Brooks Koepka has found his love for golf once again.
Competing in South Carolina this weekend at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, Koepka shot a 64 in Saturday’s third round to vault himself into contention heading into Sunday. He finished the round with a 29 on the back nine—his first time breaking 30 on the PGA Tour since 2019.
Entering Sunday, Koepka is tied for seventh place at 11-under par, five strokes behind the leader Mark Hubbard. He says he hasn’t had this much fun playing the game since winning the PGA Championship in 2023 at Oak Hill Country Club.
“That’s the most excited I’ve been playing golf in a long, long time,” Koepka said Saturday after shooting a 64 at Dunes Golf & Beach Club. “I can tell you that much. It’s been a long time since I’ve had fun playing golf. It’s been at least a year. I was very frustrated last year, just wasn’t in a good place.
“It’s like anybody. If they’re happy off the golf course, they’re going to play well on the golf course. I think that’s a huge piece of it. I’ve found that. I’ve re-found my happiness, my love for the game. All the pieces are connected. Now, I’ve just got to go out and go play.”
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Koepka departed the PGA Tour for LIV Golf in the summer of 2022, bluntly explaining that he left “for the dough.” Koepka says he landed a signing bonus of over $100 million to do so. He spent over three years on the Saudi-backed golf tour and won two of his five career majors in that span—the 2023 Masters and ’23 PGA Championship—but became frustrated as his game slipped the longer he competed in LIV.
It turns out the soulless money grab that LIV Golf proved to be (and always was) didn’t help his game … or his love for it.
When Koepka announced he was departing LIV to rejoin the PGA Tour back in December, he said he was leaving to spend more time with his family at home. His reinstatement was approved and he agreed to pay the hefty price—both financially and competitively, as he has to earn his way into the PGA Tour’s signature events moving forward.
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Koepka now is off the LIV Golf grind, spending more time with family and competing on the world’s premier golf circuit once again. Everything is coming together as the 2026 PGA Championship approaches next week.
“I’m super excited,” Koepka said of the PGA Championship. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a while. I feel like I’ve been knocking on the door. It’s very close. It’s one piece here, one piece there. Short game wasn’t there at Augusta. … Short game now is starting to come around.”
The PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pa., begins Thursday. When he tees off, Koepka will be swinging with that rediscovered swagger and enthusiasm that catapulted him to the top of the game before time with LIV.
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