Brooks Koepka's average first round back on the PGA Tour was exactly what he needed: 'I just wanted a warm reception'

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SAN DIEGO — Brooks Koepka’s first round back on the PGA Tour felt rather ordinary on Thursday afternoon.

He didn’t play exceptionally well or hit any true highlights on the South Course at Torrey Pines, and there weren’t any real issues to be had, either on the course or off. 

But once Koepka’s final putt dropped and he got his scorecard for the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open signed and turned in, there appeared to be a sense of relief. Koepka’s return to the PGA Tour, something he’s been having to think about in some fashion for months now, was officially behind him.

“It was good to get that out of the way I think,” Koepka said.

Koepka posted a 1-over 73 on Thursday to kick off his first non-major Tour event in nearly four years. He made 15 pars on the day, with only two bogeys and a lone birdie at the 18th green. Koepka is the first person to leave LIV Golf under the new “Returning Member’s Program,” something that was created earlier this month and comes with significant penalties, both financial and otherwise. He has repeatedly said he was willing to do just about whatever the Tour wanted in order to make his return happen. Leaving LIV Golf, he explained earlier in the week, was just a family decision after a rough few months away from the game.

But Koepka has had to try and picture his return to the Tour — where he won nine times, including at five major championships before the rupture in the golf world — for months now, even before he knew the specifics of what it would take to get back. 

Naturally, there were a lot of nerves when he stepped up to the first tee on Thursday. That’s something that, at least from the outside looking in, is a bit unusual.

“[I was nervous] just because I care,” he explained. “I think I've fallen back in love with the game. And honestly, watching my son play a little bit and wanting … him to watch me play well and realize how much this game’s given me, how fun it is and how cool it is to just be out here.”

And any fear of heckling or a poor reception from fans was completely unfounded, too. The contingent following Koepka around continued to grow throughout the morning and was certainly the largest on the course at times. Constantly, as Koepka walked from one green to the next tee or down through the fairway after a shot, the fans that were following him seemed thrilled that he was back. Koepka was always getting some variation of, “Welcome back, Brooks!” from the first hole to the last. He stopped to sign autographs and take photos with nearly everyone who asked him outside of the clubhouse, too.

The “uneasy” feeling he had about how he would be received quickly dissipated.

“It was pretty much every hole, which is great,” he said. “I loved to hear it, and I'm excited for the next few days.”

It was that perception of him that Koepka seemed to care about the most.

“I care what everybody’s thinking out here, what everybody’s doing, and [I’m] just trying to be as good of a person and good of a player as I can be,” he said. “I just wanted a warm reception. Just like everybody else, you walk into a room, nobody wants to feel exiled. They just want to be loved. I mean, that’s human nature, I think.”

While the round is now behind him, Koepka has a long way to go to even get into contention in what is the third Tour stop of the season. 

He was tied for 96th on the leaderboard when he entered the clubhouse, 11 shots back from the leader at that point. That deficit only grew as the rest of the field finished. Koepka will play the North Course at Torrey Pines on Friday in his second round, where he'll try to make the cut on the side that seemed to score much better than the South Course on Thursday.

But whether he makes the cut or not doesn’t really matter. Koepka can finally start moving forward again.

“I’m the only one in the entire world that’s going through this situation, so it’s very difficult to explain,” he said. “But I’m enjoying it, I really am.”