Soon after the Saudi PIF withdrew funding from LIV Golf, the players are eyeing the exit door.
Jon Rahm said before LIV Virginia that there is no easy way out of his contract. Bryson DeChambeau reiterated that he’d like to do YouTube full-time if he can’t return to the PGA Tour.
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Those are the two biggest names, but we could be about to see an attempted mass-migration back to the tour, as players attempt to follow in Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed’s footsteps.
But there’s only room for so many, and the tour is in the luxurious position to be able to cherry-pick which players they’d like. According to golf writer Alan Shipnuck, there’s only three names on their shortlist.
Photo by David Paul Morris/Augusta National/Getty Images
The three players the PGA Tour would want back from LIV Golf
LIV Golf is currently home to multiple major winners and legends of the game, and many would gladly return to the PGA Tour if offered the chance.
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But Shipnuck, speaking to Trey Wingo, said DeChambeau, Rahm and Joaquin Niemann would be the tour’s only three targets.
He explained, “Part of the evolution of the PGA Tour means there are going to be fewer tournaments starting next year and smaller fields. The 156-man field is gone. Maybe there will be 120, some of them still might be 80, like the current Signature Event.
“The playing opportunities for the average PGA Tour player are being sliced dramatically, and Rolapp’s mandate is to take care of his members.
“Even if they wanted all the LIV guys, there is nowhere for them to go. There is going to be fewer events, and you have to prioritize the current PGA members if you are in Rolapp’s chair.
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He would love to cherry-pick Bryson because he has built up this huge audience that the PGA Tour can leverage.
“Rahm for competitive integrity. He is clearly one of the five or 10 best players in the world.
Niemann doesn’t move the needle that much, but he brings a Latin American audience.
“Those would be the three guys that the Tour would probably want to maneuver their way into some narrowly tailored language so they could get them back, as they did with Brooks Koepka.
“I think everybody else is out of luck. You can pull a Patrick Reed and go to Europe and try and play your way back onto the PGA Tour by finishing top 10 in the money list or through Q School.”
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Cameron Smith should regret massive missed opportunity
When Koepka left LIV Golf this year under the returning member program, the same deal was offered to DeChambeau, Rahm, and Cameron Smith as the three LIV players to have won a major since 2022.
This deal would have seen them make a $5 million charitable donation, forgo any FedEx Cup bonus money, and not receive any sponsor exemptions for Signature Events. All three players rejected this offer.
If they seek a PGA Tour return, Rahm and DeChambeau will likely be offered another deal. CEO Brian Rolapp said the terms will likely be harsher, but there would be a deal nonetheless.
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As for Smith, if Shipnuck is right, he’d be left out in the cold. His chance to return to the PGA Tour would have passed him by, and he’d have to earn his tour card like everyone else on the PGA Tour.
He’ll now have to ask whether it was worth it for another few months of LIV.