Brooks Koepka Becomes Latest PGA Tour Star to Jump to LIV Golf Series
The LIV Golf Invitational Series is landing another big name, as the signing of four-time major champion Brooks Koepka will be announced Tuesday. Koepka will make his debut in the second event of the group's controversial circuit next week at Pumpkin Ridge outside of Portland.
Koepka, 32, who has won two U.S. Opens (2017 and 2018) and two PGA Championships (2018 and 2019) among his eight PGA Tour titles, has battled through various injuries in each of the past few years and has seen his world ranking slip to 19th.
Still, he gives LIV Golf another top-20 player along with Dustin Johnson and joins other major winners Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Martin Kaymer.
Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, who is ranked 20th in the world, was announced Tuesday afternoon as another addition to the LIV Golf series, although his participation has yet to be confirmed. Ancer’s lone PGA Tour title came at last year’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Koepka finished 55th at the U.S. Open and is entered in this week’s Travelers Championship.
His brother, Chase, competed in the first LIV Golf event two weeks ago outside of London and Brooks’ name has been associated with the venture on and off for months.
Last week at the U.S. Open, Koepka scoffed at questions about it.
“I’m here at the U.S. Open,’’ he said. “I’m ready to play the U.S. Open and I think it kind of sucks, too, you all are throwing a black cloud over the U.S. Open. It’s one of my favorite events. I don’t know why you guys keep doing that. The more legs you give it, the more you keep talking about it.’’
Now he will be talking about it a bunch more.
Koepka, who recently was married, has only played The Masters (missed cut), the PGA Championship (tie for 55th) and the U.S. Open in the last two months.
LIV Golf is expected to announce the majority of its 48-player field for next week’s events on Wednesday, with the possibility of leaving some openings to wait on future deals prior to next week’s tournament. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said two weeks ago that those players who participate in LIV events will be suspended indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour scheduled a player’s meeting for Tuesday at the Travelers Championship and Monahan was due to the speak to the media on Wednesday afternoon. The DP World Tour said it will issue guidance on Thursday at the BMW International in Germany concerning how it will handle players who are competing in LIV Golf events.