LIV GOLF announced on Tuesday that five-time major champion Brooks Koepka has parted ways with the worldwide tour prior to the 2026 season.

The 35-year-old Koepka, who had one year left on his LIV contract, has yet to declare whether he intends to return to the PGA Tour. He left in June 2022 when LIV signed him to a reported $100-million contract to jump-start its bid to compete with the PGA Tour.

“We have amicably and mutually agreed that Brooks Koepka will no longer compete in the LIV Golf League, following the 2025 season,” LIV Golf Chief Executive Officer Scott O’Neil said in a statement. “Brooks is prioritizing the needs of his family and staying closer to home.”

Koepka’s tenure with LIV was laden with highs and lows. When he won the 2023 PGA Championship after spending most of his days playing in LIV’s comparatively non-competitive environment that featured 54-hole, no-cut tournaments, it gave LIV a big boost of credibility.

On the flip side, Koepka occasionally expressed his frustration with his situation – sounding like the 2017 and 2018 US Open champion and 2018, 2019, 2023 PGA titlist was marking time.

“I’ve got a contract obligation out here to fulfill, and then we’ll see what happens,” Koepka said at one LIV event.

His official third-person statement did not offer any hints as to his future.

“Brooks Koepka will be stepping away from LIV Golf. He is deeply grateful to Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Scott O’Neil, and the LIV Golf leadership team, his teammates, and the fans. Family has always guided Brooks’ decisions, and he feels this is the right moment to spend more time at home. Brooks will continue to be a huge supporter of LIV Golf and wishes the league and its players continued success. Brooks remains passionate about the game of golf and will keep fans updated on what’s ahead.”

While Koepka can tee it up for all four majors next year thanks to his 2023 PGA Championship victory, the PGA Tour requires LIV exiles to sit out one year from their last LIV tournament. His last appearance was Aug. 24 at the one-day LIV Golf Michigan event.

The PGA Tour could offer an exemption, but also opted not to offer any hints in its statement.

“Brooks Koepka is a highly accomplished professional, and we wish him and his family continued success. The PGA Tour continues to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness.” — Reuters

WORLD GOLF Hall of Famer Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki of Japan died on Tuesday after a battle with colon cancer. He was 78.

Ozaki won 114 tournaments around the world, including a record 94 on the Japan Golf Tour between 1973 and 2002.

“He is an indispensable, one-of-a-kind figure in discussing men’s golf, both now and in the future,” the Japan Golf Tour posted on X, translated into English.

He never won a major but finished in the top 10 at the Masters (T8 in 1973), The Open Championship (T10 in 1979) and the US Open (T6 in 1989). His 49 appearances in Grand Slam tournaments included 19 trips to the Masters, between 1972 and 2000.

Ozaki climbed as high as No. 5 in the world rankings in 1996 and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011. — Field Level Media/Reuters

VAL GARDENA, Italy — Pressure is mounting on Italian authorities to accelerate preparations for the Milano Cortina Olympics amid funding gaps and unusually warm temperatures, even as the head of world skiing openly advocates a fundamental overhaul of how future Winter Games are hosted.

With the Games due to start in February, International Ski and Snowboard Federation president Johan Eliasch said Italy’s challenges were symptomatic of deeper structural issues facing winter sport, as rising costs, climate pressure and under-used infrastructure fuel calls for a rotating model of permanent Olympic hosts.

Growing concern over climate pressure, escalating costs and the waste of Olympic infrastructure after the Games is strengthening support within international sport for a rotation system, under which a small pool of established venues would host the Winter Olympics on a recurring basis.

Proponents argue that such a model would allow long-term planning, reduce spending and ensure consistent conditions for athletes and spectators, rather than forcing hosts to build or upgrade facilities that are rarely used once the Games end.

Eliasch said several Olympic venues were facing technical difficulties not because of shortcomings by local organizers, but because of funding issues at government level.

Games organizers have said the venues will be ready on time.

“We see here that there are some venues that have technical difficulties. It’s not the organizing committees. It’s just simply a lack of funding from the Italian government,” he told Reuters.

“It’s really important that every effort is now made to make sure that everything is ready on time.”

Eliasch warned that readiness alone was not enough.

“We know that we will get everything somehow ready on time,” he said. “But the question is, of course, what? And that’s what needs to meet a certain quality threshold and also experience threshold for the spectators, the fans, the athletes, first and foremost, to make this a success.”

He warned that funding constraints could push preparations beyond critical tipping points.

“We shouldn’t be penny wise and pound foolish,” Eliasch said. “And there are certain tipping points here in the process beyond which there is no return.

“So from a quality perspective, for what we’re trying to do here, it’s really important that funding doesn’t become an impediment to delivering the best of the best for those two and a half weeks in February,” he added.

Snowmaking has emerged as a key concern as organizers prepare venues across northern Italy, and Eliasch noted that parts of the downhill course in Bormio had no snow on them.

“We know right now that the snowmaking equipment is working, but we have an additional problem, and that is that the temperatures are very warm,” Eliasch said. “Which means we can only produce snow during the night, not during the daytime because it’s too warm.

“So the theoretical capacity simply can’t be met,” he added.

Alessandro Morelli, Italian Undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, said he was happy with the situation.

“In Livigno, 53 additional snow cannons are in operation, ensuring the production of the snow needed for the smooth running of the competitions, ahead of the Olympics,” he told Italian news agency ANSA.

“The situation satisfies us, and we are confident that we can achieve an even better result than we had imagined.”

Eliasch contrasted the situation with regular international competitions.

“If this was a World Cup race or a World Championship race, it would be easy,” Eliasch said. “We’d know exactly what plan B, plan C, plan D is. We wouldn’t start making snow this late. We would have plans to bring in snow from other areas, track it in. We would have all sorts of contingency planning.”

Olympic events are far more complex, making financial certainty essential.

“Without clarity on and transparency for the organizing committee that we’re trying to support in every possible way — and they are doing their best, they’re working incredibly hard — but without resources, no one is going to step forward and deliver without knowing that they will get paid,” Eliasch, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, said.

“It is a very logical step to take,” Eliasch said of a rotation model. “And I have advocated for it with my IOC hat on. Without long-term planning, people are not going to invest. And the Games are getting more and more expensive.”

“Huge investments, billions of dollars, are being invested in infrastructure,” Eliasch added. “Which becomes wasted after the Olympic Games have been held.”

“For Olympic Winter Games, to pull all that together, they need at least five or six years’ notice,” Eliasch said. “I think we’re looking at maybe six to eight venues to start with,” Eliasch said.

Climate pressure is accelerating the debate.

“Climate change could become an existential threat,” Eliasch said. “The only logical way to bring costs down to reasonable levels is to have a rotation scheme.”

The stakes extend far beyond winter sports.

“We are competing with Formula One, NFL, NBA, football — we have to be at the forefront,” he said.

“The five rings are magical. And that’s something we must protect at all costs.” — Reuters