Sounds a Lot Like Brooks Koepka Won't Commit to LIV Golf Past the End of the Season

PGA TOUR legend Fred Couples was recently in Seattle and joined Dave Mahler and Dick Fain of KJR 93.3 FM ahead of receiving the Royal Brougham Sports Legend Award from the Seattle Sports Commission. Couples brought some takes, including one regarding where a certain five-time major champion would like to play golf.

“I talked to Brooks Koepka all the time,” he said. “I love Brooks Koepka, and I'm not going to say anything extra except I talked to him all the time. He wants to come back. I will say that I believe he really wants to come back and play the TOUR.”

Koepka is at Sentosa Golf Club for LIV Golf Singapore this week and was asked to address Couples’ comments.

“I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens. I don’t know where I’m going, so I don’t know how everybody else does,” he said.

If I’m a LIV exec, I don’t love the sound of that. We’ve seen these types of quotes from players in other sports when asked about free agency. “I’m under contract here until the end of the year, then we’ll see what happens.” Well, I’ll tell you what happens. That guy is as good as gone.

Koepka was at a TGL match recently, rubbing shoulders with some of the PGA TOUR’s best including Max Homa. Some argued this was a sign that maybe Koepka was thinking about coming back to the TOUR, and some thought he was just catching up with some old pals.

*Getty Images

If we start to put some of the pieces of this puzzle together, I think the picture is pretty clear.

Jay Monahan stressed in his presser prior to this week’s PLAYERS Championship that the TOUR is committed to getting a deal done with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which ideally would bring the game back together. But regardless of the outcome of those conversations, all signs are starting to point to Koepka’s return.

I have a hard time seeing the folks in Ponte Vedra Beach shut that down if it’s what Koepka wants. He’s one of the biggest names in the sport and not many players have as much, as the kids say, aura as the five-time major champion. He wants to win big tournaments, tournaments with rich history and that mean something to the game. That itch is tough to scratch on LIV.

My guess is he’d be welcomed back with open arms. But we’ll see.