Sports
Brooks Koepka should face penalty if he rejoins PGA Tour, golf pundit says
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Brooks Koepka’s decision to leave LIV Golf years after becoming one of the notable faces to join the renegade league sent shock waves through the sport this week.
Koepka played in the LIV Golf series for more than three seasons, winning five events and taking home the PGA Championship in 2023.
Golf commentator Brandel Chamblee on Friday offered his two cents on fans clamoring for Koepka to return to the PGA Tour, writing in a post on X he disagreed with the notion.
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Brooks Koepka of Smash GC plays his shot from the third tee during the quarterfinals of the LIV Golf Michigan Team Championship at The Cardinal at Saint John’s Resort Aug. 22, 2025. (Aaron Doster/Imagn Images)
“I certainly disagree with this,” he wrote. “Allowing Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour with no consequence, would undermine the very meritocratic foundations that make the PGA Tour legitimate — not because of who he is, but because of what his return (will) signal.”
Chamblee said there should be a penalty of some kind for Koepka or anyone else who jumped to the league, which is backed by the Saudi Arabian government.
“LIV did not merely offer an alternative league, it fractured fields, diluted competitive meaning, triggered legal warfare, undermined sponsorship stability, and forced structural change across all of professional golf,” he continued. “Koepka was not a passive bystander, he was a marquee legitimizer.
“You don’t punish him for being influential, but you cannot pretend his influence didn’t matter. His credibility made LIV viable, his stature normalized defection and his success (especially after joining LIV) validated the disruption.”
Brooks Koepka acknowledges the crowd on the fifth green during the first round of the British Open at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison, File)
Chamblee suggested a penalty would suffice and being reintegrated into the PGA Tour would be the route that officials should go with.
“A penalty would not so much be a punishment as it would be an acknowledgment of choice and the consequence does not need to be punitive to be meaningful,” he added. “He could be made to re-qualify for the PGA Tour (his 5 year exemption for winning the PGA Championship for majors may stand but not for the PGA Tour).
“He could have limited season eligibility and/or a suspension tied to prior contracted breach. The players who stayed on the PGA Tour paid a price. They had to absorb the uncertainty, play in weaker fields, shoulder reputational risk and take on a greater responsibility of protecting the tour’s continuity.”
Ultimately, Chamblee wrote, the penalty wouldn’t be about punishing anyone but rather the consequences for sending a ripple effect through the sport and protecting the PGA Tour.
“It is about whether the PGA Tour believe commitments mean something. If elite players can destabilize the system, take guaranteed money and then return instantly because they are popular or successful, the message is that rules apply only to the expendable,” Chamblee wrote.
“If excellence alone erases consequences then the PGA Tour ceases to be a meritocracy and becomes a marketplace of convenience. Great players most certainly deserve respect, but institutions deserve protection.”
Brooks Koepka plays a shot from a bunker on the second hole during the second round of the U.S. Open June 13, 2025. (Charles LeClaire/Imagn Images)
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LIV Golf said Koepka was leaving the series to prioritize the “needs of his family and staying closer to home.”
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Pakistan’s experienced batter Babar Azam has urged his teammates to remain calm and focused amid the high expectations ahead of the T20 World Cup match against India, scheduled for Sunday in Colombo.
“Matches between Pakistan and India are always intense. It’s not just the people of both countries, but the whole world watches this game, which takes it to a completely different level and raises expectations from the players,” Babar said in a video statement.
He added, “I have been part of many such matches and have learned that the more composed you remain, and the more you focus on the game instead of external noise, the better you will perform.”
Babar acknowledged the excitement surrounding the fixture but emphasised that players benefit from staying tension-free.
“There is always a lot of energy in this match, but the more relaxed the players are, the better it is for them,” he said.
Rain to play spoilsport
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Meteorological Department has predicted rainfall in Colombo on match day, adding a weather variable to the contest.
Cricket fans, however, remain hopeful for an exciting game on Sunday.
WACO, Texas — Tyce Armstrong hit three grand slams in his Baylor debut Friday night in the Bears’ 15-2 season-opening victory over New Mexico State, just the second college baseball player to accomplish that feat.
“I’m speechless,” Armstrong said. “It’s the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of.”
He joins Louisville’s Jim LaFountain as the only players with that distinction. LaFountain hit two of his three grand slams in the same inning on March 24, 1976, in the second game of a doubleheader against Western Kentucky. He also hit a two-run home run in the 26-4 victory that was called in the fifth inning.
No Major League Baseball player has hit three grand slams in one game. Thirteen players have had two in a game.
Armstrong, a senior first baseman, transferred from Texas-Arlington, where he had 17 homers and 87 RBIs over three seasons.
He went 3-for-4 with 12 RBIs against New Mexico State.
Armstrong hit all three homers to left field — a 401-foot shot in the third inning, a 407-foot blast in the fourth and a 386-foot homer in the seventh.
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Tempers flared at an Olympic curling match between Canada and Sweden Friday with a profane insult being hurled after allegations of cheating were made.
Canada beat Sweden 8-6, and Canadian third Marc Kennedy and Sweden’s Oskar Eriksson got into it after Eriksson accused Kennedy of an illegal procedure called double-touching stones after releasing them at the hog line.
Kennedy shouted, “I haven’t done it once. You can f— off,” at Eriksson.
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Canada’s Ben Hebert, Brad Jacobs and Brett Gallant compete in the men’s curling round-robin against Sweden during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo Feb. 13, 2026. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP)
Eriksson replied, “I’ll show you a video after the game. I’ll show you a video where it’s two meters over the hog line.”
Both sides appealed to the officials, but no results were changed.
Swedish team leader Fredrik Lindberg said in a statement, “At this point, the Swedish Olympic Committee will not seek an investigation regarding the events during Friday’s game,” according to The National Review.
POWER OUTAGE HALTS MILAN CORTINA OLYMPICS CURLING COMPETITION MOMENTS AFTER MATCHES BEGIN
Sweden’s Rasmus Wranaa, left, reacts next to Canada’s Ben Hebert during the men’s curling round-robin during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium in Cortina d’Ampezzo Feb. 13, 2026. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP)
Kennedy responded to the allegations after the match.
“I have a ton of respect for Oskar Eriksson,” he said. “He’s one of the best players to ever play. I just told him … I would never accuse you of cheating. I’ve been on tour for 25 years. He pulled a hog line official on us to make sure we weren’t double-touching. The hog line official was there for six ends, never said a thing and he’s still talking about it in the ninth end.
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The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium on Feb. 4, 2026, in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
“I don’t like being accused of cheating, so I told him what I thought of it.”
According to World Curling policy, a moving stone cannot be touched beyond the hog line, but it is not a violation if a thrower double-touches the rock before the line.
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