Sports
Brooks Koepka grateful for 'warm reception' from PGA Tour fans
Jun 14, 2025; Oakmont, Pennsylvania, USA; Brooks Koepka plays his shot from the first tee during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images SAN DIEGO — There was plenty of “Brooksie” shouted from the gallery and even more “Welcome back” on Thursday as the highly anticipated return of Brooks Koepka to the PGA Tour had mostly chill vibes along the California coast.
From his drive off the first tee at Torrey Pines’ acclaimed South Course, to a final birdie putt at No. 18, Koepka was well received in his first round on the PGA Tour after 3 1/2 seasons with LIV Golf.
If there was disappointment that Koepka took his headliner status to the Saudi Arabia-backed golf tour in June of 2022, it was mostly represented by appreciation that at least one piece of the PGA puzzle was back in place again.
Koepka obliged those with open arms by offering plenty of thank yous. He would have rather shown his appreciation with a better round, shooting 1-over-par 73 to open his weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Forgive and forget wasn’t a sure thing this week. Koepka admitted that one of his concerns shortly after fashioning a path back to the PGA Tour was the reception from fans.
“I don’t like thinking ahead at all or trying to anticipate what was going to happen, but I wasn’t sure, which is kind of weird to be uneasy,” Koepka said after his round. “You don’t really know, but from the first tee on, it was great. It actually made me settle down a little bit and made me feel good.”
Patrick Reed also announced his return from LIV to the PGA Tour for later this season. His reception remains to be seen.
Day 1 for Koepka was reassuring, but it does not mean there won’t be other days, other cities, some potential late-afternoon objectors with a beer in hand, determined to get something off their chest.
“I’ve definitely been heckled,” Koepka said. “I enjoy it. It’s sports, right? Sometimes it makes you lock in and play a little better which is always fun. I’m not saying I want it all the time, so nobody think that.
“But yeah, I cared about my perception, what people thought, 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, the people around here. But everybody else, I wasn’t sure.”
After all, Koepka once scoffed when LIV emerged, suggesting fellow competitors would sell out and join. He ended up being one of those to depart on a reported deal for at least $100 million, with another $45 million in prize money and bonuses.
With another year remaining on that contract, Koepka began to investigate a path back to the PGA Tour. He said this week that playing near family again was the major motivator without being specific. His wife, Jena Sims, revealed on social media in October she had a miscarriage.
His family is with him in the San Diego area this week, including 2-year-old son Crew.
As a member of the third group off the South Course’s first tee Thursday, Koepka sent his drive to the right side of the fairway, put his approach shot to 10 feet and completed a two-putt par. It was better than his playing partners — Max Homa and Swede Ludvig Aberg — each of whom had a bogey.
Birdies were hard to come by in the group. Koepka opened with three pars then had a three-putt bogey at the challenging fourth hole. He strung together eight consecutive pars before a disappointing bogey at the par-5 13th to reach 2 over.
Koepka’s only birdie of the day came at No. 18 to pull back to 1 over. Homa was 3 over and Aberg limped home at 6 over. All of them were left to strain their necks looking up at England’s Justin Rose in the lead at 10 under.
Koepka will need to make a push on Friday just to make the cut. It will help that he is playing the less daunting North Course where Rose bloomed.
A full four rounds this week would help Koepka gather momentum for next week’s visit to a course that has played a major role in his career.
The WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale is where Koepka has won twice, including the first trophy of his career in 2015. He also won in the desert in 2021.
By the time he gets to Arizona, this week’s drama will be that much further behind him. Friday’s chase to make the cut will be normal compared to a week that Koepka said is “very difficult to explain.”
“It was good to get that (round) out of the way just because, like I said, I just care,” Koepka said. “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.”
–Doug Padilla, Field Level Media
Sports
UCF looks to solidify bubble case vs. West Virginia after pair of losses
Feb 8, 2026; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; UCF Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins reacts after a team’s timeout against the Cincinnati Bearcats in the second half at Fifth Third Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images Two straight losses, including a 92-72 whipping Sunday at Cincinnati, have UCF looking like the ultimate bubble team when it comes to its NCAA Tournament hopes.
Despite that blowout, the Knights are still on the right side of the bubble, according to most experts, as they prepare for a Saturday night Big 12 home game against West Virginia in Orlando, Fla.
“We’ve just got to keep working,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “We need to be getting better every day. When you’re in this gauntlet, anything can happen from game to game.”
This time around, “anything” meant allowing Cincinnati to drain 11 of 18 3-pointers and hit 33 of 56 shots overall, an unusually hot shooting performance for a team that usually struggles to score.
