Brooks Koepka is returning to the PGA Tour at a steep price after his breakup with LIV Golf.

The 2023 PGA Championship winner announced Monday he will rejoin the U.S.-based tour he left in 2022 for the lucrative Saudi rival. Koepka, 35, said he will see fans at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines later this month.

As part of the announcement, the PGA Tour unveiled its “Returning Member Program” that subjects Koepka and any other participating golfers to “one of the largest financial repercussions in professional sports history,” according to a statement from PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp.

Players will give up five years of participation in the Tour’s Player Equity Program, which Rolapp estimated could result in $50 million to $85 million worth of losses in potential earnings. Returning players will be eligible for the Presidents Cup and TGL, but they will be ineligible for this year’s $100 million FedEx Cup bonus program. The Tour said Koepka agreed to make a $5 million donation to charity.

“I believe in where the PGA TOUR is headed with new leadership, new investors, and an equity program that gives players a meaningful ownership stake,” Koepka said in a statement Monday. “I also understand there are financial penalties associated with this decision, and I accept those.”

Only players who have won the Players Championship, Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open, or the Open Championship from 2022 to 2025 will qualify for the new program, and they have only a few weeks to apply by a Feb. 2 deadline. “Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again,” Rolapp said.

In addition to Koepka, that list includes LIV golfers Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and Cameron Smith. DeChambeau’s LIV contract expires at the end of this year.

Koepka and LIV parted ways in December with a year left on his contract. “Family has always guided Brooks’s decisions, and he feels this is the right moment to spend more time at home,” his representatives said in a statement at the time.

In a statement on Monday, LIV said it has “championed an open ecosystem and freedom, for all. Not just for a limited few,” and that its “vision remains unchanged.”

The five-time major champion becomes the first former PGA Tour member to rejoin its ranks after departing for LIV. Laurie Canter decided to re-sign with LIV after earning a spot on the PGA Tour this fall.

Koepka won five individual tournaments with LIV, resulting in $38.3 million in individual prize and bonus money, plus he captained the league’s Smash GC team. His PGA Tour prize money, including from his major championship victories, is $43.8 million.

Rolapp said “fields will be expanded as needed,” so Koepka and any other potential returning players don’t take away spots from current Tour members. His 2023 PGA Championship win gets him into all four majors this year, but he’ll have to earn his spot for other signature events.

WNBA players and owners have agreed to a moratorium freezing free agency, multiple sources told Front Office Sports on Monday evening, as the sides continue to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. 

The league’s initial moratorium proposal was made at roughly 11 p.m. on Friday. The union felt it contained “unnecessary” language beyond simply delaying free agency, according to a source familiar with negotiations. It looked to remove that language in a counterproposal sent over the weekend. 

The WNBPA received a response from the league Monday afternoon and accepted it. The moratorium will apply specifically to free agency, sources told FOS, including the sending out of qualifying offers, core designations, signings, and all negotiations. An email was sent to front office executives on Monday evening explaining the terms of the moratorium, league sources told FOS. The free-agency pause will end once a new collective bargaining agreement is ratified.

WNBA free agency technically began Sunday, despite the league and union remaining at odds over a new collective bargaining agreement.  

The glitch in the system is the result of the Jan. 9 deadline passing with no deal, no agreement to an extension, and no work stoppage, which pushed negotiations into a period of status quo. This means that both sides can continue negotiations under the conditions of the current CBA, which included free agency before the moratorium. 

During a typical free-agency period, qualifying offers, including core designations—similar to the NFL franchise tag—could begin being sent out on Jan. 11. Restricted qualifying offers are sent to free agents on an expiring contract with four years of service or a player finishing the fourth year of their rookie scale contract. This offer—which comes with a one-year contract and gives the player’s previous team the right to match any competing offer—prevents them from becoming unrestricted free agents and designates them a restricted free agent. 

The core designation, which the union has proposed removing, is used to give a team control of a player’s rights who would otherwise become an unrestricted free agent. It comes with a one-year supermax contract fully guaranteed. Beginning in 2022 a player could not be cored more than twice in their career. 

Last week the WNBA contacted every team’s front office to advise them that they can begin sending out qualifying offers and core designations under the expired agreement. The reaction from sources across the league was one of confusion and frustration. Multiple league sources told FOS that offers would be meaningless, as no players would sign them with an overhaul to the salary system being negotiated. 

Lexie Brown and Kalani Brown are the only players not on rookie contracts signed through 2026. 

Outside of the moratorium on free agency, the conditions of the current CBA will remain in place as both sides continue negotiations. 

In this period of status quo either side could initiate a work stoppage without advance notice. A lockout would be initiated by the owners and a strike by the players. The WNBPA cast a near-unanimous vote to authorize a strike in December. Stewart said over Unrivaled’s opening weekend that a strike was not an immediate threat, but a measure the players are keeping in their “back pocket.” 

A source familiar with the matter told FOS the league is not considering a lockout at this point.

There’s still a great deal of work to do at the Olympic hockey venue in Milan, with just three weeks to go before competition begins, but confidence is rising after a weekend of test events.

Three days of initial testing of the ice at Santagiulia Arena in Milan, the hockey venue for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics, began in rough fashion on Friday as an initial game featured a large hole in the ice that formed in front of one of the goals. Six subsequent games held over the weekend, however, went more smoothly, and the NHL and NHL Players’ Association said late Monday that they remain hopeful that the final preparations will be made in time.

“We were pleased that this weekend’s event was a good trial run and provided important insight into the current status of the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena,” the league and union said in a joint statement. 

“While challenges are inherent with new ice and a still-under-construction venue, we expect that the work necessary to address all remaining issues will continue around the clock. The NHL and NHLPA will continue to monitor the situation, standing ready to consult and advise on the work being done to ensure that the local organizing committee, the IOC, and the IIHF deliver a tournament and playing conditions befitting the world’s best players,” the entities said.

Those comments followed those of the International Olympic Committee, which praised the progress of local organizers and construction crews.

“What I see personally is an extraordinary seating bowl, and this venue … looks fantastic,” said IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi. “The last time I came was before Christmas, and this is radically different. So, so much progress.”

The condition of the arena and its delayed construction has been an ongoing concern for months, but more recently, other organizations such as Hockey Canada have also remained hopeful that the arena situation would be resolved. While the ice itself is now performing better there are still many issues elsewhere in the building that need to be addressed, including core elements such as dressing rooms, a practice rink, the main scoreboard, and concessions facilities. 

Arena capacity for hockey will come in at 11,800, less than the 14,000 figure originally planned, as some seating sections were not completed.

NHL players are participating in the Olympics for the first time in 12 years, and their involvement has been a major story, even before the potential safety issues at the arena began to rise. Because of that, the league has had several of its personnel on-site in Milan to aid with the final development, along with Don Moffatt, who oversees ice making for the Avalanche at Denver’s Ball Arena. 

The women’s ice hockey competition is set for Feb. 5–19, while the men’s tournament will run Feb. 11–22.

Draft Matters

The NHL, meanwhile, said late Monday that the 2026 draft in June will be held in Buffalo at the Sabres’ KeyBank Center. 

The decision arrived as the franchise has been revitalized in recent weeks, winning 13 of 14 games entering Monday’s contest against the Panthers amid the arrival of new GM Jarmo Kekäläinen.

“This is a place where hockey really matters … hockey at all levels of the game,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said of Buffalo.