Ex-LIV Golf player given five-year PGA Tour ban

Hudson Swafford appears to have indicated what the PGA Tour are planning to do with high-profile LIV Golf defectors. 

Swafford was among the first wave of players to be recruited by the PIF-backed breakaway in 2022. 

The American, now 37, played all seven tournaments in their inaugural campaign but missed the majority of the 2023 season with a hip injury. 

He played all 14 LIV Golf tournaments last year as one of two wildcards, but his contract has now expired. 

Swafford wants to return to the PGA Tour and, in many ways, has been the embodiment of a hypothetical question that has consumed golf since LIV's noisy introduction to the sport. 

How do ex-LIV Golf players make their way back to the PGA Tour?

Swafford explained on the latest edition of GOLF's Subpar he has been given a five-year suspension and won't be allowed back on Tour until 2027. 

He believes that is because that is when several other high-profile LIV golfers' contracts are expiring. 

It is understood that the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka's contracts expire at the conclusion of next season. 

And it may be the case the PGA Tour are thinking of ways to reintegrate players that would undoubtedly add appeal to certain events under a new category. 

DeChambeau has confirmed he will negotiate a contract extension after the conclusion of LIV's team finals next month. 

"I know they're basing that on a couple of people's contracts being up after the '26 season," Swafford said.

"So then they can kind of change rules in favour of everybody coming back.

"I know some guys who didn't have any status on the PGA Tour, it's a hard one-year [suspension], not PGA Tour-sanctioned events, but then you can come back and play. 

"But problem is if I come in and talk to them, it's like, 'O.K., I can come back and play in '27, but what does '27 on the PGA Tour really look like?'

"It is no more opposite field events? They're already reducing fields. So I would go ahead and bet and say that the past champions category is pretty much done going forward after this year. 

"We can agree or disagree, but it just seems like that and they've kind of told me."

"I didn't think it would be this fractured"

Swafford also explained his decision to join LIV. He said he felt the disruption was good for the game but not for one second did he believe the men's game would 'be this fractured. 

Swafford was also among the 11-strong group which sued the PGA Tour for antitrust violations.

Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Swafford also asked a judge to grant a temporary restraining order so they could compete in that year's FedEx Cup playoffs. 

The request was denied and the golfers later withdrew their names from the litigation. 

LIV Golf's financiers, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, joined the legal action and were counter-sued by the Tour. 

All litigation was dropped as part of the 6 June 2023 'framework agreement'. 

"We knew there would be some repercussions," Swafford said. 

"Knew I'd be suspended for a little while. Didn't know how long. There were definitely some unknowns there. 

"I didn't think it would be this fractured this long, to be honest with you. I don't think any of us did."

He added: "I still think it needs to come together. I don't know how it’s going to come together. 

"As a golf fan, you want to see the best playing together. I don't think this fracture is good for the game. But on the flip side, the PGA Tour needed to be shanked up a bit."

"We're giving up?"

Swafford said his biggest frustration with LIV was the lack of Official World Golf Ranking points. 

LIV lodged their bid to be recognised by the governing body before the landmark 150th Open at St Andrews. 

The breakaway tour were rejected in October 2023, although the OWGR encouraged LIV to make some changes to their application. 

Greg Norman later wrote an explosive letter to LIV players, explaining the circuit was withdrawing their application entirely. 

LIV lodged a new bid for OWGR accreditation before this year's Masters. 

Swafford said certain LIV players weren't happy about withdrawing their bid. 

"I'm like, 'Why? You're just giving up?' I mean, we came over here on the consensus that you were going to fight for us no matter what. 

"And then we just throw our hands up like 'oh well, we didn't get it.' And it's like, no, that's kind of bull----.

"I had some great talks with Peter Dawson [former OWGR chairman] a couple of years ago at the Dunhill [Links Championship]. 

"I played nine holes in a practice round with him. He said that he would love to give LIV world-ranking points.

"We were talking about the turnover and the cut being at 24, that was half the guys at the time, he goes 'I think that's kind of harsh. I don't even need to see that kind of turnover.' 

"He was talking about maybe 35 or 38 guys keep their card, but that's a hard cut. If you're not there, you get relegated and you're out. You go to the Q-School.

"He said that if we had a definitive turnover and we knew that, and we knew that guys weren't getting hand-picked to be on LIV because they were with the right agency, that kind of took away some credibility.

"He said 'If there was a true cut-off and everybody abided by those rules and you had to go to like a Q-School, then the talks would be real.' 

"He said 'LIV is not personally for me' because he's a traditional golf guy, but he goes 'I love that there's new competition and that it's travelling around the world.'

"He liked all those components and he wanted to give world ranking points, but I don't know what was said - because I wasn't in those meetings - but it just seems like things could have changed to get those world-ranking points."