Brooks is back — and so is Patrick Reed?
Plus, Justin Rose wins at Torrey and Nelly Korda *wins the LPGA season opener
In Tiger Woods’ heyday, Torrey Pines marked the unofficial start to the PGA Tour season as the Big Cat’s opener.
Now, it’s just one of many season openers, along with Kapalua (usually), The Players and even The Masters.
Either way, we’re in the swing of things now, with Justin Rose going wire-to-wire for a dominant seven-shot victory.
Elsewhere, Nelly Korda won the LPGA Tournament of Champions in a condensed 54 holes due to freezing weather down south in Florida. Ok, freezing, sure.
We’ll start, however, with a man who barely made the cut…
The signature hole
By Myles
Brooks Koepka has returned from the abyss.
The five-time major champ was back on the PGA Tour this week, playing four rounds at Torrey Pines and making the cut on the number in what otherwise would have been a non-descript showing.
Koepka’s hype train was full-steam ahead entering the week — and it only rumbled faster on Tuesday, when Patrick Reed announced his own return to the Tour.
If the PGA Tour and LIV were duelling Jenga puzzles, the Reed block would have resulted in a small tremor on one side, and some solid — if potentially haphazard — reinforcement on the other.
Koepka? His move shook the entire foundation.
And on Monday, the whole thing could have crumbled down if either Jon Rahm or Bryson DeChambeau took the PGA Tour’s offer to return. They did not.
So where do things stand?
Well, the off-season trade went something like this:
PGA Tour acquires: Koepka, Reed, Kevin Na, Hudson Swafford, Pat Perez
LIV acquires: Thomas Detry, Victor Perez, Elvis Smylie, Michael Lo Sasso, various mules
There’s no debating the name value swing there, with Koepka alone far more marketable than any of the LIV guys, at least for now.
What could be up for debate, however, is which side comes out with the better golfers in 2026. Zoom in further, and the question there: How good is 35-year-old Koepka?
Well, if four rounds at Torrey are any indication, we’d venture to say he’s in a pretty good spot.
You know that first round of the season, when you can hit the big-faced driver and advance it with your irons but can’t read a putt to save your life?
That must’ve been what Koepka felt like over 72 holes. Just absolutely no feel on the greens — to the point where he was last in strokes gained: putting (among players to make the cut). As Andy Johnson pointed out, an average putting week would have lifted Koepka to 27th.
The good news is Koepka hit the ball well. The driver was solid, he hit some good iron shots (and some not so good), and in a week where he likely felt an uncomfortable spotlight, he mostly delivered to expectation.
Moving to next week at the WM Phoenix Open, where he’s won twice, the question will be whether he can get into the first page of the leaderboard.
Then there’s P-Reed. Let’s, um, use some facts: Ranked 25th in the world despite LIV’s lack of OWGR points, the enigmatic American is pretty clearly a better golfer than Koepka (252nd, up three spots after Torrey) as things stand today.
The accused golf cheater whose wife has the most famous burner account in golf will undoubtedly be good for PGA Tour business. Whether he’s welcomed back in the locker rooms with open arms like Brooks will be up for debate — and won’t happen until at least August, anyway.
For now, it’s good to have Brooks back and it’s nice to have the idea of Reed back, too.
Here’s hoping their return opens the floodgates for more.
Notable names
Justin Rose (winner, Farmers Insurance Open): Adding to his illustrious resume, 45-year old Rose marked his damn territory at Torrey, winning handedly by 6 shots. Remember that #TeamRose lost in a playoff to Rory at Augusta last year — does this tournament set the stage for more major runs in ‘26?
Joel Dahmen (T7): It remains impossible not to root for this guy — and the birdie on 18 to secure his spot in the top-10 might be one that, non-hyperbolically, saves his career. We’ll give him a pass for the fact is he a walking ad. The look is not… good good.
Sahith Theegala (T7): Good to see him back near the top of the leaderboard, even if we already get way too much of him in our Instagram/TikTok feeds.
Tony Finau (T11): The newest Jordan Brand athlete made a hole-in-one, didn’t break his ankle and nearly returned to his comfy spot in the top 10.
Xander Schauffele (MC): His fake made-cuts streak is over. Many expected a rebound year from X, which will now have to start away from his San Diego home.
Swing thoughts (golf nerds only)
By Nate
You know when you get a call from a friend and they start dissecting their golf swing and what needs fixing: “I just need to shallow the club and tuck my right elbow” or “If I keep my head still, I’ll stop over-rotating.”
You nod along, offer your unvalidated hypotheses, then start rambling about your own swing. It’s a weird part of male friendship where we’d prefer to talk about our golf swings than our jobs, love life, family, or really anything else.
All this to say that watching Golf.com’s Warming Up series with Jordan Spieth was 41-minutes of this exact experience — and it was awesome. The host, Dylan Dethier, interviewed the Texan as he went through his range routine. But he didn’t need to say much — Spieth’s mind works in overdrive at all times and is frequently on display through hot mics and audio-captures of him and caddie Michael Greller.
I’d recommend watching the entire video, but let’s be real, there’s not enough time in the day. So here are my favourite Spieth-isms and soundbites, all paraphrased:
My pet peeve is when the spin of my ball works against the slope of the green: Normal pet peeves are slow walkers and picking your nails, but no, Spieth can’t freaking stand the idea of a fade landing on a left-right sloping green.
Dylan: You’re hitting it a lot further. Spieth: Yeah, that’s just Titleist: We can chat about the yardage gains from better equipment, but Spieth’s immediate reaction to give credit to his club manufacturer kinda says it all.
On coming back from injury: It’s like smoking meats… it can get up to 155 degrees really quickly, but the last 10 degrees takes the same amount of time it took to get all the way up there. In true Texas fashion, Spieth analogizes finding his swing after injury to the process of smoking meat. If I’m picking up what he’s putting down, that extra 10 degrees is set to come this year and it’s gonna be HOT.
Oh, and one more thing: he said he his best shot ever was at Birkdale, the host of the British Open this year. Watch this space.