Koepka appears to have left LIV at just right time

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Brooks Koepka never spent more time doing so little at a golf course. Considering where he could have been — Mexico City, still part of LIV Golf — it was a small price to pay. Koepka was the first alternate for the RBC Heritage so he had to be there before the first tee time, which in this case was before sunrise. It's like that for everyone in that spot — wait to see if someone withdraws from the morning wave, return a few hours later and the wait goes on. Except at the RBC Heritage, there was no break between morning and afternoon groups, only 41 consecutive tee times that had Koepka killing time for a little more than seven hours before leaving. Still, it beats the kind of waiting going on at LIV Golf. LIV players in Mexico City had no idea what was going on last Wednesday, only sky-is-falling speculation on social media eventually calmed by a captains' meeting that night. Turns out the sky only darkened with clouds of uncertainty, an uneasy feeling for a league once thought to have endless Saudi cash to burn. "Full throttle," is how CEO Scott O'Neil described the rest of the year in a memo to his LIV staff. The next day in an interview with London-based TNT Sports, he described a bleaker outlook when he said in a post that TNT later removed, "The reality is that you're funded through the season, and then you work like crazy as a business to create a business and a business plan to keep us going." As bullish as O'Neil was about the path forward, it was a significant detour from the start of the season when Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund behind LIV Golf, told players that funding was set through 2032. How long does it last? Forget for a moment the $30 million prize funds for each tournament and operational costs from building VIP hospitality to producing the telecast. The bigger question is where LIV finds the money to lure the talent that made it such a threat in the first place. This is where Koepka is in the sweet spot — back on the PGA Tour, even if on this day it meant being camped out on the patio above the putting green at Harbour Town. The LIV gossip was of no interest to him. For two hours, the conversation in a small group was light and filled with stories of past Ryder Cups, future major championship venues and tales of Austin Johnson, the brother and beloved caddie of Dustin Johnson. Those stories don't get old. (Their first time working together at the HSBC Champions, they came to the par-5 eighth with a stream in front of the green. Dustin said to his brother, "Can I get there with a 4-iron?" Austin replied: "Nope. But I can.") Koepka seized on an opportunity to return to the PGA Tour at a cost — a $5 million charity donation, no PGA Tour equity shares for five years, no FedEx Cup bonus money in 2026, no exemptions into $20 million signature events. That he already was in position to be first alternate was telling. The five-time major champion is not all the way back, but he's headed in the right direction. What happens now if LIV funding is gone next year, or if working like crazy doesn't produce a business plan that made LIV players richer than they deserve? Is there a path back? Koepka did not have to sit out a year from his last appearance because he was a free agent. "Brooks came back onto the tour because he made a phone call and said: 'Look, I'm out of my contract. I'm ready to come back,'" PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said Monday on Pat McAfee's show. Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are under contract. Rolapp said he would respect that and the tour would "react when we have an opportunity to react." Rolapp offered them (along with Cameron Smith, all major winners since 2022) the same deal as Koepka, with a deadline and a veiled threat that the deal was "not a precedent for future situations." The last PGA Tour boss who went back on his word lost the locker room. Rolapp is driven primarily by what makes the PGA Tour better, and that starts with having all the best players competing more often. But it could get messy. Other players who would bring value to the tour, such as Tyrrell Hatton or Joaquin Niemann, no longer have exempt status. There's also that small matter of 11 players, including DeChambeau, who put their names on the antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour. Players who stayed loyal to the tour have not forgotten that. Whichever direction Rolapp goes, he would do well to recognize that. Koepka kept a low profile when he left, during the four years he played for LIV and when he returned. The same can't be said for Rahm and DeChambeau. LIV Golf, meanwhile, remains a mystery. So much attention is on the end of 2026, and yet it has deal in place to return to Mexico City next year, to South Africa through 2029, to Australia through 2031. The beat goes on with questions about who's going to keep marching. These are not issues facing Koepka, who is partnering with Shane Lowry this week in New Orleans. He already made his move, and it looks like the right one. ___ On The Fringe analyzes the biggest topics in golf during the season. AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf