No gimmes: PGA path for LIV pros not promised

ATLANTA — PGA Tour CEO/commissioner Brian Rolapp said Tuesday that the tour has no current plan to bring back the Returning Member Program, which would be a potential pathway for Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith to return from the LIV Golf League.

With LIV Golf’s future in doubt, those major champions and others might be looking for a different tour to play in 2027.

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka used the new Returning Member Program to come back to the PGA Tour in January after leaving LIV Golf. As part of the deal, Koepka agreed to forfeit player equity shares for the next five years and wasn’t eligible for the $100 million FedEx Cup bonus program this season.

Koepka also agreed to make a $5 million donation to charity, at the request of the PGA Tour.

“No, currently there’s no current plans for [the] Returning Member Program like you saw earlier this year,” Rolapp said Tuesday during a news conference at East Lake Golf Club, the site of this week’s Tour Championship.

The program was open to LIV golfers who had been away from the PGA Tour for at least two years — and who won the Players Championship or one of the four majors (the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship) since 2022.

DeChambeau, Rahm and Smith were the only other golfers eligible to return, but they declined and remained with LIV Golf.

At the time, Rolapp said the program wasn’t a precedent.

Some PGA Tour members, such as Masters champion Rory McIlroy, have been vocal about whether LIV golfers should be allowed to come back to their former tour.

“I mean, I would argue, have they brought value to LIV?” McIlroy said at last week’s BMW Championship in St. Louis. “I think the PGA Tour’s in a really good spot.”

Other golfers, including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, said they want to compete against the best players in the world, including those in the LIV Golf League. Scheffler said the golfers should be allowed to return with penalties.

“In this job, you have to take into account everybody’s feelings and all stakeholders,” Rolapp said. “I think what I would say on that is [that] I think fans are clear where they want to see the best golfers competing week in and week out. Our competitive model that we’ve been working on is an attempt to get closer to that standard.”

Rolapp said he’d consider three factors while weighing whether to allow LIV golfers to return: that the PGA Tour has been built on meritocracy and everything is earned; the PGA Tour is a membership organization and has rules; and rules only matter if they’re enforced.

“Those are guiding principles for us,” Rolapp said. “Rules matter. Again, I’ve been very public that I want to do what’s best for the PGA Tour, and that’s still my guiding principle. Whatever happens, those will be the guiding principles.”

LIV Golf played its final event of the season in Indianapolis last week. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said the league has signed a term sheet with a potential investor to keep the circuit going, but the deal hasn’t been finalized. It’s unclear whether the deal is contingent on stars such as DeChambeau and Rahm returning.

DeChambeau’s contract with LIV Golf expired after this season. Rahm has said he has multiple seasons remaining on his deal, and he is reportedly owed as much as $150 million.

Rolapp said discussions with LIV golfers can’t begin until they’re relieved of their contractual commitments.

“I think to this point, we haven’t made any decisions,” Rolapp said. “I’ve said it consistently: I only know what I read. I don’t know the future of LIV. It sounds like they’re working really hard to come up with the next iteration of it. 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.”

Rolapp touched on other topics during his 45-minute news conference.

Good Good Golf ad controversy

Rolapp said he was disappointed in Good Good Golf’s initial response to a controversial online ad that depicted a man shoving a woman to the ground and telling her, “Do not touch my new driver.”

The 60-second ad was released last week to promote a co-branded driver with Callaway Golf, and it was later taken down following criticism of both companies.

“I think what we saw was concerning, [and] is clearly not aligned with PGA Tour values,” Rolapp said. “We take it very seriously. I think their initial response was disappointing. It was a bit defensive and late. But I think the responses are getting better.”

Callaway Golf CEO Chip Brewer posted an apology on X early Tuesday morning, acknowledging that his company approved the ad before it was released.

“That approval should never have happened,” Brewer said. “Mistakes were made, and we are taking the matter very seriously. I want to make it clear that we sincerely apologize for the video. The content was inappropriate and does not reflect our values.”

Good Good Golf, which started as a YouTube channel, is the title sponsor of the PGA Tour’s upcoming Good Good Championship, which will be played Nov. 12-15 at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas.

“It’s a bit of a fluid situation,” Rolapp said. “We were disappointed at first. It sounds like in the last 24 hours they’ve made some progress. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and see how it develops.”

Rory’s PGA Tour schedule

McIlroy will make his 14th PGA Tour start of the season in the Tour Championship, which will leave him one short of the minimum required for dual members to retain their membership the next season.

McIlroy added the FedEx St. Jude Championship, an event he skipped last year, to get to 14 starts.

Rolapp has had discussions with McIlroy about the situation, and it seems they’ve reached some sort of compromise.

“Rory’s dedication to the PGA Tour is clear to me,” Rolapp said. “I think he feels passionately [and] is certainly dedicated to it. He also feels a dedication to the DP World Tour, as well, given his legacy and where he’s from.”

Rolapp noted that he has a “fair amount of discretion,” and added the tour might examine whether the rule needs to be in place, given the PGA Tour’s alliance with the DP World Tour.

“It’s a rule that applies just to dual members,” Rolapp said. “It’s questionable if it even has a place in our new competitive model. I think it’s one of many rules and regulations we will look at as we change the competitive model.”

Two-series system

The PGA Tour’s new competitive model in 2028 will include two separate series of tournaments — the Championship Series and Challenger Series — that will run concurrently during the season.

The tour has announced seven of the 15 regular-season events in the Championship Series, and Rolapp said it will announce four more in the coming weeks. He said 14 potential partners are being considered for the final four.

The 2028 Championship Series schedule will be announced Feb. 22.

The tour is in the early stages of finalizing events for the Challenger Series, which will be the primary pathway to the Championship Series, with golfers competing to advance to the top track, including in-season elevation with two victories.