But the Knights (17-6, 6-5 Big 12) drew a midweek bye, giving them six days to try to fix a defense that has allowed 83.4 ppg in their last seven games. They will also look to get point guard Themus Fulks back on track after he struggled in 19 scoreless minutes at Cincinnati, missing both his shots and committing two turnovers.
Fulks’ 13.3 points per game are second on the team and his 6.8 assists are 12th in the nation.
West Virginia (15-9, 6-5) needs to get on a late-season run to earn an NCAA berth. It also had a midweek bye after falling 70-63 at home Sunday against then-No. 13 Texas Tech. The Mountaineers lost that one at the 3-point line, going 2 of 22 while the Red Raiders nailed 13 of 24.
First-year coach Ross Hodge said the game’s tone was set early when Texas Tech won a string of loose balls that led to baskets.
“I think if you step on the floor legitimately expecting to win the game, you get more loose balls than your opponent,” he said. “That was the ultimate disappointing part of the game to me.”
Honor Huff is West Virginia’s leading scorer at 15.4 per game, but is coming off a 0-of-8 shooting performance against Texas Tech. He managed six points, all from the foul line.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson to return vs. Iowa State
Feb 7, 2026; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Darryn Peterson (22) shoots against Utah Utes forward Josh Hayes (7) during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images After sitting out against the No. 1 team in the country, Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson will be back in time to face No. 5.
Kansas coach Bill Self told ESPN on Friday that Peterson was “good to go” when the ninth-ranked Jayhawks visit fifth-ranked Iowa State on Saturday.
Peterson sat out with flu-like symptoms on Monday when the Jayhawks hosted No. 1 Arizona. Kansas was able to win without him, handing the Wildcats their first loss of the season, 82-78.
Peterson is considered one of the frontrunners to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft this June, but he has played in just 13 of Kansas’ 24 games due to multiple ailments, including quad and hamstring injuries.
He has averaged 20.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 48.9% from the field and 41.9% from the arc this year. Peterson had 16 points when Kansas took down Iowa State 84-63 back on Jan. 13, marking the Cyclones’ first loss of the season.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ilia Malinin making history with skating's first Olympic backflip in decades
Feb 10, 2026; Milan, Italy; Ilia Malinin of the United States of America competes in men’s singles short program during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Ice Skating Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images MILAN, Italy — When Ilia Malinin launched himself into a backflip at the Milan Cortina Olympics, it detonated through the crowd like a firecracker and even brought tennis great Novak Djokovic to his feet with his hands on his head in disbelief.
The 21-year-old double world champion landed the first legal Olympic backflip since American Terry Kubicka in 1976, when he helped clinch gold for the U.S. in the team event in Milan on Sunday.
The crowd will get another chance to see Malinin’s maneuver when he takes the ice for Friday’s men’s free program as the favorite for gold.
The backflip was banned for safety reasons after Kubicka did one at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics.
The maneuver became known as the “Bonaly flip” after Surya Bonaly of France famously thumbed her nose at the International Skating Union’s restrictive rules at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
Bonaly had sustained a groin injury the day before the free program and knew her quest for a medal was over, and so defiantly unleashed the jump with a one-footed landing.
The ISU removed the somersault ban in June 2024, saying in their meeting agenda: “Somersault type jumps are very spectacular and nowadays it is not logical anymore to include them as illegal movements.”
AERIAL SHOWMANSHIP
Malinin, the self-named “Quad God,” has drawn global attention for his aerial showmanship. He became the first skater to land seven quadruple jumps in a program at the Grand Prix Final in December. He is also the first to land the quadruple Axel in competition, considered the toughest jump in the sport.
The backflip carries no set point value, but it can contribute to Malinin’s component score – known under the old judging system as “artistic impression”.
It also gets a bigger roar from the crowd than his more technically demanding jumps because it plays to pure spectacle in a way quads simply cannot.
“It gets that audience applause, feels really suspenseful and I really just like doing it,” Malinin said last season when he began doing the maneuver.
His programs also include one-handed cartwheels and a “raspberry twist,” another zero-points move in which his body, much like a break dancer’s, rotates in the air horizontally to the ice.
However, the young skater has so far resisted the temptation to land the first quadruple Axel on Olympic ice, saying he is choosing caution over showmanship.
“I’m hoping that I’ll feel good enough to do it (on Friday),” he told reporters on Tuesday. “But of course, I always prioritize health and safety, so I really want to put myself in the right mindset where I’ll feel really confident to go into it and not have that as something that I’m going to risk.”
Malinin takes a score of 108.16 from the short program into Friday’s free skate. Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama is second on 103.07, Adam Siao Him Fa of France is third (102.55).
–Reuters, special to Field Level Media
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