PGA Tour veteran fumes at LIV Golf players: "If they're that important..."

Should prominent LIV Golf players be allowed to return to the PGA Tour?

This is a question officials at the North American circuit may need to ask themselves sooner rather than later. 

It is understood that at least two players, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, are yet to put pen to paper on new contracts. Both of their deals expire at the end of 2026. 

For Koepka, there are unsubstantiated reports that the 35-year-old American is unhappy and may sit out the entire LIV Golf season. 

Such a decision would mean that Koepka would serve the necessary one-year suspension in order to be eligible to return to the PGA Tour. 

A bargaining tactic to try and eek out a few extra million? 

Perhaps. 

Koepka has not commented on the reports and LIV's chief executive, Scott O'Neil, offered a cryptic response when asked about the rumour. 

The school of thought surrounding DeChambeau is he doesn't see a future other than with LIV Golf, but will likely want another gargantuan figure to put pen to paper on another multi-year deal. 

Still, even if the DeChambeau and Koepka decide their LIV Golf journeys are over, it doesn't sound like the PGA Tour's player directors are enthused about entertaining the topic of reintegration. 

One prominent PGA Tour veteran weighed in on the issue when asked by Eamon Lynch for his most recent Golfweek column. 

Lynch believes the PGA Tour need a plan if and when a bona fide star comes knocking. 

The unnamed player said: 

"F*** them. They made their choice. If they're that important, how come no fans followed them to LIV?"

There was once a time when it did seem likely that some LIV stars could return. 

Merger talks between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV's financiers - the Saudi PIF - began in June 2023. 

The establishment and LIV entered 2025 with the deal very much in limbo, but there was huge optimism of a breakthrough in February. 

Tiger Woods told reporters that talks were moving in the right direction. 

His comments coincided after several meetings at the White House after American president Donald Trump intervened. 

According to the Guardian, the PGA Tour rejected LIV Golf's "take it or leave it offer". 

The proposal is said to have included a $1.5bn investment in PGA Tour Enterprises, so long as LIV could continue operating in the same form. 

The report stated that LIV's chairman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, also wanted a top role in the Tour's commercial entity. 

Since then, there have been no substantial updates and it seems as though there will never be an agreement. 

Justin Thomas weighs in on thorny issue

Multiple PGA Tour winner Justin Thomas spoke to the Straight Facts Homie podcast this week. 

Other than discussing Ryder Cup disappointment, Thomas said that multiple Tour players are "over" the divide in the sport and would simply like the best players in the world competing together again. 

Thomas is fortunate, he said, that working out how LIV players could return was way above his pay grade. 

"I don't know what that path back looks like," said Thomas. "I think it'd be nice to figure out whatever that is.

"Fortunately, that is so far above my pay grade that I don’t have to make those decisions.

"But, hopefully, sooner rather than later, there’s something that happens, just for the betterment of everybody wanting to watch golf.

"I think the noise is at least settled of how bad it was a couple years ago or whatever.

"But, I'm sure, some of those guys, maybe didn't go how they had planned or how they had hoped, to where I'm sure you're looking, like how bad Jon Rahm would love to be playing Torrey Pines and Riviera and The Players and stuff like that. I think he's even said that.

"I'm not sure what that looks like, but hopefully, you know, it it can look like something at some point, right?"

Which LIV Golf players would the PGA Tour like back?

LIV Golf's roster boasts plenty of multiple PGA Tour winners and major champions. 

But plenty of those players' best days are clearly in the rear-view mirror. 

Phil Mickelson would draw an audience on the PGA Tour Champions, especially if he locked horns with former rival Tiger Woods, but it seems as though Lefty will never - nor want - to salvage his relationship with the Tour. 

Dustin Johnson is nearing the end of his career and has always placed on record his desire to retire in his mid 40s. Johnson is 41.

Joaquin Niemann looks a real talent and has won at Riviera, though he has never truly contended in a major. 

This leaves only DeChambeau, Koepka, Rahm, and potentially Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton from LIV's current roster as players who could potentially benefit the PGA Tour and draw some eyeballs. 

Do you agree?

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