The PGA Tour appears to be flexing its power over men’s professional golf amid LIV Golf’s funding issues.
Players who left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf may find the way back is much harder than the way out.
Brian Rolapp, CEO of the PGA Tour, has ruled out another Returning Member Programme similar to the one introduced earlier this year, despite the uncertainty surrounding LIV Golf.
“In terms of where we are today, we are not currently contemplating a returning member programme like the one you saw in January,” Rolapp said.
Rolapp is referencing a programme launched when Brooks Koepka left LIV and applied for reinstatement. The pathway offered a route back for players who had won a Major or The Players Championship between 2022 and 2025.
Koepka was the only one to accept before the February deadline, although he was required to forfeit five years of potential PGA Tour equity and make a $5m charitable contribution.
Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, who also left for the breakaway league after signing deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were eligible to follow Koepka but didn’t.
“The PGA Tour is built on meritocracy,” Rolapp said. “Every player, whether they are a member or want to become one, must earn their place.
“We are a membership organisation; we have rules, and those rules exist for lots of reasons, including fairness and competitive balance. Rules matter, and they must be enforced.”
LIV Golf enters bankruptcy
LIV filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this month, listing liabilities of between $500m and $1bn against assets of between $100m and $500m. The filing followed Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) announcing it would stop financing the league at the end of the 2026 season.
PIF invested more than $5bn into LIV following its launch in 2022, funding guaranteed player contracts, prize money and events around the world.
The withdrawal of its backing started to show during the season, with LIV cancelling events in Louisiana and Michigan, while prize money for its final event was also reduced.
A proposed replacement, dubbed LIV 2.0, would see the competition return in a slimmer form from 2027.
Private equity firm BC Partners has been discussing an investment of up to $300m, although the restructuring depends on enough players agreeing to settle outstanding claims and commit to the new league.
PGA embarks on new era
Following the launch of LIV Golf, the sport was commonly described as divided, with tours competing for talent and attention and several efforts to reunite the professional game, some of which saw US President Donald Trump intervene.
However, with LIV Golf in bankruptcy, the landscape is undergoing another change.
The PGA Tour recently announced it will introduce a new two-tier structure in 2028, separating its membership into the PGA Tour Championship Series and PGA Tour Challenger Series.
The top tier will retain the leading 90 players each season, while 20 golfers will earn promotion annually from the Challenger Series. Players who fall outside the retained positions risk relegation.
The PGA Tour confirmed that access for leading DP World Tour players is under discussion as part of the two organisations’ strategic alliance. At present, the DP World Tour provides 10 PGA Tour cards each season, but the structure of that pathway after 2027 has not been finalised.
That issue has become more complicated as former LIV players use the European circuit as another route back into mainstream golf.
At the same time, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour are discussing a potential international series of up to nine events from 2028, with tournaments potentially staged in markets including England, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa.
