LIV Golf CEO Holds No Ill Will Toward Brooks Koepka for His Exit

Scott O'Neil said he would have done the same thing as the PGA Tour did in finding a quick way to welcome back the five-time major champion.

LIV Golf CEO Scott O'Neil said at a preseason event Wednesday that he wished Brooks Koepka well and that the league believes in free agency. | Zhizhao Wu/Getty Images

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The head of the LIV Golf League said Wednesday that he’d have done the same thing the PGA Tour is doing now: finding a fast pathway back for Brooks Koepka.

Scott O’Neil, the CEO of LIV Golf, joined a leadership panel at a preseason LIV media event at the Palm Beach Convention Center, and Koepka was understandably one of the topics of conversation.

Last month, the five-time major champion announced along with LIV Golf that he was leaving the league “amicably” after four years. The PGA Tour on Monday said that Koepka had been reinstated, with penalties, and will make his return in two weeks at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.

“I believe in free agency,” O’Neil said during a news conference. “Call me old-fashioned. I believe in open pathways. I believe people should be where they want to be. I believe our 57 players should be able to play PGA Tour events. We are not restrictive. That’s what we’ve believed since day one.

“We’ve had some friction with the DP World Tour and it’s been costly to us [due to fines]. But we encourage them to play DP World Tour events.

“I don’t think this is where he [Koepka] wanted to be. He talked about some of the challenges in public. I want people in the room who are going to wrap their arms around us. This is not a holy war. At least not from our side. I root for Brooks. I’m hoping for the best for him and his family if this is what he wants.”

O’Neil said he was not surprised that the PGA Tour has reinstated Koepka: “I think I’d have done the same thing.”

The PGA Tour prohibits players from competing in LIV Golf events, deeming them unauthorized. It announced Monday a narrow “Returning Member Program” that only applies to players on LIV who won majors between 2022 and 2025. That means that only Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cam Smith were eligible.

The three LIV captains have been at the LIV function this week and understandably pledged their support for the league. Only DeChambeau’s contract status is known: he is on board through this year and is a strong negotiating position as the league’s most popular player.

Koepka joined LIV Golf in time for the second event in 2022 and has said that he feared his career was on the downside at the time due to several injuries. But he won late that year and in 2023 won the PGA Championship, which makes him exempt on the PGA Tour through 2028.

He also became the first LIV player to win five times on the circuit.

Koepka’s financial penalty for leaving LIV Golf will remain private

Koepka had a year to go on his contract and O’Neil would not say if there was any financial penalty for leaving.

“Legally I can’t say and I don’t know if I would if I could,” he said. “We agreed we’d not discuss the separation terms publicly.”

Koepka, who has four PGA Tour victories in addition to his five major wins, likely made in excess of $150 million in upfront money, prize money and bonuses playing for LIV Golf.

As part of the terms to coming back to the PGA Tour, he is required to pay a $5 million fine that will go to charity, will not be allowed to get sponsor exemptions into signature events, won’t be eligible for FedEx Cup bonus money this year and is precluded from getting player equity grants for five years.