Spieth, others are talking about a possible return of LIV players to the PGA Tour
DORAL, Fla. — Jordan Spieth is just like everyone else in golf right now. When trying to figure out if LIV golfers who left the PGA Tour will try to return, he has no problem saying he has no idea.
There is no one.
“I think there’s too much I don’t know to really gauge what’s going to happen,” Spieth said Thursday.
The announcement that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will stop sponsoring LIV Golf after this season means the biggest names in the sport – Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith among them – could be aiming to return to the PGA Tour at some point, the same way Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed are likely to return.
A source told ESPN’s Paolo Uggetti on Wednesday that several LIV Golf player representatives have begun contacting PGA Tour officials to explore a possible way back.
It was, as expected, a major source of discussion at the Cadillac Championship on Thursday.
“If there’s a Brooks program and a Patrick Reed program, does that stay the same for guys in the same category as those two coming back or does it change now? Does it change for the guys who sued and forfeited their memberships?” Spieth asked.
DeChambeau, for example, was among the players who filed a defamation lawsuit against the PGA Tour in August 2022. That lawsuit, along with the PGA Tour’s countersuit, was dismissed a year later.
“There’s just a lot of different things that have happened in the last four years with that,” Spieth said. “I’m glad I’m not in that room, and I trust the guys in that room to make the right decision.”
One person who will be in the room — but not yet — is newly elected chairman of the Players Advisory Council Lucas Glover, who begins a four-year term on the board in January. It is likely that at that time, anything that needs to be decided will be thought of later.
“I will never blame anyone for making a decision to improve their career, their health, whatever it may be,” said Glover. “But I think they should go back and pay the same fines that the previous people paid, absolutely.”
Koepka’s return, for example, came with conditions, including a $5 million donation to various charities and a tour of his choice, no access to PGA Tour shares for five years and no FedEx Cup bonus money he may receive this year.
“There’s always a way to come back with a penalty, so yes, it can be done, as we’ve seen,” Glover said. “It’s happened a few times. I’m sure the expedition is working hard to get all of that. I don’t know about those calls.”
Brian Harman said he still works with the belief that golf fans want to see top players compete in one place.
“Time heals all wounds,” Harman said. “There’s still some feeling here, especially with all the offense stuff, that things are going to be tough to get through. We’re playing all those guys in the majors, so I think there’s got to be a way back.”
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
