Rolapp: LIV Players Must Clear Contracts Before PGA Tour Return

PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said Tuesday that any LIV Golf player hoping to return to the PGA Tour must first show they are free of contractual commitments to the Saudi-backed league, as speculation builds over potential returns by stars like Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.

"Anyone who's interested in coming to the PGA Tour needs to demonstrate that they are relieved of their contractual commitments or any tail obligations they might have in that legacy model," Rolapp said at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

He pointed to Brooks Koepka, who mutually ended his LIV Golf contract at the end of 2025, as a model for how such a return could work. "Brooks certainly did that, and until then, we weren't really able to consider anything seriously. I would say the same thing here," Rolapp said.

Rolapp also invoked PGA Tour rules that bar LIV players from tour-sanctioned events for one year after their last LIV appearance. "The tour is a membership organization. It has rules. Those rules exist for lots of reasons — for fair, competitive reasons," he said. "Rules only matter if they're enforced. So accountability and discipline are essential to any organization, and certainly for the integrity of the tour and for the game."

The comments come at the start of the year with a tight deadline for a small number of LIV players to accept a proposed return path, which Rolapp has said would not necessarily remain open indefinitely.

Separately at the Tour Championship, Scottie Scheffler remains $608,506 from passing Tiger Woods atop the career earnings list, while Rory McIlroy would need at least a fourth-place finish to do the same. Si Woo Kim, meanwhile, is on pace to become the latest player to top $10 million in single-season earnings without a win.