Brooks Koepka withdrew from the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday, a move that came after a mixed stretch on the PGA Tour and fresh injury/absence ripple effects for the week’s alternates. The 36-year-old, who returned earlier this season from LIV Golf, is st
Brooks Koepka’s name came out of the Charles Schwab Challenge field on Sunday, and for the people waiting behind the cut line, it landed like a late, unwanted silence.
Koepka, 36 and a nine-time PGA Tour winner, returned to the Tour earlier this season from LIV Golf. This year, he has made 10 starts and made seven cuts. His results include five top 25 finishes and one top 10, with a T-9 at the Cognizant Classic.
He had played four of the last five weeks. but his most recent outing ended on the leaderboard’s lower end. After finishing T-14 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday. he still plans to play in the RBC Canadian Open in two weeks. He also remains exempt into the U.S. Open, which he won in 2018. That victory came the last time his national championship was played at Shinnecock Golf Club. the site of the 126th Open.
For the tournament, Koepka’s withdrawal wasn’t just about one golfer. With Koepka still in the 132-man field, the field size would have been expanded to 135. Instead, the news about his WD became another disappointment for alternates.
Koepka’s past at Colonial Country Club offers a glimpse of what organizers lose when he steps aside. He played there only twice before—finishing second in 2018 and carding a T-32 in 2020.
The Charles Schwab Challenge already arrived with its own erosion of star power. Jordan Spieth skipped for the first time in his career, and Scottie Scheffler was not in the field either. On Sunday alone, Denny McCarthy and David Ford also withdrew.
In a week already stretched thin, Koepka’s decision adds to a field that had been shrinking from multiple directions. The alternates now have one fewer reason to believe they’ll be needed in the end. just as the tournament makes its final push toward tee time with fewer prominent names than it expected.
Brooks Koepka Charles Schwab Challenge PGA Tour withdrawal alternates RBC Canadian Open U.S. Open exemption Shinnecock Golf Club Jordan Spieth Scottie Scheffler Denny McCarthy David Ford