PGA Tour’s ‘Brooks Koepka’ Reinstatement Policy Feels Aimed Squarely At Phil Mickelson

Brooks Koepka's return to the PGA Tour just three weeks after his surprising exit from LIV Golf has understandably captured the attention of the golf world. The five-time major winner's reinstatement comes via the Tour's new Returning Members Program, which carries specific requirements that not-so-subtly spotlight Phil Mickelson.

Actually, spotlight isn't the right term; single out may be more appropriate.

The Returning Member Program is only accessible to previous PGA Tour members who have either won The Players or a major championship between 2022 and 2025. Koepka meets the criteria having won the 2023 PGA Championship, and only leaves the door open for Bryson DeChambeau (2024 U.S. Open), Jon Rahm (2023 Masters), and Cameron Smith (2022 Open Championship).

READ: Jordan Spieth Cuts Through The Nonsense On Brooks Koepka’s PGA Tour Return

The criteria laid out by the Tour is as straightforward as it gets, yet noticeable, and certainly so from a Mickelson perspective.

If the Tour extended its window for past Players and major winners from 2021-2025, Mickelson would qualify thanks to his shocking PGA Championship win in '21, and that scenario is where the conspiracies enter the conversation.

Phil Mickelson isn't welcomed back on Tour, at least not at this point in time. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

LIV Golf did not host its first event until June 2022, which could explain why the Tour chose that year in its timeline for the Returning Members Program. It also can't be stressed enough just how many bridges Mickelson burnt in Ponte Vedra Beach on his way to LIV Golf as the game's most-influential disrupter in the early stages.

The vast majority of Tour players who bolted for LIV cited major financial opportunities and more time with their families as the key reasons behind leaving the Tour. Mickelson didn't take that same approach, and instead called the Tour manipulative and coercive while seeing LIV playing the role of disruptor as a way to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.

It's tough to muster any sort of defense in Mickelson's favor to be afforded a route back on Tour, but there are at least two arguments worth mentioning.

Mickelson may be 55 and well past his prime playing days, but he still has a rabid fan base that would turn up, or at least tune in, to Tour events to see him play. A 45-time Tour winner creates a fan base for a lifetime.

On top of that, Mickelson's 2021 PGA Championship victory would not open the door to other former Tour players via the Returning Players Program who also won The Players or another major that season. Rahm won the U.S. Open in '21, but already meets the criteria to potentially return, while current Tour players Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa won the Masters and PGA Championship, respectfully, in 2021.

Mickelson would be a huge draw on the PGA Tour Champions and teeing it up on the senior circuit, but that doesn't seem like a remote possibility at this point.