It appears LIV Golf’s days are numbered.
It was announced last week that the Saudi Public Investment Fund is shuffling its priorities. Sports are less of a focus in the new vision so funding for LIV—which is bankrolled by the PIF’s seemingly bottomless wallet—is reportedly being cut at the end of this season.
LIV CEO Scott O’Neil confirmed as much during an interview, saying that the league would “work like crazy to create a business plan” for 2027.
That doesn’t exactly sound promising.
There will be a lot of rallying cries from LIV but this league appears dead in the water. It’s not a functional business, the league’s talent is aging and/or irrelevant and Bryson DeChambeau’s next contract—he’s currently in the last year of his deal—will likely be worth $400 million or more.
Unless there is another government wanting to use golf as a pawn for political gain, it’s hard to see LIV being funded past this season. And if it does somehow find a way to continue, the purses won’t be $30 million per tournament.
In the case of LIV closing shop, what happens to all of its players? What should the PGA Tour do to get them back?
The pathway back to the PGA Tour
There is precedent with former LIV players Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.
The Tour created a Returning Member Program out of thin air, allowing Koepka and other recent major champs to come back with minimal punishment. Only Koepka took advantage of that opportunity and he is now back on the Tour.
The Tour said it was a one-time offer. Was it?
They could easily scrap that notion and run a similar deal back for Jon Rahm and DeChambeau, LIV’s two biggest stars. They are probably the only two players the Tour even wants back in the first place.
According to The Athletic, DeChambeau has already been consulting with his team about how to leave LIV and find a landing spot elsewhere.
“Speculation persists that, in the wake of others leaving LIV for the PGA Tour earlier this year, his ask to resign is up to $500 million,” The Athetic reported. “DeChambeau has even used his YouTube success as a leverage play with all potential suitors, indicating he’s open to only filming content and playing the four major championships.”
My sense is that PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp is hyper-focused on making the Tour’s product better so the incentive for bringing Rahm and DeChambeau immediately back into the fold would be there. I don’t think the “one-time offer” threat has to hold firm.
While on the Pat McAfee Show earlier this week, Rolapp said the Tour is “thinking about it” in terms of creating new pathways for LIV players to rejoin the Tour.
But in the scenario where there are no special Returning Member Programs, the path back would be more like what is Reed is experiencing right now.
Reed is serving a one-year suspension based on his last LIV event played. Not all suspensions for LIV players would be exactly one year but all of them would be at least one year. Certain players may face longer suspensions if they opted not to resign their membership prior to joining LIV (Reed did resign his membership before joining in 2022).
What we are seeing now with Reed is that he is playing DP World Tour events and is essentially locked to finish on the top 10 of that circuit’s standings which would secure a PGA Tour card for next season. He had to earn his way back by qualifying. He’ll be eligible to return to the PGA Tour after this August, a year from his last start on LIV, although his full Tour membership would not kick in until Jan. 1, 2027.
The final LIV event of the 2026 season ends Aug. 30 so no current LIV player would be eligible to come back until September 2027.
And at that time? They would just have to qualify like anyone else.
“If we follow the rules and regs, yes (there is a pathway back),” Tour player director Maverick McNealy said. “Most of the players would have to go through our qualifying system, whether that’s Q-School or play their way on via the DP World Tour or Korn Ferry Tour.
“There’s definitely a pathway back without us even doing anything. I think our pathways are really good at identifying the best players in the world, so if those guys really are the best players in the world they have a spot on this tour.”
Does the PGA Tour have to do anything?
You could argue that regardless of whether LIV ceases to exist this year or continues into 2027, the PGA Tour doesn’t necessarily have to make any decisions.
Suspensions have already been set by player. The pathways to qualify are open. The Returning Member Program was offered earlier this year.
They could just let the situation move forward and rely on their current structure.
I do think if LIV goes the way of the dodo bird and DeChambeau and Rahm said they wanted to come back, the Tour would find a way to make that happen without those two guys serving the one-year suspension.
They immediately improve the Tour’s product so it makes sense to open up some type of unique pathway to get them back in the fold quickly without having them serve a suspension.
That is what I would do. It’s not necessarily fair. Honestly, it would be nice to see them battle it out on the DP World Tour. In my dream world, we get to watch DeChambeau on the Korn Ferry Tour where he would definitely make YouTube content about the journey.
But in terms of everyone else on LIV? Good luck, guys. Serve your suspensions and then show up at the DP World Tour, PGA Tour Q-School, Korn Ferry or wherever else you can find opportunities.
Do you think the Tour should make an exception for DeChambeau and Rahm? What about other LIV players?
Let me know below in the comments.
Top Photo Caption: Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm could be coming back to the PGA Tour in 2027. (GETTY IMAGES/Sarah Reed)
