PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp offered a warning to any LIV Golf players thinking of returning to the tour that there would be no easy way back in.
At the start of this year a small number of LIV players were given a path back to the PGA Tour with a three-week deadline to accept the invitation on the “returning members programme”, which was used by Brooks Koepka in January.
Koepka, who mutually ended his contract with LIV Golf when he left in late 2025, was allowed to play in PGA tournaments straight away but was ineligible to play in signature events. He also made a $5m donation to charity.
LIV players have generally been unable to play PGA-sanctioned events for a year from the date of their last LIV tournament.
Speaking on Tuesday, Rolapp said that players hoping to come back to the PGA Tour must have no more contractual obligations to LIV – following the precedent set by Koepka.
He said: “Anyone who’s interested in coming to the PGA Tour needs to demonstrate that they are relieved of their contractual commitments or any tail obligations they might have in that legacy model.
“Brooks certainly did that, and until then, we weren’t really able to consider anything seriously. I would say the same thing here.”
Rolapp also suggested that there would be no exemptions for star players; Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith were given the offer of a path back earlier this year along with Koepka, but would likely not be welcomed back quite so warmly now.
He said: “The tour is a membership organization. It has rules. Those rules exist for lots of reasons — for fair, competitive reasons.
“Rules only matter if they’re enforced. So accountability and discipline are essential to any organization, and certainly for the integrity of the tour and for the game, especially in a game that prides itself on rules and integrity.”
Speculation over the future of the LIV Golf circuit has ramped up in recent months after it concluded its final tournament of a curtailed season in Indianapolis last Sunday, with little certainty over whether it will continue to exist after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) pulled its funding for the league in April. Its Team Championship, in Michigan, was cancelled earlier this month.
