How Tiger Woods Helped Build the Bridge to Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour Reinstatement

Once a staunch critic of LIV Golf, Tiger Woods took a leading role in building the “Returning Member Program” allowing Brooks Koepka a quick return to the PGA Tour.

Brooks Koepka (with Tiger Woods at the 2020 Memorial Tournament) is coming back to the PGA Tour through a program that Woods helped put together. | Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tiger Woods made no secret of his disdain for LIV Golf in its early days. He questioned the format, the access to major championships, the perceived lack of incentive for players who were getting millions in upfront money and playing for large purses without a cut.

As he morphed into a role on the PGA Tour Policy Board, Woods has been viewed as an impediment to peace, one who would take a hard line in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund and perhaps thwart pathways back—when appropriate—to the PGA Tour for LIV golfers.

But in his first public comments since Brooks Koepka had his PGA Tour membership reinstated after leaving LIV Golf last month, Woods was seemingly all-in on the golfer’s return, beginning later this month at the Farmers Insurance Open.

A member of both the PGA Tour Policy Board and the PGA Tour Enterprises Board, Woods, 50, took part in crafting what is being called the “Returning Member Program” that was specifically geared toward the four LIV players who won major championships between 2022 and 2025.

“We took it to both boards and tried to implement a plan that would be fair and adequate,” Woods said Tuesday night at the SoFi Center, where a TGL match was held. “That justifies Brooks’s time away from our Tour, the penalties served, the fines if necessary, what the integration would look like on our Tour, and obviously the bonus payouts, yes or no.

“We had lots of subsequent meetings, worked through the holidays. There was no days off. We just worked through it day after day after day, and we came out with a plan that we unveiled.

“Yes, we’re not going to satisfy every player. This plan was created for a very select few players that met the criteria. You know the names. As far as his integration, he has the right, I think, in our sport, with our meritocracy that we have on the PGA Tour, that he has the right to earn his way into signature events, and if he plays well enough, he has a chance to earn his way into the playoffs. But he’s not going to get the bonus pool from that. But he has a chance to earn his way into those fields.

“Plus on top of that, he’s not taking a spot away from any player. That was one of the main concerns and one of the big things that myself and the other player directors demanded, that that was never going to be the case. He’s an additive.

“And on top of that, we get a probably top-three-of-his-generation player back that went to another tour, played over there, and was adamant about coming back here and got out early to come back.”

On Monday, the Tour announced that Koepka would be allowed back after playing four years for LIV Golf, where he won five times but is coming off a poor season that saw him post just two top 10s and finish 31st in the league individual standings. He missed the cut at three of the four major championships.

Koepka will face restrictions, but Woods says return is good for PGA Tour and fans

Koepka, 35, a five-time major winner, will face some restrictions that include not being able to accept sponsor exemptions into signature events and not being able to earn any FedEx Cup bonus money in 2026. He is being fined $5 million and won’t be able to participate in the player equity program initiated by the PGA Tour for five years.

In an interview with ESPN before the TGL match that involved saw his Jupiter Links team lose to New York Golf Club, Woods said that he believes Koepka’s return is good for the PGA Tour and fans.

“They way to see the best play against the best,” he said.

Woods, who is recovering from a disk replacement surgery in October, has taken a big role in the shaping of the PGA Tour. In 2023, a month after the “framework agreement” was announced between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Woods was appointed by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to the Policy Board.

He since has joined a newly created PGA Tour Enterprises Board and in August, PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said he would chair a Future Competition Committee.

Following LIV’s launch in June 2022, Woods was critical of the new league. During a news conference at that summer’s British Open at St. Andrews, he questioned players joining LIV who “turned their back on what allowed them to reach their current position.” He also wondered about their motivation with so much guaranteed money being offered.

Tiger Woods has taken a prominent leadership role in shaping the future of the PGA Tour. | Greg Lovett / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

But in a leadership role, Woods has been involved in trying to find common ground, even though the sides have yet to come to an agreement that unify.

“We've been rolling through scenarios for a very long time,” Woods said. “Ever since our talks at the White House last February to now, there was always ways in which how do we make our sport unified again. Is it total unification, some type of integration, how do we do it, where do we do it? Different tours are involved. But this is a first move, which is a great move.”

Rickie Fowler, who played for the winning New York team on Monday night, welcomed Koepka’s return.

“I feel like Brooks has been in a position, he’s wanted to be back playing with us for quite a while, so I’m very happy that we’re back in the position where we're at now,” Fowler said.

“I think the guys that were involved on the board level and the players that are involved, I think they did a great job of figuring out how do we make this happen and making it feel like—obviously we want him back and it not to feel like it was a closed door. I know he’s excited. I saw him actually as I was on the PAC [Player Advisory Council] call receiving the news that everything was going through and what was going to happen. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of people that are excited about it.”

The plan unveiled Monday would also allow for Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith to return to the PGA Tour if they decide to do so by the end of the month. That appears unlikely, and Woods suggested that the Tour would not be reaching out to them.

For Koepka to return in this manner, Woods said, “says a lot about the PGA Tour, where we’re headed, what we have done, what we accomplished and the players who have stayed and who have supported the Tour. Having another world-class player that these guys are going to try and beat, that’s what the fans demanded. That's what the fans wanted for our fan initiative program, and I think we've addressed that.”