SAN DIEGO — Brooks Koepka would never consider anything a dream week without a trophy, certainly not a tie for 56th finishing 19 shots behind the winner. But it felt like one at Torrey Pines.“There’s always that little voice in the back of your head,” Koepka had said a few weeks before his return to the PGA Tour after four seasons reaping Saudi riches on LIV Golf. He was referring to whether the PGA Tour would provide a way back, which it did.There also were doubts — that little voice — about how he would be received in the locker room, on the range, in front of a microphone and particularly outside the ropes. It made him uneasy.Koepka had every reason to feel so much gratitude at Torrey Pines. “Welcome back” was a steady refrain on Thursday and it never stopped until he finished with a birdie on Sunday.Strange about this vibe, however, is that Koepka was never embraced like this even before he left for LIV. He had swagger. He was big, bad Brooks. He was admired more than he was adored.Why so much love?“I don’t have an answer,” Koepka said after the third round. “It’s tough to put myself in their shoes. It’s cool, though. I enjoy it. I think it’s great. I think people are just excited. I’m glad they’re excited to see me back, to have me back. I’m hopeful it continues.”There was another little voice as Koepka walked up to the 18th green on the South course before a large crowd in the opening round. This came from a spectator:“Welcome back, Brooks. The tour is better with you.”More than a five-time major champion and former No. 1 player in the world, Koepka was perhaps seen as a symbol of the fractured golf landscape slowly getting patched back together. That’s what the fans want.LIV Golf was a big topic all week at Torrey Pines. It started with Koepka arriving on Monday. And then came Wednesday’s news that former Masters champion Patrick Reed also was leaving LIV to play a full European tour schedule with an eye toward returning to the PGA Tour.The tour welcomed him back, too, though Reed will have to wait until September.Koepka is not the solution, not in the way Jon Rahm presumably thought he would force unification with his decision to bolt for LIV. But he might be the flicker of light at the end of tunnel.“As you’re seeing, the dominoes are starting to fall,” Harris English said. “Maybe those guys on the LIV tour are not that ha …
