ON GOLF
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome back to On Golf, presented by me, Luke Mangan.
It brings me great pleasure to announce that BROOKS KOEPKA IS BACK on the PGA Tour.
Here are the questions we’re answering:
How much did Brooks make while with LIV?
How much is Brooks being penalized to rejoin the PGA Tour?
What are these equity grants???
Can other golfers come back to the PGA Tour?
Why is Brooks doing this?
Brookes Koepka’s LIV Contract + Earnings
Brooks was dealt a HOT $120 Million signing bonus, and has earned ~$45M since joining.
He’s “only” missing out on LIV’s final $10M installment of his contract. For someone who’s earned 165 of em, keeping 10 more doesn’t justify staying in the dumpster fire.
The Cost of Rejoining:
Direct out-of-pocket cost:
$5 million charity donation to be decided jointly with the Tour.
Restrictions (opportunity cost):
No PGA Tour equity grants for five years
No FedEx Cup bonus money in 2026
No sponsor exemptions to the $20 million signature events.
The equity grants program is insane. The program started in 2024 and has already distributed ONE BILLION dollars across 200 players for performance and Tour value. Brian Rolapp is expanding this program — you can see why Brooks wants to be a part of it in the future, and you can see why the PGA Tour would want to make LIV guys wait their turn.
Read more about the PGA’s Player Equity Program.
Koepka will lose out on big money by being excluded from those programs over the five-year period — the Tour estimates the financial penalty (when adding in bonus money + potential equity money over five years) could range from $55 million to $90 million. $55-90 MILLION DOLLARS.
Feels like a lot, but you can tell the Tour has upped their pay and earning potential for their players to compete with LIV, and it’s becoming an even more viable and lucrative path when you think about the long-term outlook of the PGA Tour versus LIV. Good on the Tour.
The gist:
Hard penalty: $5 million fine (actual cash payment)
Estimated opportunity cost: $50-90 million over 5 years (money he won't be eligible to earn, but likely would if he performs the way we’d expect him to)
Who Else Can Join The Tour?
Only four LIV players are eligible: Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, and of course, Koepka.
The specific criteria:
Must have been away from the PGA Tour for at least 2 years
Must have won The Players Championship or one of the four majors since 2022
Must apply before February 2, 2026
This is explicitly a "one-time program" and "not a precedent for future situations" as the PGA has noted. It should also be noted that all 4 eligible golfers would still be eligible even IF The Players Championship was not included. So I’m honestly not sure why they included it UNLESS it was hedging for some sort of “future situation” that there needed to be “precedent” for. But I digress.
Here are some notables who are NOT eligible:
Dustin Johnson
Phil Mickelson
Tyrrell Hatton
Joaquin Niemann
Patrick Reed
Sorry guys.
It’s kinda crazy that the Tour can do this (pick and choose the criteria), but I think it shows how much leverage they have. They’re paying their guys well with awesome incentives and future earning potential, and their viewership and media value gives these guys a more sustainable and predictable long-term future.
I think Brian Rolapp is a dawg for this. The Tour execs are some dawgs for this.
Two years ago, it felt like LIV — with all the money in the world at their disposal — had the upper hand.
It’s now the Tour who has the high ground. I think they always did, but there’s no denying it was a bit shaky there for a while. Back on solid ground you could say.
WHY is Brooks Doing This?
I could list a lot of reasons, but here are the main ones:
The PGA Tour has the best golfers in the world
They play primarily in the United States
Their equity plan provides lucrative compensation packages compared to even 3 years ago
LIV has awful ratings and viewership (PGA’s has been growing)
In general, the PGA Tour is heading in the right direction, Brooks notices that, and he wants to be a part of it for the long-term, even if that means missing out on a lot of money in the next 5 years.
I think Bryson, Rahm, and Cam should want the same.
Cheers,
Luke Mangan
On Golf