Five-time major champion looks poised to become a fascinating test case for golf’s future after exiting Saudi-funded breakaway tour
It was portrayed as amicable when it felt so inevitable. News that Brooks Koepka will step away from LIV Golf in 2026 comes as no shock. This never felt a particularly sensible alliance; an individual who craves glory at the top level and a disruption regime that has grasped for relevance with only varying degrees of success.
Koepka has looked unhappy in his professional domain for some time. He has all but admitted he would never have joined LIV but for fears over a potentially career-threatening injury. Golf’s ultimate alpha male was the captain of LIV’s Smash GC team. The whole thing always seemed preposterous.
Koepka’s exit is a blow to LIV, however it is spun. Two years ago, the Saudi Arabian-backed tour spent the festive season purring after Jon Rahm signed up. Golf’s existing ecosystem remained in a state of panic. LIV’s Koepka was the reigning US PGA champion. Amalgamation, surely, was necessary.
But as we prepare to bring in 2026, LIV rumbles along somewhere in the loose consciousness of even dedicated golf followers. That combining of tours no longer feels particularly likely nor needed. In one sense, that is sad; a lot of people made a lot of money out of fracturing an industry as the watching public suffered.
