Brooks Koepka, with family at the center of his move, ready to get PGA Tour return behind him at Farmers Insurance Open

SAN DIEGO — Brooks Koepka didn’t have much of a plan when he first decided he wanted to leave LIV Golf and get out of his contract with the Saudi Arabian-based league late last fall.

It had nothing to do with the state of the golf world or anything else that’s come up during the tumultuous civil war of sorts within the sport in recent years. Koepka, after a difficult several months dealing with some issues within his family, knew he was done. He just wanted out.

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“I did not know [what would happen],” Koepka said Tuesday from Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.

“I knew I wanted to come out and see how things would fall. I did not know that I was going to be coming back this quickly. … I’m happy that it was this quick, but I was prepared for whatever they were going to ask or they were going to tell me.”

Now, just a few weeks after his split from LIV became official, Koepka is making his first PGA Tour stop this week at the Farmers Insurance Open. It marks his first Tour event outside majors in nearly four years.

There are a number of golf-related reasons he could have cited for wanting to make the jump back from LIV Golf. But Koepka’s logic was simple. It all tied back to his family, something he, clearly emotional and a bit nervous, brought up repeatedly on Tuesday.

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Though Koepka didn’t go into details, his wife, Jena Sims, shared in October that she had suffered a miscarriage. Pretty quickly, Koepka said, “circumstances kind of changed” in his family last fall.

“I’ve grown up a lot over the last few years, and especially the last few months,” he said. “Just being able to be close to them is super important to me.”

Sims and Koepka’s 2-year-old son, Crew, will be out at Torrey Pines this week. And, with the bulk of the Tour’s schedule taking place in the United States, they’ll be able to be around more often than they have been in recent years. LIV’s schedule this season, by comparison, will make stops in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and Mexico City before it even makes it to the United States in May.

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Looking back on his time with LIV Golf, being closer with them is what he’s missed the most.

“I think the ability to have my family out all the time. I think that was one thing because they didn’t travel too much over the last few years,” he said. “But like, they’re going to be out this week, so I am super excited to be able to have them out.”

Once he was released from the final year of his LIV Golf deal in December, Koepka picked up the phone and immediately called Tiger Woods. With no plan in place for what was next, he felt that was a good place to start.

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“I felt like Tiger was somebody that I’ve relied on in the past for questions and answers and how to deal with things,” Koepka said. “And I felt like that was maybe the most comfortable call for me.”

That pretty quickly set a plan in motion. Koepka eventually met with new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, a man he had no relationship with previously, and the Tour’s new “Returning Member’s Program” was born.

Koepka accepted the conditions of that deal earlier this month, which allowed him to officially make his return. The deal included significant financial penalties — the Tour estimates he could miss out on up to $85 million in potential earnings — a required $5 million charitable donation and limits on where he can play this season. Koepka will have to earn his way into the Tour’s elevated events, for example.

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Though he’s a nine-time Tour winner with five major titles to his name and a former top-ranked golfer in the world, the now 35-year-old Koepka is essentially starting from scratch. Because LIV events don’t count toward world ranking points, Koepka has fallen to 255th in the world. That, he said, is “the fun part” of all of this.

“I guess it’s a fresh start for me, which is cool. It’s just another chapter, I guess, in my book,” he said. “I feel like my game’s in pretty good shape and I want to see where it’s at.”

Koepka was nervous when he showed up to the course on Monday. It was chaotic and felt like a “whirlwind,” with players, caddies and other Tour staff coming up to him constantly to chat. He said the initial reception was largely positive, too.

While the tough part is now out of the way — Koepka admitted that his media stop on Tuesday was one of the things he was most anxious about — the nerves won’t go away completely until he actually tees off for the first time on Thursday.

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Once that’s been accomplished, Koepka can start to actually move forward. A win, or even a solid week at Torrey Pines, would be nice. But the finish itself isn’t the priority.

Koepka really wants to just get his second Tour debut out of the way and get back to doing what he does best.

“Would just like to get this week over and just feel like I can start playing golf again,” Koepka said. “I’m super excited.”