The golfing world is abuzz with speculation: after a turbulent few years, will Brooks Koepka suit up again for LIV Golf in 2026, or is a return to the PGA Tour on the horizon? The recent comment by LIV’s CEO, Scott O’Neil, has done little to clarify Koepka’s future.
“I know you’re not going to want to hear this one, just the individual players, and this goes back to our policy, we’re just going to run it through,” O’Neill said.
“So, we haven’t made any announcements on players, but he is signed for 2026.”
From PGA Tour Star to LIV Flagship Player
Before Koepka made the high-profile switch to LIV Golf in 2022 for a whopping $100 million, he had already built an impressive legacy on the PGA Tour. Over his career on Tour, he notched nine PGA Tour victories and established himself as one of the premier major champs of his generation.
“I’m gonna be honest with you: I signed for the dough,” Koepka said once. “I’m 100 percent behind that. Tomorrow I can go get in a car accident and never play golf again and my family’s taken care of … Everybody else, they go to their 9 to 5 … they’re doing it because of their paycheck, and that is the same thing as us.”
By 2023, Koepka had amassed five major titles, a total that places him among the elite in golf history. That record gave him the credibility and star power long before LIV existed.
Because of that history, his move to LIV was seen not merely as a transfer of membership, but as a significant shift in professional golf’s power structure. His track record underlines what LIV was banking on when they signed him: world-class elite performance, not just marquee status.
Given that foundation, it becomes clearer why reports of a possible 2026 absence in LIV, or even a potential return to the PGA Tour, grab attention. If a player of Koepka’s pedigree reconsiders his path, it raises questions about the long-term appeal and stability of LIV for other top-tier talents.
“I’m just going to play where the best players play,” Koepka said in 2020. “Simple as. I want to play against the best.”
Rumors of a 2026 Departure
Yet now, as we approach the end of 2025, things look uncertain. Multiple sources suggest Koepka might skip the 2026 LIV season altogether, despite being under contract. According to Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter, he’d be willing to forfeit nearly $20 million in guaranteed money in order to leave the tour.
Why such a drastic step? Some speculate Koepka may be eyeing a return to the PGA Tour. Because of his 2023 PGA Championship win, he remains eligible to play in the game’s majors regardless of his LIV affiliation.
Others point to his form: 2025 marked the first season of his LIV career without a win, and he missed the cut in three of the four majors.
“I talk to Brooks Koepka all the time. I love Brooks Koepka, and I’m not going to say anything extra except I talked to him all the time,” 1992 Masters champion, Fred Couples, said in a radio interview on KJR 93.3 FM in Seattle earlier this year. “He wants to come back. I will say that I believe he really wants to come back and play the tour.”
Koepka’s Own Words Add Complexity to the Speculation
The uncertainty isn’t new. Back in March, Koepka himself hinted that his future beyond LIV wasn’t something he viewed as settled–at least not publicly. Speaking candidly, he told reporters:
“I don’t know where I’m going, so I don’t know how everybody else does. Right now I’m just focused on how do I play better? How do I play better in the majors, how does this team win? And then we’ll figure out next year and how to play better again. It’s the same thing. It’s just a revolving cycle.”
That statement alone was enough to raise eyebrows, suggesting that even Koepka viewed year-to-year decisions as part of an ongoing reassessment rather than a locked-in destination. It echoed the mindset of a player who sees golf as transient–contracts, tours, formats, media attention–all movable pieces around the only thing he truly controls: performance.
Koepka doubled down when a follow-up question referenced outside speculation and comments made by others:
“Yeah, Fred [Couples] texted me after, I guess, the comments came out. I don’t know when it was. Sometime last week. Yeah, everybody seems to have their own opinion, and no one asks me. I talk to Fred quite a bit, but we don’t go too much into detail about what’s going on. Like I’ve said before, I’m not in those rooms.
“I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens.”
LIV CEO Comments on Speculation Over Brooks Koepka’s 2026 Status