LIV Golfers Trickle Back, and the PGA Tour May Need a Plan

The idea that players who chased Saudi money would never again be seen on the PGA Tour no longer holds up. Five months from now, as many as five former LIV Golf players could tee it up at the season opener in California.

Brooks Koepka was the first to come back, and it did not go as he hoped. He played 16 times and looked like a five-time major champion until his caddie handed him the putter. Koepka finished 94th in the FedEx Cup and missed the postseason, a performance he called "pathetic."

Patrick Reed, who decided not to renew with LIV a week before its 2026 season began, leads the Race to Dubai on the European tour and is a lock to earn a 2027 PGA Tour card among the leading 10 players not already exempt. "I always saw myself wanting to start and finish my career on the PGA Tour," Reed said. Also among that group are Eugenio Chacarra, Bernd Wiesberger and Shaun Norris — all part of LIV at its 2022 launch, and all away long enough to return without penalty and without equity.

The economics are shifting. The Public Investment Fund spent more than $5 billion in five years on LIV, much of it to lure stars. Now the league is in survival mode without Saudi funding, leaning into "LIV 2.0" and the promise of a lead investor. "So many of them came because this was a good opportunity for them to make some money, and this second bite at the apple is equity instead of cash," LIV CEO Scott O'Neil said. Jon Rahm clinched a third straight individual title and a $6 million bonus, down from $18 million. Scottie Scheffler won $10 million for the PGA Tour regular season, and the tour's new Championship Series in 2028 offers $20 million purses.

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp told Bloomberg News there was "no merger, no conversations with LIV Golf." In January he offered a path back to Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith, with three weeks to decide. None accepted.

"Personally, I'd love to be able to play events on the PGA Tour, too," DeChambeau told the New York Post. "It's not an either-or mentality." Smith said that if the tour "was the only option, I think that's where everyone would want to be." LIV ends its season next week in Indianapolis.