THE $60 MILLION U-TURN: WHY BROOKS KOEPKA ABANDONED LIV GOLF FOR THE PGA TOUR
Brooks Koepka is back! The 5-time Major winner rejoins the PGA Tour under a new program. Is the LIV Golf era finally crumbling?
LIV Golf spent three years and billions of dollars poaching top players from the PGA Tour. Now, Brooks Koepka—a five-time Major winner—is shelling out big money just to come back.
Honestly, this feels like the biggest twist yet in golf’s ongoing civil war. And it could spell real trouble for the Saudi-backed league if other stars like Bryson DeChambeau bail in the next few weeks. That’s exactly what the PGA Tour wants with its new Returning Member Program. The deal? Any player who’s won a Major or The Players since 2022 and has been away for more than two years can come right back—no more 12-month ban.
This offer is open to DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, and Cam Smith until February 2. Not exactly a long window. And with the new LIV season kicking off in Riyadh on February 4, the timing is tight.
Brian Rolapp, the new PGA boss, is behind this move. He’s working closely with Tiger Woods, who sits on the PGA Tour Policy Board. Rolapp had to walk a tightrope—bring back a big name like Koepka to boost the Tour (and keep new investors like Fenway Sports Group happy), but don’t tick off loyal members who never chased the Saudi cash.
So here’s the compromise: Koepka pays $5 million to charity, skips the Player Equity Program for five years, gets no FedEx Cup bonus money this season, and can’t play in signature events unless he qualifies. In a memo, Rolapp said coming back will cost Koepka around $50-60 million. Sure, Koepka got a monster $125 million signing bonus from LIV and picked up another $45 million playing there, but it’s still a big hit.
Koepka last teed it up on the PGA Tour at the 2022 Valspar Championship. Now he’s set for a comeback at the Farmers Insurance Open, then the WM Phoenix Open.
He’s 35 now and, for a while, was just about unstoppable—he won four of the eight majors he played from the 2017 U.S. Open on. Then came the injuries. If you caught his story on Netflix’s Full Swing, you saw him wondering if his best days were behind him. Koepka’s always been a big-stage guy—he’s got more major wins than regular PGA Tour titles—and it turns out, LIV just wasn’t the right fit for him.
His form dipped last year. He missed three of four major cuts and sits way down at No. 159 in Data Golf’s rankings and No. 244 on the official list.
The new rule doesn’t cover everyone. Tyrrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann, and Hudson Swafford—who’s banned until 2027 for playing five LIV events—aren’t eligible. All this just shows how LIV has changed golf: the money piles up around the biggest stars, and the PGA Tour’s new events cater to the elite.
So, what’s next for LIV? The PIF-backed league wanted a transfer window to keep fans interested, but definitely not like this.
They’ve spent $5 billion so far and now want to run like a real business. They’ve landed TV deals—TNT Sports in the UK, for example—but their latest signings, like Victor Perez, haven’t exactly set the world on fire.
One thing’s clear: Koepka’s exit gives DeChambeau more negotiating power for his next contract. DeChambeau’s deal ends after the 2026 season, and he’s probably LIV’s biggest loss—he’s got 4.3 million Instagram followers and 2.5 million on YouTube and brings a whole new crowd to the game.
Jon Rahm hasn’t found his groove in the Majors since moving to LIV for 2025. His signing was supposed to push the sport toward reunification. It hasn’t.
Nobody really knows what’s in those LIV contracts, but captains get equity in their teams. Greg Norman once said Tiger Woods was offered $700-800 million to join, mostly in the form of team equity. Since Rahm was the last big star to join, leaving would probably cost him even more.
For now, Rahm, DeChambeau, and 2022 Open champ Smith are under pressure to show they’re sticking with LIV. The clock’s ticking on the PGA Tour’s return offer.
Rolapp put it plainly: “This is a one-time, defined window and is not a precedent for future situations. Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.”
RAIDERS PLACE RECEIVER JUSTIN SHORTER ON IR; SIGN HOOSIERS STAR BRADY
With Justin Shorter on IR, discover how new signing Jonathan Brady fits into the Raiders' wide receiver youth movement for 2026.
The Raiders aren’t sitting still; rookie minicamp just started, and they're already shuffling the roster. Right now, some veteran players are basically on borrowed time as the team leans hard into getting younger.
Take Justin Shorter. He’s been in Vegas since 2024 but hasn’t caught a pass in an actual NFL game. Well, his spot just got even more shaky. The Raiders put him on the Reserve/Injured list, which, let’s be real, is never a good sign this early in the offseason. Usually, that sort of move means a buyout could be next so he can test free agency.
