By ED TRAVIS
The hot topic at the 19th hole is will the LIV defectors such as Bryson DeChambeau be allowed back to competition on the PGA Tour and if so on what basis.
It seems like only yesterday the golf world was all atwitter over the “merger” of the upstart brash LIV Golf League with the staid traditional PGA Tour but in fact it was three years ago.
The 2023 merger announcement set off a flurry of speculation of what would happen, but what did happen was this spring the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) pulled its sponsorship from LIV effective at the end of the year. Subsequently there is now doubt whether LIV will even finish their 2026 season schedule.
The topic now under speculation is should those who left for LIV’s greener pastures now that those pastures turned into mud be welcomed back to the PGA Tour at all and if so, what should be the reentrance criteria.
A Mother-in-law survey of mine said the former LIVers should be given an opportunity to play after a significant financial penalty and there should be no carryover placement on either PGA Tour eligibility or in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Obviously, whatever is decided will set the structure of the PGA Tour for years to come.
By the way, in case you’re not familiar with the term, when you don’t have the time or the money to do the proper research ask your Mother-in-law since she knows everything already.
Golf fans, including those few who thought LIV was the best thing ever to happen to professional golf, feel watching the best players in the world competing in the same events on a frequent basis is the ideal solution.
To get back on the Tour’s card-carrying roster Brooks Koepka made a $5 million charitable donation out of the $100+ millions of his LIV signing bonus. To date the 36-year-old former world number one and five-time major champion has played well but not to the level he enjoyed before he defected. Former fan favorite Phil Mickelson the first major star to leave for LIV, who not only criticized PGA Tour management and players (remember his characterization of “obnoxious greed”?), but also actively recruited others to jump ship such as Jon Rahm.
That raises the question of what status Bryson DeChambeau can hope to have since he and Mickelson were among those LIVers who filed an antitrust and restraint of trade lawsuit against the PGA Tour. The suit was eventually withdrawn.
The resentment by a many fans and Tour players, the so-called loyalists, centers on the lawsuit and the stringent, critical, even nasty comments by LIV players about those who continued to support the Tour.
LIV’s slogan was “Golf, But Louder” accompanied by the purported goal of growing golf around the world has been conceded by a few LIVers to be a smoke screen for “gimme the money.”
DeChambeau’s status is interesting in that he has become the poster child for the arrogance first exemplified by Greg Norman when he took the Saudis at their word about wanting a golf league that might draw attention away from their human rights record.
Two-time U.S. Open champion DeChambeau reportedly has talked with PGA Tour officials about rejoining, but he has also said he may just work on his YouTube channel and play where he is wanted. He was quoted as saying, “I think there’s a way to solve any problem. It’s really about if the membership wants me back and if they just want me back. That’s what it’s about. I don’t even think it’s Brian Rolapp [present PGA Tour CEO] or anybody like one of the top executives, it’s really if the players want me back and if not, then I understand that.”
Wrongheaded is not too strong a description of DeChambeau’s commnets since the PGA Tour members do not make the decision about his coming back, Rolapp does. It’s unfortunate for him but the only place that may be interested on DeChambeau’s terms is my local club’s member-guest, which is already filled for this year.
It is unlikely the LIV Golf League will be able to find investors to replace the PIF. CEO Scott O’Neil is saying it is a fantastic investment opportunity but if the $5 to $6 billion PIF spent wasn’t enough to produce a viable business, changing the format and making the players wear long pants like the rest of the world’s professionals is not going to produce anything fans will line up to see.
The return of former world stars such as DeChambeau has consequences that must be faced starting with the fans and corporate supporters thinking and what they want plus importantly the opinion of players who stayed and supported the Tour.
