'I've Fallen Back In Love With The Game' - Brooks Koepka Shows Emotional Side After PGA Tour Return

He was the ultimate alpha male on the PGA Tour but Brooks Koepka showed a new, softer side to him as he returned to action at the Farmers Insurance Open.

When Koepka swaggered his way to five Majors with that rock-solid winning mentality, nerves never looked an issue and what other people thought of him was the last thing on his mind.

But after playing his first round back on the PGA Tour since his return from LIV Golf, Koepka displayed more emotion and vulnerability than we've ever seen from him during competition.

A rusty Koepka shot a one-over 73 at Torrey Pines but his golf was just part of the story, as it was his emotional post-round interviews that caught the eye - admitting to nerves, fearing the response of fans and fellow pros and detailing how he's fallen in love with the game again.

Once knocking out Major wins like a superior golfing robot, Koepka is human after all, with the main theme for all the nerves and emotions about his return being: "Just because I care."

Fatherhood may be playing a part in this new Koepka, and he admitted his son had helped him fall back in love with golf.

"I think I've fallen back in love with the game," said Koepka after his round. "And honestly, watching my son play a little bit and wanting to be able to see him watch me, or I guess want him to watch me play well and realize how much this game's given me, how fun it is and how cool it is to just be out here.

"It wasn't that you fall out of it, but I think you can fall deeper in love with it. I mean, I haven't played competitively for I think 14 weeks, so it's a lot of time off, a lot of time to think, a lot of time to reflect.

"If you do that for a while sitting on the couch, you can go pretty deep on what you feel. I'm just excited."

With some players unhappy with how quickly Koepka has been allowed to return, he was braced for a mixed reaction from both the pros and fans.

"I wasn't sure, which is kind of weird being uneasy, or you don't really know," Koepka admitted.

"It was a good group with Max (Homa) and Ludvig (Aberg), I enjoyed that. The whole day was great.

"I just cared about my perception, what people thought or what the fans thought. It's easy when you're around the players and they come and talk to you or you talk to them, or caddies or people around here, but everybody else, I wasn't sure."

Koepka 'just wanted a warm reception'

Koepka says he missed playing with the PGA Tour players, and admitted the speed of his return has "kind of blown my mind" adding "I'm just grateful to be out here and have a chance to compete with these guys."

He was so keen to return that Koepka said "if there's a penalty to be paid to get out here and get back, I was going to do whatever the Tour needed me to do. It was very simple" as he paid a hefty fine to come back.

Koepka had always performed better and raised his game more in the Majors than regular PGA Tour events, but there's no doubting now how happy he is to be back.

The snarling, hard-nosed competitor we saw has given way to a smiling, more open Koepka, at least in his first tournament back - with words we're just not used to hearing from him during competition.

"I just care," he reiterated. "I care about what everybody's thinking out here, what everybody's doing, and just trying to be as good of a person and good of a player as I can be.

"Just wanted a warm reception. Just like everybody else, you walk into a room nobody wants to feel exiled, they just want to be loved. I mean, that's human nature I think.

"I'm the only one in the entire world that's going through this situation so it's very difficult to explain. But I'm enjoying it, I really am."