LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA | It mattered, of course, that the 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole at Torrey Pines South fell in because it was the only birdie Brooks Koepka made in his all-eyes-on-him return to the PGA Tour Thursday. But it was the extended moment at the Farmers Insurance Open that was bigger than a single round of golf.
Three and a half years after Koepka left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf and barely a month since he was invited back, breaking the seal on second chances, the conceptual became a reality on a spectacular mid-winter day.
If Koepka’s opening 1-over-par 73 on the ruggedly difficult South Course didn’t crackle with highlights, the feelings nevertheless matched the warm, sunny, 72-degree day.
It’s why a sizable gallery gathered around the first tee by 9:30 a.m. to greet Koepka with more than a few “Welcome back, Brooksie” comments as he hugged the first tee announcer and shared some small talk with playing companions Max Homa, Ludvig Åberg and their caddies while wrestling with his own nerves.
“From the first tee on, it was great. It actually made me settle down a little bit. It made me feel good just to be out here.” – Brooks Koepka
At his peak, when he was winning four of his five major championships in a two-year period, Koepka hardly seemed to care what the outside world thought of him. He projected intimidation, self -assurance and swagger and if that didn’t warm everyone’s heart, it didn’t seem to matter to Koepka.
It was different Thursday morning, even if the swing and the walk looked the same.
“Just because I care,” Koepka said when asked to explain his nervousness.
“I don’t like thinking ahead at all or trying to anticipate what was going to happen, but I wasn’t sure, which is kind of weird being uneasy, or you don’t really know. From the first tee on, it was great. It actually made me settle down a little bit. It made me feel good just to be out here.”
The reception wasn’t as noisy as what Tiger Woods got during his glory days here or what Rory McIlroy got at Augusta last April, but it was fresh.
As he walked from the first green to the second tee, two young boys waited by the gallery ropes to welcome Koepka back. He saw them and walked over to slap hands with them. It was like that all day and Koepka, who tends to tuck his eyes beneath the bill of his cap, looked around and said thank you.
Koepka has been heckled before, it comes with the territory, and he’s accepted it, believing it’s part of sports. This was the opposite and it helped explain his nervous anticipation.
“I just cared about my perception, what people thought or what the fans thought. It’s easy when you’re around the players and they come and talk to you or you talk to them, or caddies or people around here, but everybody else, I wasn’t sure,” Koepka said.
“I think I’ve fallen back in love with the game.” – Brooks Koepka
Koepka played a solid, if unspectacular round on Thursday. He didn’t make any major mistakes but he didn’t make much happen either. It ran through his group, which combined to shoot 10-over par.
His 2025 season on LIV and in the majors didn’t produce many highlights and it tempered the early expectations for his PGA Tour return. It’s more than a return to familiar places that has renewed Koepka’s enthusiasm.
“I think I’ve fallen back in love with the game,” Koepka said.
His 2-year old son, Crew, has begun to play a bit and like other fathers before him, Koepka wants to share what he does with his son. He also had 14 weeks between tournaments, the last several weeks with his competitive future in flux. He didn’t know how the PGA Tour would react to his request to return even when he visited tour headquarters in late December to meet with new CEO Brian Rolapp.
“It’s a lot of time off, a lot of time to think, a lot of time to reflect. If you do that for a while sitting on the couch, you can go pretty deep on what you feel. I’m just excited,” Koepka said.
The hardest part, Koepka said, was getting through his media session Tuesday morning, understanding the questions he would face and explaining what brought him back to the tour. When he reached the first tee Thursday, his nerves were humming but it didn’t take long until it went back to feeling like another tournament.
For all that comes with Koepka’s return – there’s the PGA Tour-LIV dynamic, Patrick Reed’s decision to follow Koepka later this year and the chance to build on what is already a Hall of Fame résumé – there is the more fundamental aspect of feeling welcome on a tour he walked away from.
“I care about what everybody’s thinking out here, what everybody’s doing, and just trying to be as good of a person and good of a player as I can be. Just wanted a warm reception. Just like everybody else, you walk into a room nobody wants to feel exiled, they just want to be loved. I mean, that’s human nature I think,” Koepka said.
“I’m the only one in the entire world that’s going through this situation so it’s very difficult to explain. But I’m enjoying it, I really am.”