(Update) Koepka returns to PGA Tour, but DeChambeau, Rahm, Smith, Johnson stay with LIV circuit

Give the members of the PGA Tour Board of Directors kudos for bringing back Brooks Koepka with a deal that should be acceptable to even the most resentful Tour members.

The PGA Tour took away Koepka’s player equity shares for the next five years, a penalty estimated to be worth somewhere between $50 million and $80 million. Such a penalty would make up for some, but not the entire bonus Koepka got from LIV. So a nice compromise.

There are other conditions, including a $5 million charity donation stipulated by the Tour’s new Returning Member Program, conveniently passed on the eve of Koepka’s announced desire to return.

But the player equity shares will hit LIV refugees hardest in the pocket book, though not immediately.

Isn’t ironic that the PGA Tour is taking away future non-competition boondoggles that Koepka and other LIV pioneers such as Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson forced the Tour to create?

That’s right. Without the threat of LIV and its ability to take away some of the PGA Tour’s biggest stars, there were no paydays for mere popularity. The PGA Tour created those funds to keep more of its stars from jumping to the fledgling LIV.

Remember how the PGA Tour criticized the LIV signing bonuses, while self-righteously holding itself up as true competition where financial success is based on tournament performance?

Yeah, the top players on the PGA Tour — typically the players fans come to see — have made millions and millions thanks to the options provided by LIV. Before LIV, PGA Tour headquarters wasn’t sharing anything other than tournament checks with its members.

Those changes included giving the players a majority on the PGA Tour Policy Board — the group that ratified the Returning Member Program — and PGA Tour Enterprises.

Granted, smaller elite fields and a reduction in annual exemptions have hurt the Tour’s fringe players, who do get a bigger check when they play and play well.

But all in all, competition from LIV made the PGA Tour more lucrative for its player/members.

There was a lot of head scratching about finding a reasonable solution to reinstatement for LIV players.

The PGA Tour found one for Koepka. Yet Koepka’s return didn’t trigger a mass return of other stars. On Tuesday afternoon Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and DeChambeau verified their commitments to LIV for 2026. Then, young Belgian star Thomas Detry jumped to LIV and Dustin Johnson signed an LIV extension.

Heavy fines and long suspensions — penalties the most angry or resentful PGA Tour players wanted — weren’t going to work. Any money paid up front by Koepka might seem like a spiteful money grab.

LIV’s biggest stars weren’t going to turn over tens of millions in their bank accounts from their signing bonuses to the PGA Tour. And nobody, including the PGA Tour’s stars, saw any benefit from having LIV refugees sit out a year-long suspension while possibly winning a major championship.

Koepka could return to PGA Tour competition later this month.

But taking away future earnings — from non-competition funds that debuted after LIV was formed? That’s a much easier penalty to stomach.

Other conditions such as forcing the LIV refugees to earn their way into signature events make sense. That’s typically the case, unless you’re Jordan Spieth. While cleaning up the mess, the PGA Tour should go ahead and eliminate signature event sponsor’s exemptions.

Getting Koepka back is a win for the PGA Tour, but the damage was mitigated Tuesday when LIV avoided a knockout blow.

Meanwhile, the big-name LIV players past their prime can aim toward the Champions Tour — if it offers a reinstatement program.