There’s a steady influx of young receivers competing for spots, so it’s tough to see Shorter making his way back, even if he heals up. To fill his spot, the team signed Jonathan Brady, a receiver out of Indiana.
Nobody’s really sure what kind of injury Shorter has. If it’s serious, maybe he sticks around and rehabs with the team. If not, we might see him try his luck somewhere else.
As for the Raiders’ wide receiver group, the youth movement is real. Wide receiver was a big need heading into the offseason, but they didn’t do much outside of signing Jalen Nailor and drafting Malik Benson in the sixth round.
Vincent Bonsignore from the California Post pointed out that the Raiders might still look to add more receivers if the current group doesn’t step up. He basically said that the early rounds of the draft went to bigger needs, and now guys like Bech and Thornton Jr. have a chance to prove the team doesn’t have to keep looking elsewhere. But don’t expect the Raiders to hesitate if things look shaky.
Now, about that passing game, it was rough last season. The Raiders finished in the bottom five. But with Klint Kubiak calling plays and Fernando Mendoza hopefully taking over for Geno Smith, things honestly should get better. If Kirk Cousins ends up starting, he’s probably an upgrade, too. And bringing in Tyler Linderbaum at centre will only help.
Chances are, the Raiders will use an early pick on a receiver in next year’s draft. Even though they have a rookie quarterback waiting in the wings, they didn’t spend big at receiver this offseason. Maybe that’s because they don’t expect him to start right away. Who knows. For now, the wide receiver group looks decent enough to get by.
NFL EXECUTIVE NAMES COLE PAYTON HIS "NO. 2 QUARTERBACK" IN THE 2026 CLASS
From 94.6 PFF grades to 4.56 speed, Cole Payton is the Eagles' latest QB project. Analysing his path to the NFL depth chart.
Cole Payton, who played quarterback at North Dakota State, might end up making a bigger splash as a fifth-round pick than people expect.
He’s not just another late-round flyer, either. An NFL executive recently told insider J.L. Canfora that Payton has real upside. The Eagles have done something similar before, so this isn't coming out of nowhere.
Remember Carson Wentz? Philly grabbed him with the second overall pick back in 2016, but Jalen Hurts ended up taking over. Now, some people around the league think history might repeat itself with Payton possibly replacing Hurts down the road.
The executive went all in on Payton: “You know, I believe in that kid. That was my No. 2 quarterback in the draft. And Howie [Roseman] takes him? Come on. He sees it too. Cole Payton, if you bring him along the right way, can start in this league.”
Roseman, the guy in Philly’s front office, was a big part of the Wentz pick. He’s seen his fair share of quarterback changes over the years, and honestly, that might matter this time, too.
The executive didn’t hold back: “All the stuff you hear about Hurts, all the drama and where he is in his contract." You can call me crazy, but I think this kid could take over from him in a few years. They did this with [Kevin] Kolb, even when [Donovan] McNabb was still there. I know how Howie thinks. This kid has a chance.”
Payton had to wait for his turn at NDSU.
Payton rolled into North Dakota State in 2021, known as a strong recruit for an FCS quarterback, straight out of Omaha.
He was supposed to be the next big thing, just like the string of successful Bison quarterbacks before him. But things didn’t break that way at first. Cam Miller, the QB ahead of him, kept stacking up wins and making a name for himself in Fargo.
Miller even beat out Quincy Patterson II, a gifted dual-threat quarterback who transferred in from Virginia Tech. After Patterson got banged up in 2021, Miller took over, steered the team to a national championship, and then hung on to the starting job through 2024.
Patterson left for Temple, so Payton slid into the Bison’s running packages in a spot that Patterson had filled before. And Payton did more than just fill that role. In 2022, he ran for 284 yards and two touchdowns on 38 carries. By the next year, he really took off: 615 yards and 13 touchdowns on 84 carries.
Setback, then a breakout
Payton started 2024 looking like the same kind of threat on the ground, but a shoulder injury cut his season short. He only managed 164 rushing yards and a score on 21 carries before he went down.
Finally, in 2025, his shot as the full-time starter arrived after Miller left for the NFL draft, drafted by the Raiders in the sixth round. Payton made the most of it. He led NDSU to an unbeaten 12-0 regular season, completing 70% of his passes for 2,719 yards, with 16 touchdowns and just four picks. And he still ran wild, with 777 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on 136 carries.
Now, he’s got a fresh chance in Philadelphia. If you ask people around the league, he’s not just there to hold a clipboard. They're watching to see what happens next.
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