Multiple LIV golfers want PGA Tour return — but it could get complicated
Multiple LIV Golf players have had their reps reach out to the PGA Tour about a possible return after news broke Wednesday that the rebel golf league would be losing its financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
But those players could face a more restrictive pathway back to the PGA, Golf Digest reported.
The latest news came amid a flurry of information that started to come out after the Wall Street Journal first reported that LIV Golf was planning to tell its staff and players on Thursday that the PIF would be pulling the plug on supporting the golf circuit.
The Telegraph later reported that LIV CEO Scott O’Neil had already started to inform some players of the news on Wednesday night.
The uncertainty around the future of LIV Golf has created questions about the pathway back to the PGA Tour, and a source told Golf Digest that the Returning Member Program — which allowed Brooks Koepka to return to the tour — will not be renewed.
Furthermore, according to the report, the PGA Tour is planning to sort returning LIV players into different categories that would include those who were former members and those who never played or held status at all on the tour.
One of golf’s biggest names, Bryson DeChambeau, could face additional hurdles due to his participation in an antitrust suit that was filed against the PGA Tour.
All 11 players involved in that suit are expected to face that scrutiny.
Sources told Golf Digest that DeChambeau, who is in the final year of his LIV contract and had already seemed more reserved in comments about his commitment to the league after 2026, that his view of LIV has changed and he sees it as having underdelivered on its initial vision.
LIV turned golf on its head when it launched in 2022, igniting a civil war in the sport.
The PIF has reportedly spent nearly $6 billion on LIV Golf since it started, though it has not seen the commercial or television success in the United States that it anticipated.
