Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour’s CEO, said the tour is considering creating additional pathways to reinstate LIV players amid the upstart league’s uncertain future.
Brooks Koepka has already been welcomed back to the PGA Tour, and Patrick Reed is on his way. But according to Rolapp, there could be an opportunity for more LIV golfers to return, especially those who could be beneficial to the tour from a business perspective.
“We’re thinking about it,” Rolapp said Monday on “The Pat McAfee Show”. “We’ll react when we have an opportunity to react. But right now, we’re focused on making the PGA Tour better. I’ve said it publicly, and I’ll say it again: I’m interested in whatever makes the PGA Tour better. That’s what my job is. That’s what I’m interested in doing, and that has no limits.”
Last week, The Athletic, along with other outlets, reported that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is preparing to pull its funding of LIV Golf, with executives looking for “life rafts” out of the company. According to multiple golf industry sources, including LIV sources briefed on events, LIV Golf has been thrown into tumult after being blindsided by the PIF’s change in strategy. All the while, the league is attempting to push forward, projecting unabashed confidence despite only having funding through the remainder of the 2026 season. The sources remained anonymous because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
All the while, the PGA Tour has been gathering updates on LIV’s fluctuating status. According to Rolapp, who left his role as the NFL’s COO to join the PGA Tour as CEO last summer, the recent LIV Golf developments have prompted the PGA Tour to consider opening more paths for LIV players to return to the tour.
Much of the motivation to bring back LIV players is related to the PGA Tour’s media rights deal, which expires at the end of 2030. The Strategic Sports Group, the private equity consortium that injected $1.5 billion into the tour, wants a return on its investment, and maximizing the value of the tour’s U.S. broadcast package is crucial to realizing those gains.
There is precedent for this: The tour brought back Koepka, a five-time major champion, after he notified the PGA Tour of his desire to return. His LIV Golf contract expired at the end of the 2025 season. In response, the PGA Tour created a “Returning Member Program,” which allowed Koepka to re-join the tour, along with other major champions from 2022-2025 — Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith — if they so choose. However, that offer was time-sensitive. Rolapp only extended the players a three-week window to decide, and none of the other eligible players accepted the deal, which also came with financial penalties.
Smith and Rahm hold long-term contracts with LIV, but DeChambeau’s term is up at the end of the 2026 season. The Athletic has learned that DeChambeau’s team spent part of Masters week meeting with organizations to discuss possible options should he choose to leave LIV.
“We know those guys are under contract. We’ll respect that,” Rolapp said. “Brooks came back onto the tour because he made a phone call saying, ‘Look, I’m out of my contract. I’m ready to come back.’ So, we’re thinking about it.”
Reed, another former LIV player, is on his way back to the PGA Tour. The 2018 Masters champion left LIV Golf earlier this year in favor of a 2026 schedule playing on the DP World Tour. The PGA Tour then announced that Reed would be eligible to play PGA Tour events again at the end of August, effectively serving a one-year suspension since competing in his last LIV event on Aug. 24, 2025.
But Reed will have minimal status on the PGA Tour, meaning he’ll have to play his way into high-level tournaments. He is already making significant advances, as Reed leads the Race to Dubai standings on the DP World Tour, and the top 10 on that list are promoted to the PGA Tour at the end of the season.
Reed’s predicament is the closest comparison available for how the PGA Tour might treat players who wish to return to the tour but aren’t in the recent major championship category. Reed, however, is unique in that he gave up his PGA Tour membership to join LIV in June 2022, so he did not incur additional penalties while participating in unauthorized events with the Saudi-backed league.
