LOS ANGELES — Justin Rose conjured a bogey-free 10-under par 62 to grab the first-round lead at Torrey Pines, where Brooks Koepka showed signs of rust but basked in a warm welcome on his return to the PGA Tour on Thursday (Friday in Manila).
Five-time major winner Koepka’s return — after he jumped ship to the divisive Saudi-backed LIV Golf league that rocked the global game — had dominated the buildup to the Farmers’ Insurance Open.
Koepka, who hadn’t played a nonmajor PGA Tour event since the 2022 WGC Match Play, carded a one-over par 73 on Torrey Pines’ South Course, where he said his reception from fans helped quell his first-tee nerves.
“I just cared about my perception, what people thought or what the fans thought,” Koepka said. “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.”
In the end, he said, the fans were “awesome.”
“It was very cool to hear ‘welcome back,’ it was pretty much every hole.”
Playing the tougher of two courses in use over the first two rounds, Koepka found a fairway bunker on the way to a bogey at the fourth and dropped another shot at the 13th.
He made his lone birdie of the day at the par-five 18th, where his second shot went through the green but he chipped to eight feet and made the putt.
“I felt like it was pretty good,” Koepka said, noting he hadn’t played a competitive round in 14 weeks.
“I struck it really well. I didn’t hit enough fairways ... didn’t really make any putts besides 18 right there.
“It’s been a while since I played competitive golf, so I like the way I’m playing, I just need to kind of play my way into it.”
Koepka’s move back to the PGA Tour, which had banned players that jumped to LIV, comes under a new returning member program that includes limitations on eligibility for some top events, and a five-year forfeiture of rights to participate in the PGA’s player equity program.