Multiple winner floats idea to allow Bryson DeChambeau back on PGA Tour

Multiple PGA Tour winner Kevin Kisner has suggested one way LIV Golf recruits such as Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka could be allowed to return. 

Both players joined the PIF-backed league for more than $100m in 2022 and received indefinite bans from the PGA Tour as a result. 

There was optimism at the beginning of the year that the established circuit and LIV Golf would finally strike a deal to end the split in the men's game and, at the very least, allow some cross-pollination. 

That came after intervention from American president Donald Trump and positive comments from Tiger Woods about "getting the game going in the right direction". 

"The fans all want the top players playing together and we're going to make that happen," Woods said in February after several meetings at the White House with PIF officials. 

But now it appears that talks are dead and there is absolutely no desire for a deal whatsoever.

Last week, PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp appeared to indicate there is little appetite about returning to the negotiating table with LIV and disparagingly referred to the breakaway as "that other league". 

LIV Golf's chief executive, Scott O'Neil, also made it very clear he was focusing on his own organisation. 

"I think there's real opportunity [with the PGA Tour], but I am focused on LIV Golf and taking the sport around the world," he said.  

"I think that we are all smart enough to figure out that we can also create bigger platforms to have some fun and grow this game together."

The elephant in the room is what happens when certain high-profile players' contracts expire. 

DeChambeau and Koepka's deals run out at the end of the 2026 season. 

The former appears much more content with life on LIV and told reporters before the Ryder Cup he hoped a contract extension will be agreed sooner rather than later. 

There is speculation DeChambeau is asking for for even more money than when he put pen to paper in 2022. 

Koepka's future is unclear, with reports suggesting the five-time major winner is unhappy. 

Sports Business Journal reported this week Koepka was considering sitting out the entire 2026 LIV Golf season. 

Should that transpire then Koepka is still eligible to compete in all four majors and would very likely accept multiple invites to compete on the DP World Tour. 

As things stand, Koepka would need to serve a period of suspension before returning to the PGA Tour. 

Kisner told the Trey Wingo podcast that his solution would be allow players like Koepka and DeChambeau to return without financial punishment. 

But Kisner suggested that they should not be allowed to have equity in the PGA Tour. 

"Do you tell Bryson DeChambeau to go to tour school and try to earn his way back?" said Kisner. "I don't know. 

"I'm not smart enough to figure it out, but if the equity programme that the Tour has unveiled really takes off, then the guys that have made so much money in that can't complain about the money that those guys took at LIV, because now they're owners of the PGA Tour, which these guys are not.

"So, maybe you tell them they can never be equity owners, or never gain shares from their performance because of what they did, and they come right back.

"It's just a thought to throw around. I think that would be a way to allow them back."

What did the PGA Tour boss say?

Brian Rolapp recently spoke about the future of the PGA Tour at CNBC's CEO Council Forum. 

Rolapp, who will take over from commissioner Jay Monahan when his contract expires in 2026, hinted that seismic changes could be made to the PGA Tour's structure and schedule in 2027. 

He spoke positively of the aforementioned DeChambeau but said golf's popularity doesn't hinge on just a few big names. 

"I think Bryson is a star, and he's an amazing golfer," Rolapp said. "He's also amazing for what he does off the golf course, in that the bulk of his consumption and where people see him is on YouTube. 

"I mean, they don’t see him on television, because that other league doesn't really draw a lot of viewers. But, yeah, I think everybody wants to see the best golfers compete."

He added: "I will say there’s a complete misconception about the sport of golf that any given tournament only matters if the same three or four people are in it.

"There's no tour on Earth with deeper talent than the PGA Tour. 

"You cannot build a lifelong sport that outlives your stars if you don't build a system that works beyond your stars."