Hudson Swafford, an early high-profile defector to LIV Golf in 2022, says he now has a five-year ban from the PGA Tour, making him ineligible to return until 2027.
The three-time PGA Tour victor, who was demoted from LIV Golf after an underwhelming 2024 season, shared the suspension details and his confusion over its length on Golf. com’s SubPar podcast.
“I don’t know how you can come up with a five or five‐and‐a‐half year suspension based on I played five events while the PGA Tour season was going on in ’22 that I wasn’t able to get media-released for,” he expressed.
Swafford points out that his situation is unique compared to other LIV Golf players like Laurie Canter or James Piot, who received one-year bans before being allowed back into PGA-sanctioned events, due to his prior PGA membership and participation during the regular tour schedule. This revelation coincides with LIV Golf’s plans to significantly boost tournament purses in 2026.
“Some guys who didn’t have any status … it’s a hard one‐year [suspension] … but then you can come back and play,” he noted. Swafford, however, questions his future prospects, pondering, “But the problem is… if I can come back and play in ’27, what does ’27 on the PGA Tour really look like?”.
Swafford pointed out that the prolonged suspension seems to coincide with specific contract durations: “They’ve said I’m suspended until [January] 2027, which I know they’re basing on a couple people’s contracts being up after the ’26 season, so then they can kind of change rules in favor of everybody coming back.”
The contracts of LIV Golf players Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are indeed set to conclude following the 2026 season.
Swafford reflected on his move to LIV Golf, acknowledging he anticipated some backlash but was surprised by the extent of it: “We knew there would be some repercussions. I knew I’d be suspended for a little while. Didn’t know how long. … I didn’t think it would be this fractured this long.”
After spending much of 2023 recovering from hip surgery and being considered only as a wildcard in 2024, Swafford is looking into ways to make a comeback through Q-School or Monday qualifiers, despite his world ranking plummeting below the top 2,400 due to lack of play.
He expressed disappointment regarding LIV Golf’s unsuccessful bid to obtain Official World Golf Ranking points, recounting a discussion with former OWGR chairman Peter Dawson where he had hoped for LIV’s inclusion.
Swafford lamented the decision to pull LIV’s application for ranking points, feeling let down by the organization: “We’re giving up?” he questioned. “We came over on the consensus that you were going to fight for us no matter what.”
Swafford’s situation stands in stark contrast to that of other ex-LIV golfers who have taken legal action against the PGA Tour for antitrust violations and managed to come back through exemptions or PR campaigns. Swafford, however, described his own negotiation process as “wishy‐washy” and lamented that nothing is “set in stone.”
He concluded with an optimistic view on the potential for reconciliation: “As a golf fan, you want to see the best playing together. I don’t think this fracture is good for the game.”
