Brooks Koepka withdrew from the Charles Schwab Challenge on Sunday, the PGA Tour confirmed late Sunday night, after finishing tied for 14th at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson earlier the same day.
The move trimmed the Colonial field to 132 players and opened spots for alternates: Denny McCarthy and David Ford also withdrew on Sunday, and Jimmy Stanger and Brice Garnett stepped in as replacements.
The Charles Schwab Challenge, staged at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, carries a $9.9 million purse; the winner will receive $1.78 million and 500 FedExCup points, making any late withdrawal notable for a star still working through a busy spring schedule.
Koepka, 36, is a nine-time PGA Tour winner and a five-time major champion. He has three PGA Championship titles, from 2018, 2019 and 2023, and won the U.S. Open in 2018 at Shinnecock Golf Club. This season he has made 10 starts and seven cuts, with five top-25 finishes and one top-10; his best recent result was a tied-for-9th at the Cognizant Classic.
He had played four of the last five weeks before withdrawing at Colonial, a stretch that began with his tied-for-14th result at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday. Koepka had appeared at Colonial just twice before: he finished second there in 2018 and tied for 32nd in 2020.
Koepka returned to the PGA Tour earlier this season via a Returning Membership program following a four-year spell on LIV Golf, and his reappearance is one reason his exits draw attention. The Charles Schwab Challenge field was already missing Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler, and Wyndham Clark remained entered, so Koepka’s withdrawal changed the competitive picture for players chasing points and prize money ahead of summer majors.
The timing of the announcement — confirmed late on Sunday night by the PGA Tour — intensified the ripple effects at Colonial, where alternates were waiting for late movements to gain entry. Tournament organizers and other players now have two fewer marquee names in the field, while Stanger and Garnett gained sudden opportunities they would not have had if the original roster held.
The immediate tension in Koepka’s absence centers on schedule and priorities. He is committed to play the RBC Canadian Open in two weeks, from 11–14 June, and he is exempt into the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills next month. Those entries make this withdrawal a consequential one for his short-term planning: players can withdraw from individual events without forfeiting larger targets, but missing competitive time at Colonial also changes preparation pathways.
There is also a practical contrast between Koepka’s season numbers and the decision to step away from Colonial. Ten starts this season with seven cuts made and five top-25 results suggest steady form; yet the four-weeks-in-five stretch before the withdrawal underscores how compressed elite players’ schedules can be during the PGA Tour run-up to the majors.
For the Charles Schwab Challenge, the field reduction to 132 players slightly altered pairings and late-round dynamics at a tournament used by many players as a tune-up before summer events. For Koepka, the consequence is clearer on the calendar than on the leaderboard: he remains entered for two significant upcoming tests, and his status in those events will now be watched more closely than his absence from Colonial.
Given his commitments to the RBC Canadian Open and his exemption into the U.S. Open, Koepka’s withdrawal reads as a tactical pause in a season with high-value targets still ahead. He remains a major contender on paper — a 36-year-old, five-time major champion with a recent return to the PGA Tour — and the next sign of his plans will be whether he shows up in two weeks at the RBC Canadian Open.
