The PGA Tour will consider additional ways to bring back LIV Golf players who may want to return to the circuit, CEO Brian Rolapp said Monday.
When reports emerged last week that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was about to withdraw funding, LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said his league was being supported by the PIF this season.
“Listen, we read all the same headlines that you read,” Rolapp said on “The Pat McAfee Show” Monday. “We don’t know what’s going on over there. We know those guys have a contract. We’ll respect that.”
Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka and 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed left the LIV Golf League earlier this season.
Koepka and LIV Golf have agreed to terminate his contract early. He returned to the PGA Tour in January under the returning member program, which allowed LIV golfers who had been absent from the PGA Tour for at least two years — and won the Players Championship or one of the four majors (Masters, PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship) starting in 2022 — to return under certain conditions and with severe financial penalties.
Koepka agreed to forfeit any player equity shares over the next five years, and will not be eligible for the FedEx Cup’s $100 million bonus plan through 2026. Koepka, at the request of the PGA Tour, also agreed to make a $5 million donation to charity.
Reed was unable to reach a new contract with LIV Golf. He is expected to return to the PGA Tour on August 25 when his one-year suspension expires.
“Brooks came back from this trip because he called and said, ‘Look, I’m out of my contract, I’m ready to come back,’ so we’re thinking about it,” Rolapp told McAfee. “We’ll respond when we get a chance to respond, but right now, we’re focused on making the PGA Tour better.
“But listen, I’ve said it clearly and I’ll say it again: I’m interested in anything that makes the PGA Tour better. That’s what my job is. That’s what I love to do. That’s limitless. That’s how I’m going to focus on it.”
If the LIV Golf League doesn’t get more funding and fold, it’s unclear how long stars like Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and others will have to wait to return to the PGA Tour.
DeChambeau, Rahm and Cameron Smith were eligible to return to the tour under the returning members program, but the deadline expired on Feb. 2.
When Koepka returned, Rolapp described the program as “a one-time, defined window” and “not a precedent for future situations.”
“I think LIV has done what the AFL did for the NFL years ago, maybe what the USFL did for the NFL years ago,” said Rolapp, a former NFL executive. “It’s a competition [that] he can make it better. I think whenever you get competition, you end up finding out what you do well, what you don’t do well.
“I think what LIV is doing is exposing some things that maybe the PGA Tour could do better, how we can make it better for the fans, how we can make it better for the professional golfers, how we can make it better for our television partners. That’s a good thing.”
