his contract with a year remaining to return to the United States full-time.
The PGA Tour rewrote the rules to allow the 35-year-old to come back, and although he had to pay a $5million charitable donation and was made ineligible for equity bonuses until 2030, many felt he was treated leniently considering the impact of his initial defection. And now the American is close to competing in what would be his first Signature Event since returning to the PGA Tour from the Saudi breakaway tour.
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When Koepka returned to the PGA Tour, he did so with several conditions, one of which was that while he was able to make an immediate return to full-field tournaments, he wouldn’t be eligible for sponsors’ exemptions into Signature Events.
But Koepka is now closing in on getting the green light to tee it up at the $20m tournament, as Adam Scott isn’t playing in the competition and Jordan Spieth has qualified via his current FedEx Cup ranking.
Patrick Rodgers and Pierceson Coody are in the field despite sitting 11th and 12th, and all the players between 13th and 19th are now in the field via other categories, too, including sponsor’s exemptions, with Koepka 20th on the list, so that means one more withdrawal and he will be in.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy has already confirmed he won’t play in the tournament, as has Justin Rose, while Tom Watson has criticised the PGA Tour for reneging on its decision to ban for life golfers who defected to LIV.
Brooks Koepka and Jordan Spieth in action at the Masters (Image: Getty)
He said: “The Tour made a decision to renege on what they promised when the players left for LIV. They felt that the compensation that he’s paid is good enough.
“I thought the LIV players, when they left, they were supposed to be banned for life. If I was commissioner, that’s what I would do.
“I’d say if you’re finished with your contract with LIV Golf and you want to play the PGA Tour again, you must play the (second tier) Korn Ferry Tour for a year to qualify for it. They saw it differently.
“When the players left, they violated the number one rule that we really had out here, which is to protect the sponsors. Sponsors need players. They need the names to be able to promote their tournaments.
“If the players play wherever they want to play without a conflicting event rule, where you had to seek the permission of the PGA Tour to play in a tournament opposite of a PGA Tour tournament, the sponsors would be hurt by that.
“When the players left for LIV, I think it was basically over. They chose to go for the money, which is fine, but to return to the tour, I thought, was a non-starter, but apparently it’s not.”
