Brooks Koepka Adds Popular Florida PGA Tour Event To Schedule

Brooks Koepka at the Farmers Insurance Open

Brooks Koepka will play in the Valspar Championship

(Image credit: Getty Images)

It has been confirmed that Brooks Koepka will tee it up in one of the Florida Swing’s most popular events, the Valspar Championship, which takes place between March 19th and 22nd.

It will be the five-time Major winner’s first appearance at the event in four years, with Koepka moving to LIV Golf three months after his T12 the last time he played at Copperhead Course at Innisbrook, in 2022.

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The appearance will be Koepka’s third at the event, having also played in 2014, when he missed the cut.

The event, which concludes the Florida Swing, is considered a favorite among PGA Tour pros, partly down to the course, which includes narrow fairways and the notorious Snake Pit encompassing the 16th, 17th and 18 holes. As a result, Koepka is sure to be put to the test throughout the week.

Brooks Koepka at the Valspar Championship — Koepka last appeared at the Valspar Championship in 2022

He also seems certain to be part of a strong field, with Billy Horschel, Viktor Hovland and Patrick Cantlay other big names who have committed to playing so far.

The Valspar Championship isn’t the only event in the Florida Swing that Koepka has committed to playing.

He’ll also play in his hometown event, the Cognizant Classic, which begins on February 26th at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens and where he regularly played before defecting to LIV Golf four years ago.

Following that is the third Signature Event of the year, the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Koepka didn't play his way into the fields for the first two Signature Events, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational. Like those tournaments, he will need to qualify for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, but his options are limited.

At 255th in the world rankings, Koepka's too low to make the world’s top 30 in time to qualify via that route, while he can’t accept a sponsor’s exemption, per the conditions of the Returning Member Program that saw him resume his PGA Tour career immediately.

That leaves him with victory in the Cognizant Classic, a place via the Aon Swing 5, or the Aon Next 10 as his routes to a place in the field.

Brooks Koepka hits a tee shot at the WM Phoenix Open — Brooks Koepka missed the cut at the WM Phoenix Open

While it remains to be seen whether Koepka will do enough at the Cognizant Classic to reach the Bay Hill event, another Florida Swing tournament he has committed to is the one that follows it, the PGA Tour’s flagship event, The Players Championship, which comes from TPC Sawgrass between March 12th and 15th.

Koepka made the cut in his first PGA Tour start since returning to the circuit, at the Farmers Insurance Open, but he didn't make it to the weekend at the WM Phoenix Open, meaning that by the time the Cognizant Classic comes around, he will have only played six rounds this year.

He will hope that his run of at least three of the four Florida Swing events will help brush off any remaining cobwebs with one eye on the first Major of the year, The Masters, which begins three weeks after the Valspar Championship.

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories.

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game.

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course.

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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